Guy Coquille

Guy Coquille (1523, Decize – 1603), also called Conchyleus, was a French jurist.

He studied the humanities in the Collège de Navarre, Paris, from 1532 to 1539, and then law in Padua and Orléans.

Coquille took up the practice of law in Paris in 1550, and moved to Nevers in 1559, where he worked as an advocate for the Parlement.

He represented the Third Estate of his province in the States-General of 1560, 1576 and 1588, and served as procureur fiscal of the Duke of Nevers from 1571 on.

They include the Institutions au droit des Francois, ou Nouvelle Conférence des Coutumes de France (1607) and the Questions et responses sur les Coutumes de France (1611).

Statue representing Guy Coquille, by sculptor Louis Rochet. It adorns the clock tower in the town of Decize (Nièvre, France), inaugurated on September 23, 1849.