Petit-pied, Nicolas (1)

Petit-Pied, Nicolas (1)

a French canonist, was born in Paris December 24, 1627. He was made doctor of the Sorbonne in 1658, and counsellor-clerk in the Chatelet in 1662. He was provided shortly after with the curacy of Saint-Martial in Paris, united later to that of Saint-Pierre-des-Arcis, and finally became under-chorister and canon of the metropolitan church. In 1678, having wished, as dean of the counsellors, to preside in the Chatelet in the absence of the lieutenants, he found a violent opposition among the lay-counsellors, who pretended that the clergy had not the right to preside and to decaniser. Upon the complaint of Petit-Pied, March 17, 1682, the authorities interposed a decree which gained for him the cause. The researches which he was obliged to make for the pursuit of this affair furnished him the occasion for composing an excellent Trait' du droit et des prerogatives des ecclesiastiques dans l'administration de la justice seculiere (Paris, 1705, 4to). See Journ. des Savans, 1705; Moreri. Dict. Hist.; Descript. Hist. de l'Eglise de Paris. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, 39:719.