1. Write the name of the three social estates during the Old Regime:
Clergy, Nobility and Commoners
2. What does the expression "specific juridical characteristics" mean? Why were these estates closed? Were there any exceptions?
a. It means that each group has its own laws.
b. We say the estates were closed because a person was born and died in the same estate and they couldn't change from one group to another.
c. Clergy was the only exception.
3. What were the privileges of the two first estates? What were the duties of the third Estate?
The privileged (clergy and nobility) occupied important political positions, had wide properties, kept manorial rights and were exempted from paying taxes.
However, the commoners didn't have rights. They only had duties. They had to pay taxes, work and participate in the army as soldiers.
4. Make a mind map about the estate society
