1. I have always been careful, in the few books which I have written, to choose quite new subjects, so that in dealing with them I have avoided running into matters already discussed. I have persuaded myself that there is not much honour in taking advantage of someone else's work, nor contentment of the spirit in showing oneself expert in ideas already devised – nor, finally, much use to the public in transcribing or embroidering what has already been written. But here I am engaged upon an extremely common matter. There is, perhaps, no subject in French law which has been treated by more authors than that of nobility. Moral and political philosophers, humanists, jurists, even modern legal practitioners have written about it, each in his own fashion. To particularise, what can one say anew after the copious Tiraqueau who has won that honour in everything he has discussed, so that it is very difficult to add anything to it? However, I cannot avoid speaking of a matter so directly relevant to my subject. Yet it follows that I must try to deal with a common matter in an uncommon way. After all, the field is so great and so fertile that those who have harvested it hitherto have still left plenty to be gleaned by those who follow them. This is what I shall endeavour to do, without putting my scythe in their crops nor appropriating the sheaves which they have collected.