Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert

Who was Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert?

Pierre le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert or Boisguillebert was a French law-maker and a Jansenist, one of the inventors of the notion of an economical market.

He was born at Rouen of an ancient noble family of Normandy, allied to that of Corneille. He received his classical education in Rouen, and was also taught at the Petites écoles de Port-Royal, entered the magistracy and became judge at Montivilliers, near Le Havre. In 1690 he became president of the bailliage of Rouen, a post which he retained almost until his death, leaving it to his son.

In these two situations he made a close study of local economic conditions, personally, supervising the cultivation of his lands, and entering into relations with the principal merchants of Rouen. He was thus led to consider the misery of the people under the burden of taxation. In 1695 he published his principal work, Le détail de la France; la cause de la diminution de ses biens et la facilité du remède. In it he drew a picture of the general ruin of all classes of Frenchmen, caused by the bad economic regime. In opposition to Colbert's mercantilist views he held that the wealth of a country consists, not in the abundance of money which it possesses but in what it produces and exchanges. The remedy for the evils of the time was not so much the reduction as the equalization of the imposts, which would allow the poor to consume more, raise the production and add to the general wealth. He demanded the reform of the taille, the suppression of internal customs duties and greater freedom of trade. In his Factum de la France, published in 1705 or 1706, he gave a more concise resume of his ideas. But his proposal to substitute for all aides and customs duties a single capitation tax of a tenth of the revenue of all property was naturally opposed by the tax farmers and found little support.