CUJAS, in Latin Cujacius, James, was born at Toulouse in 1520. His father was a fuller, and his real name Cujaus, but, by way of softening it, he afterwards abridged it into Cujas. But if, when young and poor, he curtailed his name, at a more advanced age, when fortune had become more propitious, he extended it, and then subscribed himself Jacques de Cujas. His happy disposition enabled him to surmount all the difficulties which the obscure condition in which he had been born seemed to throw in the way of his advancement. By his own exertions, and without the assistance of any master, he learned Greek and Latin; and he was instructed in the elements of law by Arnoul Ferrier, then professor at Toulouse, a man who, when called to higher employments, distinguished himself by great talents united to great virtues. Cujas always cherished the most affectionate regard for his master. The knowledge which he had imbibed from Ferrier became, as it were, the germ of that which he himself acquired by the efforts of his own genius, and by his extreme ardour in study. Cujas was employed as tutor to the children of the president Dufaur, who afterwards became a distinguished personage; and for their instruction, as well as that of some other young persons whose education he superintended, he began, in the year 1547, to give lessons on the Institutions of Justinian. Etienne Pasquier, who was present at the first of these, says, that he then discovered a clear and vigorous mind, which gave great promise of future excellence; and Antoine Loiscl, who attended the lessons with the greatest assiduity, declares that Cujas prevented him from abandoning the science of law, with which the other doctors had disgusted him by their barbarism. His merit, however, would not seem to have been fully appreciated in his native place. A chair of law having, it is said, become vacant at Toulouse in 1554, Cujas not only failed in obtaining it, but he had the mortification of seeing the preference given to one Forcadel, a person of very moderate abilities, and in all respects confessedly his inferior. The city of Toulouse, however, conceiving its honour to be interested in contesting a fact founded on a well-accredited tradition, and of which the odium could only attach to the individual protectors of ignorance and intrigue, its chief magistrates, on the occasion of placing the bust of Cuias in their gallery in the year 1674, affixed [7:7:530] to the inscription a solemn and indignant denial of the imputation cast upon their predecessors. And it has also been remarked, that Cujas makes no mention, in any of his numerous writings, of the injustice which he is alleged to have experienced at the hands of his townsmen; but little weight seems to be due to this observation, because it is not improbable that Cujas might have avoided any allusion to a disagreeable subject. Besides, John Robert of Orleans, with whom Cujas had some keen altercations, meanly reproaches him with having been thrice rejected at Toulouse in his applications for a professorship of law; and Cujas is evidently embarrassed in his reply to the insulting allegation. He says, “that Robert lies at least in regard to two of these alleged rejections, and probably even in regard to the third; that, moreover, after he had been called to Cahors, and then to Bourges, the inhabitants of Toulouse had used the most pressing entreaties to induce him to return among them.” The town of Toulouse, however, had the misfortune of not being able to attach to its school a man whose merit, which had for seven years been fully recognised, could not fail to add to the lustre which it had already acquired. But that of Cahors was more fortunate. A chair having become vacant there by the retirement of Govea, in 1554, Cujas was appointed to fill it; and he was followed by almost all his pupils. But he only remained about a year at Cahors; patrons worthy of him having stepped forward to withdraw him from the obscure theatre where he had been content to exert his great talents. Margaret of Valois, duchess of Berri, inheriting the love which her father, Francis I., bore to men of letters, had already given proofs of her discernment in choosing as her chancellor Michel de ľHôpital, who afterwards, in the highest dignity of the state, exhibited a character so elevated and a patriotism so pure. Wishing to render the school of Bourges, the chief place of her apanage, the most celebrated of all those which had as yet existed, Margaret intrusted L’Hôpital with the choice of professors; and he was not slow in discerning the merit of Cujas, whom he called to Bourges, where he had already placed Baudouin and Duaren, the latter of whom had taught there since the year 1538. Duaren at first received Cujas favourably; but, either from weakness or senility, he soon became jealous of the young professor, and, unable to endure the popularity which the latter almost immediately acquired, he had recourse to every expedient in order to rid himself of so formidable a rival. With this view he stirred up the students against the new professor, and such was the disorder produced in consequence at Bourges, that Cujas was obliged to yield to the storm, and to retire to Valence. But this persecution became useful to him, by inspiring him with such a degree of emulation, that he applied himself with greater vigour to the study of law, which the levity natural to his age would otherwise perhaps have induced him to abandon. Recalled to Bourges by order of the Duchess of Berri, he remained there till 1567, when he returned to Valence, on the invitation of Bertrand de Simiane, lieutenant-general of the king in Dauphine, and reflected greatlustre to the university of that city, to which young men flocked from all quarters in order to study under him. In 1570 Cujas was elected professor in the university of Avignon; but his first wife, who belonged to that city, having recently before this died, Cujas resolved to remain at Valence. But Margaret of Valois, who had now become Duchess of Savoy, persuaded him to repair to Turin, where, however, he only remained a few months. His scholars and friends at Bourges induced him to return