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Further Education Abroad

On August 1920, Mr. Pridi was chosen to receive a
scholarship from the Ministry of Justice to attend a law school in
France.
If one takes an opportunity to consider the government’s
policy and context of Siam at the time, it is clear that it was an
important time where the country was changing its law system
and jurisprudence, in accordance with modern development trend,
which was gradually building up since the reign of King Rama IV, and
gaining a faster pace during the reign of King Rama V.
Another signif cant matter was because Siam was drafting
many new laws, as a result of the urgent needs for relieving the
country from the extraterritorial right, which were enforced since
the signing of the Bowring Treaty in 1855.
For the government to have personnel, who had
thorough understanding of the law system of the western countries,
specif cally for these af airs; especially those who have knowledge
of European civil law system, such as of those systems of Germany
and France, this was an inevitably necessary, in order to manage the
upcoming changes.
But for Mr. Pridi, this was a chance for him to pursue his
greatest dream.

Life Abroad

Once he had arrived in France, on September 25 1920,
th
Mr. Pridi attended French language and general knowledge class at
Lycée de Caen, until he received the pre-higher education certif cate
(le baccalauréat), as general French students.
Afterward, once he had met Professor Lebonnois, a history
teacher and the secretary of the International Education Institute
(L’institut pédagogique international), which was a school that taught
French language to foreigners. Mr. Pridi lived with the professor

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