DAUMIER, H. - Les Gens de Justice. - Plaidez, plaidez . . . ça sera un bon tour à jouer à votre voisin. . . (pl 29)

Second state (of 2), with letters. From "Les Gens de Justice". Text below image : - Plaidez, plaidez . . . ça sera un bon tour à jouer à votre voisin . . . vous lui ferez manger plus de cent écus! . . .
- Oui, mais c'est qu'moi . . . j'en mangerais itou des miens . . . des écus . . . et j'ai pas d'appétit pour ça! (- Sue him.....sue him..... That would be a good trick to play on your neighbour... it would eat up all his savings, at least 100 écus.... - Yes but I would also have to eat into my savings and I really have no appetite for that....).

Around the mid-1840s Daumier started publishing his famous caricatures depicting members of the legal profession, known as 'Les Gens de Justice', a scathing satire about judges, defendants, attorneys and corrupt, greedy lawyers in general. A number of extremely rare albums appeared on white paper, covering 39 different legal themes, of which 37 had previously been published in the Charivari. It is said that Daumier's own experience as an employee in a bailiff's office during his youth may have influenced his rather negative attitude towards the legal profession.

Known chiefly as a political and social satirist, Honoré DAUMIER (1808-1879) used the printmaking process of lithography, still relatively new at the time, to contribute cartoons and caricatures to French news weeklies.