PARLIAMENTS of France, are sovereign courts, established by the king, finally to determine all disputes between particular persons, and to pronounce on appeals from sentences given by inferior judges. There are ten of these parliaments in France, of which that of Paris is the chief, its privileges and jurisdiction being of the greatest extent. It consists of six chambers, viz. the grand chamber, where causes of audience are pleaded; and five chambers of inquest, where processes are adjudged in writing. This parliament enjoys the privileges of verifying and registering the king's arrests or edicts, without which those edicts are of little or no value.