Barthélemy de Chasseneuz (1480–1541) was a French jurist. His name has also been recorded as Cassaneus Bertalan, Bartholomaeus Cassaneus, Bartholomäus Cassaneus, Barthelemy de Chassenée, de Chassaneo, Bartholm Chasseneux, Chassanæus, Chassanaeus, Hassanaus, or Bartholomew Cassaneus. De Chasseneuz studied law in Dole,

Poitiers Poitiers is a city on the river Clain in west-central France. It is a commune in France, commune, the capital of the Vienne (department), Vienne department and the historical center of Poitou, Poitou Province. In 2021, it had a population of 9 ...

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

and

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

under teachers such as Jason de Mayno,

Filippo Decio Filippo Decio or Decius (1454 – ) was an Italian jurist whose services were courted by European universities and rulers. He was an influential representative of the pre-Humanist scholastic ''ius commune'' tradition, and one of the leading jur ...

, Franciscus Curtis junior and Rochus de Curte, and graduated in 1502. After he had served the

duchy of Milan The Duchy of Milan (; ) was a state in Northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti of Milan, Visconti family, which had been ruling the city since 1277. At that time, ...

and

Pope Julius II Pope Julius II (; ; born Giuliano della Rovere; 5 December 144321 February 1513) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 to his death, in February 1513. Nicknamed the Warrior Pope, the Battle Pope or the Fearsome ...

in various capacities, the outbreak of the plague caused him to move back to France. He practiced law in

Autun Autun () is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Saône-et-Loire Departments of France, department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region of central-eastern France. It was founded during the Principate era of the e ...

in 1506 and became crown attorney of the Autun '' baillage'' in 1508. There, he made his reputation as a criminal lawyer by his eloquent defense of a group of rats who were put on trial for destroying the barley crop of the province. His legal career became the basis of the 1993 film ''

The Hour of the Pig ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

.'' He became a member of the

Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...

parlement Under the French Ancien Régime, a ''parlement'' () was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 ''parlements'', the original and most important of which was the ''Parlement'' of Paris. Though both th ...

'' in 1525 and president of the

Aix Aix or AIX may refer to: Computing * AIX, a line of IBM computer operating systems *Alternate index, for an IBM Virtual Storage Access Method key-sequenced data set * Athens Internet Exchange, a European Internet exchange point Places Belg ...

''parlement'' in 1532. During the unrest brought about by the Protestant Reformation in France, de Chasseneuz, though a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, sought to protect the

Waldensians The Waldensians, also known as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi, or Vaudois, are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the Poor of Lyon in the l ...

.Edward Payson Evans, ''The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals'' (1906), p. 20. De Chasseneuz's principal work is the ''Commentaria in consuetudines ducatus Burgundiae'' (1517), the first substantial and scientific commentary on the ''

droit coutumier A droit ( French for ''right'' or ''Law'') is a legal title, claim or due. Droits of admiralty (English law) The term is used in English law in the phrase " droits of admiralty". This refers to certain customary rights or perquisites, formerly b ...

'' or French

customary law A legal custom is the established pattern of behavior within a particular social setting. A claim can be carried out in defense of "what has always been done and accepted by law". Customary law (also, consuetudinary or unofficial law) exists wher ...

. The work was widely cited in France and abroad, and was even used centuries later to help interpret the

Code Napoléon The Napoleonic Code (), officially the Civil Code of the French (; simply referred to as ), is the French civil code established during the French Consulate in 1804 and still in force in France, although heavily and frequently amended since it ...

. This is due to the work's extensive coverage of

Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. Roman law also den ...

, which unlike in other parts of France featured strongly in Burgundian customary law. De Chasseneuz's other works include ''Catalogus gloriae mundi'' (1529), an encyclopedic panorama of the author's knowledge, and the ''Repertorium consiliorum'' (1531), a collection of legal advice given by him.

References

External links

CERL entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chasseneuz, Bartholomaeus de 1480 births 1541 deaths 16th-century French lawyers