thither towards the end of 1575. But the troubles which threatened that city forced him to seek a retreat elsewhere, and his first intention was to proceed to Angers, where the people were most desirous of having him; but the orders of the king called him to Paris, where, on the requisition of the procureur-general, and the report of Μ. Anjorrant, the parliament passed an arrêt, by which Cujas, who is declared to be a person of great and singular learning and erudition, is permitted “de faire lecture et profession en droit civil en l’université de Paris;" a species of instruction which was then interdicted in the university, and in fact only established there under Louis XIV. Terrasson has supposed that he himself was the first to publish this arrêt; but it is found, together with some other particulars respecting Cujas, in the remarks of Menage on the life of Pierre Ayrault. Cujas remained at Paris only about a year, and returned to Bourges, which he never afterwards quitted, in 1577. In 1584 Gregory XIII. who was himself well skilled in the civil and canon law, wished to draw Cujas to Bologna, thinking that something would be wanting to the glory of that city if it did not reckon among its professors a man of so distinguished merit; and Cujas was on the point of yielding to the pressing solicitations of the pontiff; but his attachment for his pupils prevailed over every other consideration, and retained him in France. At the commencement of his works, in the edition of Fabrot, are some very curious verses, composed at Blois, for the purpose of dissuading him from proceeding to Bologna. Who, then, it may be asked, was this man, whom all the countries of Europe sought after, and who, in an age which produced Du Moulin and so many other celebrated jurisconsults, placed himself foremost in the first rank, and eclipsed all his rivals by the superiority of his knowledge and the lustre of his renown? In order to appreciate his works, we must remember the period at which he appeared. The civilization of Europe had barely commenced; and jurisprudence was regarded as the science most proper to accelerate its progress, by diffusing correct notions of reason and justice. But from want of erudition, and from ignorance of criticism, the first interpreters of the Roman law had only a very imperfect knowledge of the system which they professed to expound; and it is mainly to Cujas that the world is indebted for the advancement which the study of this great body of written wisdom has made since his time. The old interpreters had only' been able to deduce some general maxims, and some rules of private law, which they applied to the manners, still rude, of the times in which they lived. The minds of men were not as yet prepared for any thing more perfect. They wanted that degree of maturity necessary to receive the light in all its purity. The same thing is observable in the history of ancient Rome. There is as great a distance between the law of the twelve tables and that system which, in the first two or three centuries of our era, the Papinians, the Ulpians, and other geniuses of the first order, created, as between the manners of a semibarbarous people and those of a nation arrived at the highest degree of civilization. It may be said of legislation, indeed, with still greater truth than even of literature, that it is the reflected image of society. In proportion as the civilization of Europe improved, jurisprudence advanced towards perfection; and Cujas came, at a seasonable moment, to lay open its true sources. He had read the works of the old interpreters; but he had derived nothing but disgust from the perusal. Repelled by the barbarism of their language as much as by the vicious method which they had followed, Cujas resolved to apply himself solely to the text of the Roman laws, to illustrate whatever was obscure in them, to restore passages which had been altered by time or the ignorance of copyists, and to fix the true signification of the words which were there employed. In prosecution of this design, the knowledge which he possessed of the ancient languages, and the vast erudition which he had acquired by means [7:7:531]of them, were of admirable service to him. Not only did he consult books; he made a still greater use of manuscripts, of which he had collected more than five hundred in his own library. The corrections which he made, not only in books of law, but in a great number of ancient Greek and Latin authors, are immense. He in part collected these, under the’title of Observations and Corrections; and this work is still a fertile mine, which philologers continually explore with advantage. Nor did he confine his researches to the books compiled by order of Justinian, but extended them to every thing which had the smallest relation to the subject, or which entered into the jurisprudence of modern times. He recovered and gave to the world a part of the Theodosian code, with explanations; and he procured the manuscript of the Basilica (a species of abridgment in Greek, which the successors of Justinian had made of his laws), from which manuscript they were afterwards published by Fabrot. Besides, he composed a learned commentary on the Consuetudines Feudorum, and on some books of the Decretals. In fact, Cujas was not only a learned man; he was what is far better, a man of profound sagacity. It is by no means uncommon to find writers who, in all sciences, have been able to master some isolated parts; but to embrace the whole in one comprehensive view, to ascend to the fundamental principles from which all the others are derived, and to condense in brief maxims the kernel of all the consequences which flow from them, is a power which has only been given to a small number of privileged men of genius, distinguished from the common herd, who are wholly incapable of such a concentration. This was preeminently the talent of Cujas. In the Paratitla, or summaries which he made of the Digest, and particularly of the Code of Justinian, he condensed into short axioms the elementary principles of law, and gave definitions remarkable for their admirable clearness and precision. Hottoman, a distinguished