Untitled - Monoskop

SEEKING AND GRANTING PRIVILEGES
But, unlike the chancery, the Parlement did not issue the privilege, if
granted, in the form of an imposing sealed document. The successful
applicant could obtain an authenticated transcript of the judgement of the
court, an 'extrait des registres de Parlement'. This was written out on a strip of
parchment and signed by an authorised official of the court, with the words
'Collation est faicte'. The signature is usually that of the greffier, normally the
greffier civil (e.g. Du Tillet) but occasionally the greffier criminel (e.g. Robert)
who could act for him if he was not available. The signature, unlike that of the
royal secretary upon Letters Patent, was not an essential of the grant, but only
an attestation that the transcript was a true copy of the judgement of the court
which had conferred the grant. The privilege-holder, having paid for this
transcript, in most cases had it printed carefully
referred.
in the book to which it
There was one exception. Once in 1512 the Parlement issued a privilege in
the form of Letters Patent, as from the king, in Latin (PA 1512, 8). This was
exceptional in its form, but not in its scope, for it was the standard two-year
grant. And the form was probably chosen in view of the contents of the books
to be covered by the privilege. These were: a corrected edition of the Style of
the court, as formulated by the famous fourteenth-century advocate Guillaume
de Brueil or De Brolio; an Ordinatio of the court on thirteen particular
points of the Style; a set of Ordonnances for the guidance of litigants; and a
translation into Latin of the classic French legal farce Pathelin. This priuilegium
regale in the name of Louis XII 'in parlamento nostro' 6 September 1512,
granted to Guillaume Eustace, was signed by Maitre Antoine Robert, who
was both one of the royal secretaries and the greffier criminel of the Parlement.
In the case of the Style, at least, Robert was himself the author of the revised
edition, and had given it to Eustace with the authority of the court, as Eustace
makes clear in his colophon, while also accepting the cost of publishing it. 1
It
guaranteed that this publication, and the two like it, would be printed
carefully, as befitted texts so vital to all who had business in the courts,
without expense to the court. That the arrangement was some special bargain
negotiated on behalf of the court by Robert is clear.
Books were usually submitted, with the application, when the printing of
them had just been completed or was ready to be completed within a short
time, perhaps in proof. A sample of the books for which we have both the date
of completion and the date of the Paris Parlement privilege, taken in a typical
year (1516), gives the result shown in the table.
'Impressus Parisius procurante et auctorc nobili viro Magistro Anthonio Robert notario et
secretario Regio ac graphario criminali supreme curie parlamenti ipsius impensis honesti viri
Guillermi Eustace uniuersitatis Parisiensis librarii iurati . . . Quod
grapharius corrigendum et prefato Eustace imprimendum ipsius supreme
curauit.' Stilus f. parlamenti (PA 1512, 9(1)), J i
v
.
70
quidem opus dictus
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