Pothier, Robert-Joseph

POTHIER, ROBERT-JOSEPH. - Jurist, b. at Orléans on 9 Jan. 1699, d. there on 2 March 1772. Having completed his early studies in his native city at a college of Jesuits, he also attended university courses there and soon became a magistrate there (1720).

At the age of fifty he was called to teach law at the University of Orléans, succeeding one of the most learned professors and magistrates of the time, Prevost de la Jannès. His legal knowledge extended, with a wealth of investigations and commentaries, from Roman law to canon law and to the coutumier which at that time, in France, was applied to complement and interpret the common law. The principal qualities of his writings are simplicity and lucidity of exposition. He worked for twelve years on the drafting of a voluminous work on the Pandects (Pandectae Iustinianae in novum ordinem digestae, Paris 1748-52), with which he intended to rearrange systematically the various fragments of each title of the Digest. His peculiar qualities as a jurist, however, manifest themselves fully in the treatment of various institutions of private law (Traité des obligations, Paris 1761; Traité sur différentes matières du droit civil, ibid. 1773), with which he gave a systematic direction to French legal doctrine. These works, widespread and appreciated in the 18th century, influenced no little the compilation of the Napoleonic Code (1804); the principles of Roman law were kept in mind in its preparatory works through P.'s interpretations.

The most recent edition of his works is the one edited by V. Bugnet, Oeuvres de P., annotées et mises en conciliation avec le Code, 11 vols., 2nd ed., Paris 1861-62.

M. Teresa de Simone-Niquesa