He was born at Toulon, studied law at Aix-en-Provence and Paris, and early made his name by two volumes, "Explication historique des institutes de Justinien" (1827), and "Histoire de la legislation romaine" (1828), the first of which has been frequently republished. He was made assistant librarian to the Court of Cassation, and was promoted after the Revolution of 1830 to be secretary-general.