Editions du Collège de France have just published the interesting and important volume Jacques Cujas, la fabrique d’un « grand juriste », edited by Alexandra Gotteley, Dario Mantovani, and Xavier Prévost.
Cujas is renowned as a great Humanist jurist, an editor of classical legal texts, a skilled and subtle philologist, as well as a brilliant lawyer. This book explores the construction of this lasting image of the man, through reflecting on the reaction to his works, the influence of the man and his texts in differing parts of Europe, as well as the creative accounts of his life, the images made of him, or supposed to be of him, that all went into the elaboration of his position as a great jurist. He became a mythic figure, a touchstone of scholarly excellence and greatness.
The book is the product of a conference. As a participant in the conference at the Collège de France, and a contributor to the book, it is not appropriate for this blogger to attempt a review. But the work throws light on France, on European legal history, and also on how scholarly reputations are developed. It is worth noting that not long after Cujas’s death, his Scottish pupil, Alexander Scot, was already curating that reputation just as he curated his master’s first Opera omnia. Indeed, these tasks were no doubt made easier as Scot was married to the daughter of Jean Pillehotte, an important printer in Lyons.
For details, see here
