IMPORTANT EDITION OF A HUMANIST LAWYER

Le Douaren, François: Omnia quae quidem hactenus exstant opera, nunc demum plurimis in Digesta seu Pandectas & Codicem Commentariis & methodicis expositionibus, quae post eius excessum, seu inter eius membranas & Bibliotheca sunt repertae, seu ab eius intimis familiaribus datae & exhibitae, quae eo exceperant dictante, illustrata, & amplius tertia parte locupletata, ut ex titulorum Indice videri poterit [- In Lib. IIII. Codic. et tertiam partem Digest. Commentarii [...]] Lugduni [Lyon], apud Guliel. Rouillium 1579.

Best and fullest early edition of the works of the humanist law professor of Bourges, François Le Douaren (1509-1559), included here is the first printing of the second volume, which includes the first appearance of the history of legal humanism written by its editor, Le Douaren's student Nicolas Cisner. Le Douaren was considered "the first of the French jurists to chase barbarism from the chairs of law" (Bayle, tr. Kelley). He advocated a three-fold point of departure for the proper understanding of Roman law: repudiation of "barbarous doctors" (an epithet used against medieval Italian lawyers), "a knowledge of correct and elegant Latin, and a method of interpretation founded upon historical analysis as well as a familiarity with the law" (Kelley). "La plus estimée des éditions parut à Lyon, 1579, 2 vol. in-fol." (NBU).

Details

First edition thus. 2 vols., folio, pp. [20] 1576 [20]; [24] 3-527 [21]. Medium browning, some light staining, occasional marginal mends (some done with tape), some rasing of surface with loss of text, pp. 1073 and 1469, vol. I, text-block cracked in places; bound in early vellum boards, burgundy morocco gilt spine labels, spines with ink splatters and a small spray of wormholes. Inscriptions on title-pages: "Angeli Riccii".

Adams D 947. Gültlingen (Lyon) X 854. Baudrier IX 370, 363. Ind. Aurel. *155.601, *155.600. On the author, see D.R. Kelley, Foundations of Modern Historical Scholarship (New York 1970), esp. 88, 103-106; and V. Piano Mortari, Cinquecento giuridico francese (Naples 1990) 252-259.