Godefroy

Related Category: Law: Biographies

(gôdfrwä´), family of French scholars. Denis Godefroy, 1549–1622, was a Calvinist who fled (c.1580) to Geneva and later became a professor of law at Strasbourg and Heidelberg. He compiled an edition (1583) of the Corpus Juris Civilis, which may be called the first modern edition. His son, Théodore Godefroy, 1580–1649, became a Roman Catholic, was royal historiographer of France, and took part in the negotiation of the Peace of Westphalia. Another son, Jacques Godefroy, 1587–1622, remained a Calvinist and was professor of law at Geneva. His edition of the Theodosian Code (1665) is one of the masterpieces of legal scholarship.