It's been bugging me all day, I knew that this reference existed, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember what they were called: lettres de cachet. Here's a little history lesson, and why we need to be afraid of the Boy King.

In 14th century France the king's order for imprisonment was simply verbal, but by the 18th century a standard was initiated that these orders were to be written, and from this came the lettres de cachet. The tradition for this was established from principles surrounding royal privileges recognized by old French law where the king could directly intercede directly in the administration of justice, by a special act or will.

These were simply letters sealed by the king, countersigned by the king's ministers, and closed with the royal seal or cachet, they usually contained an order originating directly from the king. At times these letters were regardless and even contrary to the laws. The most commonly issued lettres de cachet were penal where the king could sentence "a subject without trial and without an opportunity of defence to imprisonment in a state prison or an ordinary gaol, confinement in a convent or a hospital, transportation to the colonies, or relegation to a given place within the realm."

Useful as silent weapons against political foes or critical writers lettres de cachet were handy for punishing perpetrators of high birth without the scandal of a lawsuit. Other uses for them included issuing them to the police in "dealing with prostitutes, and on their authority lunatics were shut up in hospitals and sometimes in prisons." Many times heads of families employed them in attempts to protect the family honor as a means to control "disorderly or criminal conduct of sons; wives, too, took advantage of them to curb the profligacy of husbands and vice versa". In the 18th century it was common practice for the Secretary of State to issue them arbitrarily with no record of the action being sent to the king. One had to simply fill in the name in order to make the letter effective.

Eventually someone struck upon the idea to issue blank lettres de cachet for a bribe or some other consideration. These became know as carte blanche warrants. With its space for the name left blank this precursor to carte blanch inspired great fear. Sometimes the warrant was to set a prisoner at large, but it was more commonly used for detention in the Bastille.

Eighty thousand carte blanche warrants were issued during Cardinal André Hercule de Fleury's (1653-1743) administration with the majority being against the Jansenists, followers of Cornelius Jansen (1585-1638), in an effort to suppress the religious movement. During the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI fifty-nine cachets were obtained against family members of French revolutionary Honoré Gabriel Riquetti Mirabeau (1749-1791). These acts precipitated a ground swell against these and a number of other abuses. Secretary of State Chrétien Guillaume de Lamoignon de Malesherbes (1721-1794) tried to enact some measure of justice into the system during his short ministry. The occasional invocation of them against leaders of opinion, including Voltaire, became symbolic of arbitrary royal authority and oppression. Malesherbes resigned in 1776 after the failure of the reform program.