SPIFAME, Raoul; Jean Auffray (ed.).

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Vues d'un politique du XVIe siècle, First Auffray edition of the Diaearchae Henrici Regis Christianissimi Progymnasmata (1556), a pioneering argument for popular access to the justice system. Among contemporary legal writers, Spifame's treatise "led the way in the emerging literature of judicial reform" (Schneider, p. 448). The Diaearchae, ostensibly a collection of laws issued by the reigning king Henry II of France, proposes various incisive measures for the greater simplification, standardization, and accessibility of the justice system. Many of these proposals, including the abolition of seigneurial privileges and the standardization of weights and measures, were later implemented.Raoul Spifame (1500-1563), a Parisian lawyer who was later confined to a mental asylum, combined insanity and legal perceptiveness in equal measure. While Spifame had some incisive legal arguments to make, the book's origins are rather more unusual - he appears to have begun it after noting his strong resemblance to the king in question.This edition is edited by the physiocrat economist Jean Auffray (1733-1788).

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