French jurist, born at Orléans on the 9th of January 1699. He studied law for the purpose of qualifying for the magistracy, and was appointed in 1720 judge of the presidial court of Orléans, thus following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. This post he held for fifty-two years. He paid particular attention to the correction and coordination of the text of the Pandects, his Pandectae Justinianae in novum ordinem digestae (Paris and Chartres, 1748–1752) being a classic in the study of Roman law. In 1749 he was made professor of law in the university of Orléans. He wrote many learned monographs on French law, and much of his work was incorporated almost textually in the French Code Civil. He died at Orléans on the 2nd of March 1772. Of his numerous treatises the following may be specially mentioned: Traité des obligations (1761); Du Contrat de vente (1762); Du Contrat de bail (1764); Du Contrat de société (1765); Des Contrats de prêt de consomption (1766); Du Contrat de depôt et de mandat (1766); Du Contrat de nantissement (1767), &c. His works have several times been published in collected form (edited by Giffrein, 1820–1824; by Dupin, 1823–1825, and by Bugnet, 2nd ed. 11 vols. 1861–1862).
See Dupin, Dissertation sur la vie et les ouvrages de Pothier (Paris, 1825), and Frémont, Vie de R. J. Pothier (Orléans, 1850).
