HENRIETTE CAILLAUX

The editor had discovered that she and her husband had had an affair before they were married and she was still married to another man. This would have ruined her husband’s political career and she decided to prevent that by killing the editor with the information. She was tried for murder and acquitted on the grounds that this was not a rationally premeditated murder but the uncontrollable emotional reaction of a woman who was so weak that she had no control over her actions. This was the excuse that the jury needed, as the personal slandering of politicians for things unrelated to their political activity was becoming very unpopular. This affair was the beginning of the tendency of the French media to not write about the personal and sexual activities of politicians which became a strong cultural tradition.

The editor had discovered that she and her husband had had an affair before they were married and she was still married to another man. This would have ruined her husband’s political career and she decided to prevent that by killing the editor with the information. She was tried for murder and acquitted on the grounds that this was not a rationally premeditated murder but the uncontrollable emotional reaction of a woman who was so weak that she had no control over her actions. This was the excuse that the jury needed, as the personal slandering of politicians for things unrelated to their political activity was becoming very unpopular. This affair was the beginning of the tendency of the French media to not write about the personal and sexual activities of politicians which became a strong cultural tradition.