Affair of the Diamond Necklace
De Lacretelle dashed off his "Memoir for the Comte de Sanois" which denounces in passing the abusive use of the "lettre de cachet". Exempt from censorship, the legal memoir ("mémoire judiciaire" or "factum") had become a fashionable literary genre. Initially a straightforward working document written by lawyers for the judges, it had now become a means of communication of frightening power which circulated among the salons and the coffee houses. Thanks to this currency of the legal memoir, readers could easily become engaged in famous cases such as the Affair of the Diamond Necklace or the .