NEUCHÂTEL. Manuscript. Neuchâtel, 17th-early... Lot 42

[NEUCHÂTEL]. Manuscript. [Neuchâtel, 17th-early 18th century]. Very large folio volume, about 680 leaves; modest tan basane, spine ribbed; binding rubbed with spalls on the boards, one bit dented, snags on the headpieces (18th century binding). GRAND COUTUMIER DE NEUCHATEL. one of the private copies circulating in neuchatel, constituted in several stages, it gradually aggregated the notebooks of different copyists, before being bound in the second half of the 1750s. COLLECTION OF THE NEUCHÂTEL CUSTOMARY CORPUS. It includes a reminder of the founding acts, notably the charter of franchise of 1214, the customs of Neuchâtel proper (ff. 388-514), and copies of all sorts of acts produced from the Middle Ages to the 17th century, which set the precedents in civil law, including some decretals specific to Valangin. This county had adopted the customs of Neuchâtel since at least the 13th century, and was integrated into the State of Neuchâtel at the end of the 16th century. Several pages are devoted to the history of Neuchâtel, or to detailing the extent of its territory and therefore of its judicial jurisdiction. COUTUMES REMAINING IN FORCE UNTIL THE MID-19th CENTURY. As a county and then as a principality, Neuchâtel took a very long time to collect its customary law and then to recast it in a civil code. Although the first requests in this sense were expressed at the advent of the Orléans-Longueville dynasty, the first customary law was drafted at the end of the 16th century: the oldest known, written by a clerk and lieutenant of the justice of Neuchâtel, David Baillods, dates from 1595, and the next one, which was drawn up under the control of the city council in 1598, was the subject of many private copies. The present manuscript certainly derives from it, although it was subsequently expanded. Catherine de Gonzague, regent in the name of her son Henri II d'Orléans-Longueville, count and later prince of Neuchatel, asked for a revision of the customary law, with the aim of simplifying but also controlling the legislation in order to establish her power. The chancellor Jean Hory composed a new text, reordered, which was published in two versions in 1610 and 1618, but which was abandoned in 1623 due to the reluctance of the town's citizens. When the principality of Neuchâtel became the private property of the kings of Prussia (1707), the demand for a rationalized legal corpus was again expressed and, after new abortive projects, the state councillor Samuel Osterval was entrusted around 1755 with the task of reforming Neuchâtel's law: for various reasons, notably political, his customary law was not printed until after his death in 1785, but it was printed in a small number and did not become law. Neuchâtel, under the authority of Marshal Berthier and then as a Prussian principality with the status of a Swiss canton, remained a customary country. It was not until the Revolution of 1848 that the project of codification was finally taken up in earnest, and the Civil Code of the Republic and Canton of Neuchâtel was published in 1853-1855. THE EXEMPLAIRE OF ABRAHAM-JOSEPH LAMBELET, MEMBER OF THE PETIT CONSEIL DE NEUCHATEL, the institution guaranteeing the respect of customs. PROVENANCE: Mathieu Vavra (for Wavre?), then by purchase his cousin David Rolin in 1699 (the latter's manuscript bookplate on one of the first leaves). - The heirs of David Rolin then THE LIBRARIAN SAMUEL FAUCHE (1732-1803) and then, by purchase, Abraham-Joseph Lambelet (1702-1777)Manuscript bookplate on the same place). - The daughter of this one Alexandrine Lambelet, wife of Daniel Lardy, then, by descent, James-Louis Lardy, died in 1908 (handwritten note in the same place). - Georges Millin de Grandmaison (handwritten bookplate and armorial bookplate vignette, on the upper back cover). Deputy and then senator of Maine-et-Loire, Georges Millin de Grandmaison (1865-1943) was a descendant of General Mouton and his wife, Félicité-Caroline d'Arberg de Valangin. It is this last owner who had the blank leaves of the volume enriched with 43 HERALDIC REPRESENTATIONS illustrating his family history.