Jehan BOUTILLIER. Somme Rural tresutile en toutes... Lot 16

[Jehan BOUTILLIER]. Somme Rural tresutile en toutes cours de praticqs : proces et manieres de playdoiries. Corrige p[ar] trescientificq psõne maistre Jehã ds degres docteur en chm droit additionne de plusieurs loix & decretz aisicõme chascun pourra veoir cy apres. LXIX. In-8, overlapping vellum, smooth spine with title calligraphed in ink ( modern binding). Bechtel, 99/B-372 // Brunet, I-1187 // Renouard, ICP, III-1149. (300f. with fancy pagination) / a6, e4, i4, a-f4, g8, h-r4, s8, t-z4, ｸ4, A8, B-I4, K-L6, M-Q4, R8, S-V4, AA-VV4, AAA4, BBB6 / 40 lines on 2 columns, goth. car. / 126 x 182 mm. Rare edition of this work of jurisprudence, a sort of code of practice [...] for part of northern part of northern France and Flanders (Tournoisis, Vermandois, Hainaut), and even beyond (Bechtel). The author, a famous French jurisconsult in the second half of the 14th century, was first a bailiff in Mortagne and then a pensioner councillor in Tournay. a kind of civil servant responsible for reporting and extracting all litigious cases. Their knowledge of the law lent authority to their words. He later became lieutenant of the Grand Bailli in Tournay. Jean Boutillier's role in the various magistracies was to establish royal judicial power at the expense of the rights of the lords and the church. His Somme rurale, one of the earliest works of our jurisprudence, is one of the most important according to Cujas, who described it as the Optimus liber. The word "rural" here does not mean that the work deals with rural law, but that it was written in the countryside. It deals with a wide range of subjects and problems based on both civil and criminal court rulings. The Somme rurale was first published in Bruges in 1479, and went through numerous editions in French and Flemish. The present one is dated by Brunet to circa 1525, but Renouard in his Inventaire chronologique des éditions parisiennes du XVIe siècle, Renouard places it a little later, around 1527, according to the mark and frame. Title in red and black in a fine architectural woodcut frame, with a curious multi-character vignette at the bottom, probably depicting a thief being punished by decapitation, and the various players in the drama. The Roman numeral LXIX on the title corresponds to the number of quires required for the volume. Printer's mark on one leaf (I4) and one leaf (P1) wider than the others, folded, with a large woodcut on the verso representing the On the reverse side is a large wood representing the consanguinity tree, indicating the impossibility of union between parents. A diagram of the same tree can be found on folio P4, and the volume also contains a number of initials with foliate motifs. Reversed leaves in notebook L, browned leaves, hole in leaf M4 with loss of some letters.