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This is the first detailed study of President Durey de Meinières (1705�85), an influential member of the Parlement of Paris at the time of the religious and constitutional conflicts of the middle years of the reign of Louis XV. Durey de Meinières came from a recently ennobled family and was well connected both at Court and in the world of high finance. His activities as a collector of historical manuscripts, copying and collating the records of the Parlement, soon came to occupy the major part of his activities and to absorb his fortune. His aim was to facilitate the eventual writing of a history of the Court to which he was attached and also to demonstrate that throughout the centuries the Parlement of Paris had sought to defend the freedom and rights of the king's subjects under law. The reputation of Durey de Meinières is cleared of the charge made against him by some historians of being a political subversive. The fate of his impressive collections is studied and further possibilities of research outlined.
