Claude-Joseph de Ferrière. Nouvelle introduction a la pratique: contenant l'explication des termes de pratique, de droit & de coûtumes. Avec les jurisdictions de France . 2 vols. Bruxelles: Par la Societe, 1739. 19 cm.

Claude-Joseph de Ferrière was a successful jurisconsult, Docteur Régent of the University of Paris, and avocat for Parlement. The son of well-known jurisconsult, Claude de Ferrière (1639-1715), Claude-Joseph’s most notable contribution appears to have been editing and enlarging his father’s works. His works were popular and wide-ranging on legal topics, and with the aid of Claude-Joseph, and later Parisian jurist and legal writer, Antoine-Gaspard Boucher d'Argis (1708-1791), enjoyed more than one-hundred years of currency. Incidentally, the M*** named in the title is believed to be Boucher d'Argis

Claude-Joseph de Ferrière’s Dictionnaire de droit et de dratique emerged from the earlier work of his father, Introduction à la pratique, contenant l'explication des principaux termes de pratiques & de coutume, which first appeared in 1679. The initial text went through numerous editions during Claude de Ferrière’s life, and after his death Claude-Joseph continued re-issuing revisions of the popular reference. In 1734 the work began appearing in two forms: the Dictionnaire, and Nouvelle introduction à la pratique, which continued as an independent publication for another thirty years. The new title, Dictionnaire, reflected eighteenth-century enthusiasm for the genre of the dictionary.

Tarlton Law Library holds four editions of this work.

Bibliography:

Jennie C. Meade. "Introduction." In Claude-Joseph de Ferrière. Dictionnaire de Droit et de Pratique, Contenant L'Explication des Termes de Droit, d'Ordonnances, de Coutumes, & de Pratique. Avec les Jurisdictions de France. Nouvelle Edition, Revue, Corrigée & Augmentée Par M***. Clark, NJ: The Lawbook Exchange, 2008. [Facsimile edition].