JACQUES GODEFROY, eon of Deny; was born at Geneva in 1587. In 1619 he was appointed professor of law at Geneva, and afterwards was made councilor of state; he also filled various other important offices of that republic, and was sent upon several foreign missions, all of which he discharged to the satisfaction ' of hie countrymen. He was deeply versed in the study and history of jurisprudence in all its branche; was an accomplished classical scholar, and upon the whole was one of the most distinguished men that Geneva has produced. His principal work, about which he laboured for thirty years, and which was published after his death, is his edition of the Theodosian code, or collection of the Roman law as promulgated by Theodosius the younger, A.D. 438. This Theodosian code contains the edicts and reseripte of sixteen emperors, from the first Constantine to Theodosius himself ; it is divided into sixteen books, and the laws aro arranged in chronological order. An abridg ment of this code is contained in the 'Breriarium ' of Anianue, a com pendium of the Roman law, compiled in 506, by order of Alaric, for the use of his Roman subjects. Several editions of the Theodosian code, all of them more or less defective, were published in the 16th century. The edition of Gothofredus, entitled 'Codex Theodosianus cum perpetnis Notis,' 6 vols., fol., 1665, is a master work of its kind. To the text of the Code Godefroy subjoins the ancient explanation, followed by his own notes, in which he adverts to the various readings, and to the parallel or conflicting passages in the Theodosian and Jus tinian Codes; and he completes the illustration of each title by an ample commentary on the scope and tendency of the various enact ments, presenting the reader with an immense mass of erudition, classical, historical, and juridical. He has moreover prefixed to the first volume a Codieis Theodosiani: followed by 'Prole gomena ' on the same, concerning the history of the Code. The last volume contains Notitia Dignitatum seu Administrationum tam Civilinm quam Militarium Imperil,' a 'Prosopegmphia: or notice of all persons mentioned in the Code, a Topegraphia, sive Orbis Roma nus ex Cordice Theodesiano deseriptue,' and a Glossarium Nomicum Codicil% Theodosiani: All these accessory tracts aro so many mines of most valuable information. Gibbon, in the 'Memoirs of his own Life,'
acknowledges the great obligations he owed to Godefroy's labours while composing his own 'History of the Roman Empire,' and be styles his edition of the Theodosian Code 'a full and capacious reposi tory of the political state of the Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries.' About seventy years after the appearance of Godefroy's work, Professor J. D. Ritter republished it with various additions, in 7 vols. fol., Leipzig, 1736-45. Since that time inedited fragments of the Theodo sian Code have been discovered in the Ambrosian and Turin libraries, filling up many lacunas in the first five books. Codicis Theodosiani libr. v. priores: recognovit, additamentis insignibus a W. F. Clossio at Amedeo Peyron repertis aliisque auxit, notes subitaneis tum criticia tum exegeticis instruxit Car. Frid. Chrietianus 1Venck: 8vo., Leipzig, 1825. The most complete edition of the text of the Theodosian Code is that edited by Hanel in the 'Corpus Juris Ante-Justinianum,' Bonn, 1837.
Among the numerous other works of Jacques Godefroy, the follow ing are the most esteemed :-1, 'Manuals Juris;' 2, Fontes quatuor June Civills, containing fragments of the Twelve Tables,' with notes ; 3,' De Statu Paganorum sub Imperatoribus Christiania;' 4, Opus culum de Imperio Maris et de Jure Naufragii colligendi, Lege Rhodia ; ' 5, Notaa in Tertulliani "Ad Nationes," libree duos ineditos r 6, V. Orationes Libanli Sophistae pritnum veate Latina donate;' 7, III. Orationes; de Statu Germania), do Cause Odii Juliani in Christi anos, de Causie Achwerum Reipublicas Intoritue ; ' 8, Dissertatio de Suburbicariis Regionibus et Ecelesiis; ' 9, 'Fragmenta Legum Julite et Rapids° collects et Notis illustrate.' He also edited Philostergii Cappadocia Ecclesiastics Historic, libri xii.,' and 'Vetus Orbia Descriptio Grwci Scriptoris sub Constantio et Constante Imperatoribus, in Greek and Latin. Godefroy wrote in French, 'Le Mercure Jeeuitique, ou Recueil de Pieces concernant lee Progres des Jesuites depuis 1620.' Godefroy died at Geneva in 1652. His juridical works, except his illus trations of the Theodosian Code, were collected by Trotz, fol., Leyden, 1733, with a notice of the author.