Nga Bellis-Phan has posted A Legal Remedy Against Rent Arrears: Landlords’ Privilege on Furniture in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century France, which appeared in Early Modern Debts, 1550-1770 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020):
The frequent default in rents payments was a real challenge in the rise of urban housing in Early Modern France. Unpaid landlords were protected by customary laws with a creditor's privilege which allowed them to pursue all movable furniture brought in by the tenants, including that which had been fraudulently removed to avoid seizure. This privilege was not necessary when tenants were eager to pay their debts but became useful to minimize economic loss when they disappeared without paying. Although the privilege was confirmed in legal litterature and case law, it faced challenges arising from the royal authority's struggles to organize an efficient procedure of execution on the disputed furniture and a clear hierarchy of privileged creditors.
--Dan Ernst
