CODE PENAL,
ILLUSTRATED BY JOSEPH HÉMARD
(PARIS: EDITIONS LITTÉRAIRES DE FRANCE, C. 1925).

Joseph Hémard (1880-1961) was a prolific French illustrator whose humorous and often risqué creations delighted his readers. He produced cartoons and caricatures for newspapers and books, including a variety of literary classics. Hémard also illustrated law books, history textbooks, and grammars, all in his inimitably whimsical style.

The images below come from the French criminal law code, the Code Penal, which Hémard illustrated with characteristic humor. He also illustrated two other French law books in our collection: part of the civil code (Code Civil, Livre Premier, Des Personnes (c. 1925)) and the tax laws (Code Général des Impôts Directs et Taxes Assimilées (1944)). The illustrations are done with a "pochoir" technique, using hand-colored stencils which result in brightly-colored illustrations. When embellished with Hémard's satirical images, these sober texts did little to inspire (and did not intend to inspire) a deep reverence for the law.

Our copy of the Code Civil was owned by Sir Frederick Pollock, an eminent British legal historian and long-time correspondent of Oliver Wendell Holmes.