Iacobus Gothofredus

Jacques Godefroy (lat. Iacobus Gothofredus ) (born September 13, 1587 in Geneva ; † June 23, 1652 in Geneva) was a lawyer and politician and editor of the Codex Theodosianus .

biography

Jacques Godefroy was born to Denis Godefroy and his wife Denise de Saint Yon. He grew up in the Calvinist faith. He studied law and history in Paris and Bourges . In Bourges he received his doctorate. jur. After completing his studies, he returned to Geneva in 1616 and brought out an annotated Cicero edition and in 1617 a collection of the Julian and Papinian laws. In 1619 he became a professor at the Geneva Academy (forerunner of Geneva University ) and a member of the Council of Two Hundred - a kind of municipal council. In 1622 he sat in the Council of Sixty and in 1629 in the Small Council. In 1632 he gave up the teaching post after being made state clerk (1632–36). As head of the magistrate (mayor; syndicus) (1637, 1641, 1645 and 1649) he was on several diplomatic missions: in Switzerland (Baden 1641), in Piedmont (1632), in France (1634, 1636, 1643) . He also lectured in law at the Geneva Academy .

Godefroy was married twice: in 1618 he married Marie Graffard, in 1640 he married Susanne de Croso.

Works

De statu paganorum sub christianis imperatoribus: seu commentarius ad titulum X de paganis libri XVI codicis Theodosiani , 1616

His most important work was the publication of a critical and commented text of the " Codex Theodosianus ", a collection of laws that had become the basis of the legal system in the successor states of the Roman Empire . The printed edition was published in Lyon (four volumes) in 1665, 13 years after his death. Reprint Leipzig (six volumes), 1736–1745.

Another important work was the reconstruction of the Twelve Tables Law (early Roman law).

De statu paganorum sub christianis imperatoribus: seu commentarius ad titulum X de paganis libri XVI codicis Theodosiani ( la ). Gotthard Vögelin, Heidelberg 1616.
Mercure Jésuite , Geneva 1626–32.
Diatriba de iure praecedentiae , Geneva 1627 (a diatribe on the law of precedent).

Orationes politicae tres , Geneva 1634 (3 of his political speeches).

Codex Theodosianus , 1665

Web links

Literature by and about Iacobus Gothofredus in the catalog of the German National Library
Writings by Gothofredus in the Opac of the Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale
Alfred Dufour: Jacques Godefroy. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Individual evidence

^ Gothofredus in Parlamento Parisiensi Advocato Auctore, Heidelbergae, 1616: Fragmenta XII. Tabularum, suis nunc prima tabulis restituta: probationibus. notis et indice munita.
^ Marie Theres Fögen : Roman legal histories. About the origin and evolution of a social system . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2002 (publications of the Max Planck Institute for History 172), p. 71 (footnote).

personal data
SURNAME	Gothofredus, Iacobus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Godefroy, Jacques
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Lawyer and politician as well as editor of the Codex Theodosianus
DATE OF BIRTH	September 13, 1587
PLACE OF BIRTH	Geneva
DATE OF DEATH	June 23, 1652
Place of death	Geneva

[1] Gothofredus in Parlamento Parisiensi Advocato Auctore, Heidelbergae, 1616: Fragmenta XII. Tabularum, suis nunc prima tabulis restituta: probationibus. notis et indice munita.

[2] Marie Theres Fögen : Roman legal histories. About the origin and evolution of a social system . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2002 (publications of the Max Planck Institute for History 172), p. 71 (footnote).