After a campaign by the writer Voltaire, judges in Paris posthumously exonerate Jean Calas of murdering his son. Calas had been tortured and executed in 1762 on the charge, though his son may have actually died by suicide.

François-Marie Arouet, known by his nom de plume Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, philosopher (philosophe), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit and his criticism of Christianity and of slavery, Voltaire was an advocate of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state.

Jean Calas was a merchant living in Toulouse, France, who was tried, judicially tortured, and executed for the murder of his son, despite his protestations of innocence. Calas was a Protestant in an officially Catholic society. Doubts about his guilt were raised by opponents of the Catholic Church and he was exonerated in 1764. In France, he became a symbolic victim of religious intolerance, along with François-Jean de la Barre and Pierre-Paul Sirven.

1762 (MDCCLXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar, the 1762nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 762nd year of the 2nd millennium, the 62nd year of the 18th century, and the 3rd year of the 1760s decade. As of the start of 1762, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

March 9 is the 68th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 297 days remain until the end of the year.