ABSTRACT
The writings of the leading authorities on the law are more likely to be relied upon by French legal professionals than is the case in England. There was a good deal of resistance to the notion that the commentators could have a leading influence on the manner in which the law was to be interpreted and applied at the beginning of the 19th century, when, as will be explained later, the exegists ruled the roost: for them, the lois were the sole source of the law, because they were deemed to be self-sufficient and self-explanatory. This is why for some time, there developed an increasingly wide divide between the manner in which the leading commentators interpreted the law, and legislative interpretation as expressed in court decisions.
