French lawyer and writer.

Practiced law in Troyes. Treasurer to the maréchal de Maillebois in Italy during the War of the Austrian Succession (1745-46); subsequently published a history of the campaign. Edited the Ephémérides troyennes (1757-68). Traveled to Italy (1758), London (1765), where he met Franklin, and Holland (1772).

Author of Recherches pour servir à l’histoire du droit français (1752), Londres (1770), a three-volume study of English society, and numerous other works. Member of several learned academies, including the Royal Society (1765).