Distinguished French lawyer.

Avocat au parlement de Paris (1752). Concerned with social justice; associated with the Jansenist opposition to the Maupeou parlement. Published numerous political works, including Lettre d’un homme à un autre homme sur l’extinction de l’ancien parlement et la création d’un nouveau (Paris, 1771).

Member of the Académie française (1785), the first lawyer elected in more than a century. Helped draft the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

Friend of Crèvecoeur.