Charles-Anibal, one of the most celebrated jurists of his time, was born in 1580, at Aix in Provence, whither his father, originally of Nismes, had gone to establish himself during the civil wars. His early studies were successfully prosecuted, and he made great progress in the ancient languages and in the civil and canon law. In 1606 he took the degree of doctor, and was soon afterwards admitted as advocate before the parliament of Aix. As this court then reckoned amongst its members men of distinguished merit, such as the celebrated Peiresc and William Duval, who was its first president, their common taste for letters naturally united them with Fabrot, for whom, in 1609, Duval procured a professorship in the university of Aix. Having become keeper of the seals, the latter carried his young friend with him to Paris, where Fabrot remained until after the death of his benefactor, when he returned to resume his peaceful functions as professor. But these did not absorb the whole of his time, and he employed his leisure in other labours, which, however, had all a relation to jurisprudence. The great interpreters whom the sixteenth century produced had left almost nothing to be added in regard to the books of this science written in Latin. But Fabrot opened for himself a different path. The successors of Justinian on the throne of Constantinople had caused to be executed in Greek an abridgment of his compilations, to which were added articles taken from the fathers and the councils; and to this abridgment Leo the Philosopher gave the name of Basilica, which, in fact, formed the code of the eastern empire until its destruction. The Basilica, long unknown, were in some sort discovered by Cujas, who made great use of them in his writings, but did not publish them. Fabrot, however, undertook this task, and, about 1639, extracted from this collection, and published in Greek and Latin, fourteen laws, which are wanting in the Digest. These, with some other productions of Fabrot, were inserted by Everard Otton in his *Thesaurus Juris Civilis*. Of the sixty books of which the Basilica were composed, thirteen have been lost. Those which remain Fabrot translated; and he supplied, by means of summaries, the place of those which are lost. This work, consisting of seven volumes in folio, was published in 1647 at Paris, where Fabrot had now established himself; and was dedicated to the Chancellor Seguier, through whose influence, exerted in his favour, he obtained a considerable pension, by means of which he was enabled to continue his useful labours. Matthieu Molé, at first procureur-général, then first president and keeper of the seals, a man whose heroic firmness is so well known, and Jerome Bignon, a magistrate distinguished for his knowledge and integrity, likewise gave Fabrot proofs of the estimation in which they held his talents. Besides the Basilica, the latter also translated into Latin the Greek paraphrase which Theophilus had made of the *Institutions* of Justinian (Paris, 1638 and 1657, in 4to).

The particular nature of his pursuits having rendered him familiar with the Byzantine historians, Fabrot published several of their works, such as those of Cedrenus, Nicephorus, Anastasius the Librarian, and others, enriched with notes and dissertations. And as he was not only acquainted with the civil, but also with the canon law of the lower empire, which in fact form but one whole; when Justel and William Voet compiled their Library of Canon Law, which appeared in 1661, they inserted in that compilation the constitutions of Theodorus Balsamon, which were found amongst the papers of Fabrot, with notes in his peculiar manner. But one of the undertakings which have done the greatest honour to this learned jurisconsult, is his edition of the works of Cujas, which he corrected according to several manuscripts, and enriched with notes and several treatises of Cujas, which had not previously seen the light. Before the appearance of those of Naples and of Venice, this was the best of all the ed- tions of Cujas. Fabrot commenced it in 1652, and completed it in 1658. It is believed that the continued and intense application which he bestowed on this work caused the malady of which he died on the 16th of January 1659. His reputation was so extensive, that the most celebrated universities of France desired to have the benefit of his services as professor of law; but he refused every offer of the kind which was made to him, however advantageous, that his attention might not be diverted from the great undertakings in which he had embarked. Fabrot wrote, 1. Epistola de Mutuo cum responsione Cl. Salmasii ad Menagius, Leyden, 1645, in 8vo; 2. Les Antiquités de la Ville de Marseille, translated from the Latin of J. Raymond de Solier, Marseilles, 1615, and Lyons, 1632, in 8vo; 3. Exercitationes duae de tempore partis humani et de numero puerperii, Aix, 1629, in 4to; 4. Praelectio in titulum Decretalium "De vita et honestate Clericorum," Paris, 1651, in 4to; 5. Notæ at titulum Codicis Theodosiani "De paganis sacrificiis et templis," Paris, 1648, in 4to.