author
David Hoüard
1725–1802
An 18th-century French lawyer and legal scholar, he is remembered for studying old laws and customs with unusual depth. His best-known work explores the Coutume de Normandie, a cornerstone of Norman law.
2 Audiobooks
Anciennes loix des François, conservées dans les coutumes angloises, recueillies par Littleton, Vol. I
by Sir Thomas Littleton, David Hoüard
Anciennes loix des François conservées dans les coutumes angloises recueillies par Littleton, Vol. II
by Sir Thomas Littleton, David Hoüard
About the author
Born in Dieppe on February 26, 1725, and later dying in Abbeville on December 15, 1802, David Hoüard—also written David Houard—was a French avocat and jurisconsult. He built his reputation through close study of legal history, especially the traditions and customary law of Normandy.
He is best known for the Dictionnaire analytique, historique, étymologique, critique et interprétatif de la Coutume de Normandie, a major reference work published in the early 1780s. Library and scholarly sources also credit him with works on early French laws preserved in English customs, showing how strongly he was drawn to the long history of law across both France and England.
Hoüard was recognized in learned circles during his lifetime and was elected an associate member of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres in 1785. Though not widely known today outside legal history, he remains an important figure for readers interested in Norman law, historical scholarship, and the roots of French legal tradition.