Chopin frédéric

1575 · 57504 — 1575. Paris 1575. 1st ed. Paris 1575. 1st ed. The First Modern Treatise on Rural Rights: Rene Choppin's Landmark 1575 Agrarian Law Choppin Rene 1537-1606. De Privilegiis Rusticorum: Lib. III. O Fortunatos Nimium Sua Si Bona Norint Agricolas Gnauosque Senes Extrema per Illos Iustitia Excedens Terris Vestigia Fecit. Paris: Apud Nicolaum Chesneau 1575 colophon: 29 November 1574. xvi 248 24 pp. Quarto 9" x 6-1/2"; 22.86 x 16.51 cm. Contemporary limp vellum early calligraphic title to spine ties lacking. Negligible light shelfwear text block partially detached from binding. Woodcut printer device to title page woodcut decorated initials. Some toning light dampspotting and early annotations to a few leaves. A very good unsophisticated copy in its original binding. $1500. First Edition of this pioneering and rare treatise on the legal rights and social standing of the rural peasantry. Choppin a distinguished avocat of the Parlement of Paris was a key figure in the "Gallican" school of law. Alongside Jean Bodin and Jean Bacquet he sought to unify French law under royal authority by synthesizing Roman principles with local custom. De Privilegiis Rusticorum is a landmark work that defines the "privileges" of farmers-not as aristocratic perks but as specific legal protections regarding land access taxation and debt. The work famously invokes Virgil's Georgics in its title reflecting the Humanist effort to reconcile classical agrarian ideals with 16th-century legal practice. The Biographie Universelle notes it "deserves notice for the singularity of its subject" and its "profound research" 8:499. Rare in commerce and in institutional collections. OCLC locates only three North American copies Columbia GWU Harvard. Camus Profession d'Avocat 1477. unknown