jurisconsult, the rival and the enemy of Cujas, earnestly recommends to his son to take along with him in his journeys these Paratitla or summaries, and to study them with indefatigable assiduity. Instead of the semibarbarous jurisprudence of the early interpreters, Cujas substituted that of the most polished ages of Rome; and those who succeeded him have been able to do little more than to confirm his views. All the jurisconsults of Europe indeed are agreed in considering him as the first and greatest of the interpreters of law, one whom none can equal, much less surpass, in the art of teaching and expounding it “Cujas,” said D’Aguesseau, “has spoken the language of law better than any modern, and perhaps as well as any ancient.” His lessons, which he never dictated, were continuous discourses, for which he made no other preparation than that of profound meditation on the subjects to be discussed. His scholars, particularly the Germans, wrote down at the moment his discourses, as well as the rapidity of utterance would permit; and afterwards, by comparing their notes together, they suffered but little of what fell from him to escape them. He was impatient of interruption, and upon the least noise he would instantly quit the chair and retire. The use of theses, which has been continued in the modern schools, had already been introduced; but these exercises, so common and so useless at present, entered not into the ordinary plan of the lessons of Cujas. The honour of supporting a thesis under him was the reward of the highest merit, and it was but rarely conferred. Loisel has preserved that which Pierre Pithou composed on quitting the school of Cujas; and it is certainly a very masterly production of its kind. Cujas was strongly attached to his pupils; and Scaliger affirms that he lost more than four thousand livres by lending money to such of them as were in want. During the thirty years he taught, their number was immense, for pupils flocked from all parts of Europe to his school; and many of them, like Scaliger and the brothers Pithou, afterwards became his most intimate friends. None of them who showed distinguished talents escaped his observation; and he advanced the fortunes of several by making known their merits. From his school there issued magistrates of the first rank, and able ministers and negociators, whose talents proved highly serviceable to their country; whilst others carried to the bar and the bench the lights which they had there acquired, and contributed essentially to the great progress which jurisprudence made in the century which followed. Such were the fruits of a life entirely devoted to the public good, and of which no species of ambition ever disturbed the tranquil tenor. Indeed it appears that Cujas never even solicited the honours which lie enjoyed. In 1573, during his residence at Valence, Charles XI. appointed him honorary counsellor to the parliament of Grenoble; Henry III., by letters patent, dated at Lyons in 1574, also conferred upon him a small pension, with the titular reversion of the first vacant office; and, by other letters dated the year following, Cujas was permitted to continue his instructions at Valence, and to draw the emoluments of his office of counsellor without discharging its duties. In the year 1582, however, Cujas resigned his office in favour of Charles de Dorne, advocate to the parliament of Grenoble; but this court, annoyed at his quitting Valence, repeatedly refused to accept his resignation, and only received it in consequence of a positive order to that effect. Merit so eminent as his could scarcely fail to excite envy; and he had detractors, whom, however, he crushed by the weight of his reputation. His sentiments and opinions were irreproachable, and, in an age of civil discord, he never varied nor changed. Cujas was sincerely attached to the religion of his fathers; but he steadily refused to take any part in the theological controversies which so greatly agitated the times in which he lived. Nihil hoc ad edictum praetoris, “this has nothing to do with the edict of the praetor,” was his usual answer to those who spoke to him on the subject. He was far, indeed, from participating in the fury engendered by the league; and his fidelity to Henry IV. remained unshaken, a circumstance which frequently exposed him to danger at Bourges, where the leaguers predominated. But vexation on account of the evils which preyed upon France is supposed to have hastened his death, which happened at Bourges the 4th of October 1590. His library, which was of very considerable extent, containing manuscripts as well as printed books of all kinds, a great number of which were enriched with remarks by his own hand, he ordered by his will to be sold in detail, from an apprehension lest, if it fell into the hands a single individual, advantage might be taken of his notes by persons who did not understand them, to compose works injurious to his reputation. His wishes were complied with to an extent he had never contemplated; for the booksellers of Lyons, who purchased his manuscripts, employed them to cover rudiments for the schools. In his lifetime he published an edition of his works, printed at Nivelle in 1577. It is beautiful and exact, but now very scarce, and contains only a part of his works. The same observation applies to the edition of Colombet, published in 1634. Fabrot, however, collected the whole in the edition which he published at Paris, 1658, in 10 vols. folio, and which was reprinted at Naples, 1722, 1727, in 11 vols. folio, and thereafter at Naples and at Venice, 1758, in 10 vols. folio, with an index forming an eleventh volume. In the editions of Naples and Venice there are some additions, not to be found in that of Fabrot, particularly a general table, which will be [7:7:532]found very useful, and interpretations of all the Greek words used by Cujas. (Terrasson, Histoire de la Jurispru- ι deuce Romaine, and Mélanges d , Histoire, de Littérature, et de Jurisprudence ; Bernardi, Eloge de Cujas; Hugo, Civ-listisches Magazin; Berriat St Prit, Mémoires de Cujas, appended to his Histoire du Droit Romain; Biographie Universelle, art. Cujas.) (a.)