"Arresta notabilia tam Supremi Mechlinien[sis] Consilii quam Privati collecta a nobili viro D. Du Fief. Dictorum Consiliorum dum viveret successivé Senatoris celeberrimi".

4to: [6]-336-[16] pp., in French and Latin (sl. browning, a few spots).

Contemp. vellum (soiling, corners and endcaps sl. used, scratch on upper board).

Rare manuscript copy of judgements of the Great Council of Mechelen compiled by Du Fief (c. 1576-1651), former ecclesiastical councillor of this court and member of the Council of State and the Private Council. He was nominated Bishop of Arras in 1637 but he never took on the role because Louis XIII seized the city. This document is a precious testimony to the circulation of legal texts in manuscript form during the 17th century. The judgements compiled by Du Fief were published more than a century later in 1773 by J.B. Henry in Lille under the title "Arrêts du Grand Conseil de Sa Majesté impériale et catholique résidant en la ville de Malines, recueillis par M. Du Fief".
Ref. Biogr. nat. VI:250-253. - Thomas, Prosopographie des grands commis, I:324-325. - Dekkers 56.2 (ed. 1773).