Robert Joseph Pothier (9 January 1699 – 2 March 1772) was a French jurist.
Life
He was born and died at Orléans. He studied law 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. His Pandectae Justinianae in novum ordinem digestae (Paris and Chartres, 1748–1752) is a classic in the study of Roman law. In 1749 he was made professor of law at the University of Orleans. 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.
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.