LABOULAYE, EDOUARD RE2d, LEFLBVRE, b. Paris, Jan. 18, 1811. Considered in the versatility of his genius, and the noble directions in which his learning, industry, and wit have been used, lie is one of the eminent men of his time. Be was a student of law, early in-life devoting himself to the history of continental laws with singular energy and intelligence. At the age of 28 he became known by an elaborate work entitled His tory of Landed Property in Europe from the Time of Constantine to Our Day, S vols. (Paris, 1839). In 1842 he published an essay on the life and doctrines of Frederic Charles de Sevigny, and became an advocate in the royal court of Paris. He was engaged at this time on an elaborate work, which appeared in 1813, entitled Researches on the Civil and Politi cal Condition of Women from the Times of the Romans to the Present. In 1845 he published the Emy on the Criminal Laws of the Romans Concerning the Responsibilities of Magistrates. Each of these works was crowned on its appearance by the academy of inscriptions, and the same year lie was elected a member of that institution. All these works attracted great attention among the learned, and contributed to revive in France the study of the history of law. To erudition lie joined original views, and great simplicity and clear ness of expression, forming a style at once concise, quaint, and elegant. These qualities have become still more remarkable in his later and more imaginative and satirical works. In 1849 lie became professor of comparative legislation in the college of France. Under the empire of Napoleon III. he associated with the men who endeavored to revive public spirit in France. Ile wrote with enthusiasm and intelligence on the institutions of free America to induce his countrymen to adopt the progressive spirit of its people. His lectures on this country, during and after the war for the preservation of the tinion, were extremely popular in Paris, and served to keep a sufficient weight of French sentiment on the side of the union and against slavery to prevent Napoleon from throwing the weight of his power openly against our government. M. Lahoulaye is a man of hand some personal presence and winning address. This lectures on law are attractive even to those who have no interest in its study.
In 1868 M. Labonlaye published one of the first of the imaginative and satirical works which have since made him, for the time being, quite as famous a satirist as jurist. This was a little volpme, entitled Paris in America, in which lie humorously employs a supernatural agency to transport a Frenchman with his family into the midst of Ameri can family life and town excitements at a period when disaster had come to the national arnis during the \ Val' for the union. The veiled drollery of the situations by which he lampoons some of the peculiarities of the Napoleonic government, making them ridicu lous while defending them with all the ardor of French patriotism, is among the best specimens of irony extant. This book went through upwards of 30 editions in Paris, and was admirably translated into English by 'Mary L. Booth, of New York. In a simi lar vein of political satire were his tales of Tiluebeard. the New Bluebeard and The Poodle Prince, Prince Caniche, published subsequently. The latter appeared in 1868, ran through rJany editions, and did much to pave the way to the easy dropping out of the Napoleonic dynasty two years later.
The following list of M. works, in addition to those already referred to, exhibits the intellectual activity and scope of his life, viz.: History of the United States. 8 (1854); Contemporaneous Studies of Germany and the Slavic States, 12 vols. (1854); The Tables of Bronze, of Xalaga and Salpeusa (1855); Souvenirs of a Traveler (1857); Religious Liberty (1858); Studies upon Literary Property in France and England (1858); Introduction to Fleurry's French Law (1858); Abdallah, an Arabian Romance 085E9: The United States and France (186,2); The State and Its Limits (1863); Essays on the Politics of .3f. de Tocqueville (1863); The Liberal Party, Its Programme (1864); Constitutional Repub lic (1871).
31. Laboulaye has also translated from English into French, Walter On the Law Pro ceedings of the Romans; Channing's social works, and Channing On Slavery in the United States, with an essay on his life and doctrines; also, Franklin's Memoirs and Correspond ence, with an introduction. His contributions to French reviews, legal and political, and to the journals of Paris, have been numerous and have had great influence.