Robert Joseph Pothier (9 January 1699 – 2 March 1772) was a French

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

Life

He was born and passed away at

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

to qualify for the magistracy, and was appointed Judge in 1720 of the Presidial Court of Orléans, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. He held the post for fifty-two years. Pothier paid particular attention to the correction and co-ordination of the text of the

Pandects The ''Digest'' (), also known as the Pandects (; , , "All-Containing"), was a compendium or digest of juristic writings on Roman law compiled by order of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I in 530–533 AD. It is divided into 50 books. The ''Dige ...

. His ''Pandectae Justinianae in novum ordinem digestae'' (Paris and Chartres, 1748–1752) is a classic in the study of

Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. Roman law also den ...

. In 1749 he was made professor of law at the University of Orleans. He wrote many learned monographs on

French law French law has a dual jurisdictional system comprising private law (), also known as judicial law, and public law (). Judicial law includes, in particular: * () * Criminal law () Public law includes, in particular: * Administrative law ( ...

, and much of his work was incorporated almost textually in the French ''Code Civil''. His theories on the law of contract were influential in England as well as in the United States. Pothier devised a law limiting recovery in the case of improper performance of a contractual obligation to those damages which are foreseeable. His wrote numerous treatises. His works have been published in collected form on several occasions, the first edited by Giffrein in 1820–1824.

Works

* ''Coutume d'Orléans'', Orléans, 1740; 1760. ** *''Traité des obligations'' (1761) *''Du Contrat de vente'' (1762) *''Du Contrat de bail'' (1764) *''Du Contrat de société'' (1765) *''Des Contrats de prêt de consomption'' (1766) *''Du Contrat de depot et de mandat'' (1766) *''Du Contrat de nantissement'' (1767)

Legacy

Robert Joseph Pothier bas-relief in the U

According to Janwillem Oosterhuis, "like Domat, Pothier's methodology did not consist of constructing an ideal type of Natural law but rather the application of rationalistic methods to existing law, in particular Roman law and customary law."

References

Translations

* ''Traité des obligations'': ** François-Xavier Martin, trans. ''A Treatise on Obligations, Considered in a Moral and Legal View''. Newburn, N.C.: Martin & Ogden, 1802 (reprint Union, N.J.: Lawbook Exchange, 1999). ** William David Evans, trans. ''A Treatise on the Law of Obligations, or Contract'', 2nd American edn. Philadelphia: R. H. Small, 1839.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pothier, Robert Joseph 1699 births 1772 deaths Writers from Orléans French legal writers 18th-century French jurists