author
David Hoüard
1725–1802
An 18th-century French lawyer and legal scholar, he is remembered for digging deeply into Norman custom and early French law. His work helped preserve older legal traditions and made them easier for later historians to study.
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 died in Abbeville on December 15, 1802, David Hoüard—also written David Houard—was a French avocat and jurisconsult. He built his reputation through careful research into customary law, especially the legal traditions of Normandy.
He is best known for major scholarly works on old French and Anglo-Norman law, including studies of the Coutume de Normandie and other early legal sources. Rather than writing only for courtroom practice, he worked like a historical detective, collecting, comparing, and explaining texts that might otherwise have faded from view.
Hoüard was also recognized by learned institutions in his lifetime: he became an associate member of the Académie royale des inscriptions et belles-lettres in 1785. Though not widely known today outside legal history, he remains an important figure for readers interested in how French law was shaped by custom, scholarship, and the long memory of the past.