Robert Joseph Pothier (9 January 1699 – 2 March 1772) was a French jurist.

He studied law to qualify for the magistracy, and was appointed Judge in 1720 of the Presidial Court of Orléans, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.

[2] Pothier paid particular attention to the correction and co-ordination of the text of the Pandects.

His Pandectae Justinianae in novum ordinem digestae (Paris and Chartres, 1748–1752) is a classic in the study of Roman law.

Pothier devised a law limiting recovery in the case of improper performance of a contractual obligation to those damages which are foreseeable.