Pourquoi que tu l'appelles, Sire?

This pen-and-ink sketch by Cham satirizes class justice in Second Empire France. A well-dressed bourgeois stands before authority figures—a judge and uniformed official—who exchange knowing glances. The dialogue mocks the system's bias: when a bourgeois commits a crime, he's the exception proving the rule that the poor are guilty. The rapid, economical line work reflects the tradition of French satirical caricature from Daumier onward, channeling social critique through character type and situation rather than grotesque exaggeration. Such prints, distributed in newspapers and albums, formed the visual language from which modern comics inherited their tools of social commentary and character-driven humor.