Description
Letter Signed ‘Merlin’, discussing a legal case, citing L’Ordonnance Royale of 7 April 1819. In French. 1 page 7½ x 6½ inches, minor tear at centre fold, remains of guard, in clean condition. Ex Bibliotheca de Lindesiana. Bruxelles, February 1830. Merlin de Douai (1754-1838), French jurist and politician. He was Minister of Justice 1795-99. ‘From 1789 his political career was marked by vast sagacity and talent, combined with treachery and timidity. A false friend of Louis XVI, a bloodthirsty leader of the Revolution, the employer and then the servant of Bonaparte, he yet found time to produce works which have been regarded as legal standards.’ [Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography] Having resumed his functions during the Hundred Days, he was one of those banished on the Second Bourbon Restoration. The years of Merlin de Douai’s exile were devoted to his Répertoire de jurisprudence (5th ed., 18 vols., Paris, 1827-1828) and to his Recueil alphabétique des questions de droit (4th ed., 8 vols., Paris, 1827-1828). At the 1830 July Revolution, he was able to return to France.