The theory of droit administratif lays down the principle that an agent of the government cannot be prosecuted or sued for acts relating to his administrative functions before the ordinary tribunals.
It will give some idea of the importance of the town to mention that it had its own maritime law, known as Droit maritime de Damme.
The years of his exile were devoted to his Repertoire de jurisprudence (5th ed., 18 vols., Paris, 1827-1828) and to his Recueil alphabetique des questions de droit (4th ed., 8 vols., Paris, 1827-1828).
It issues a periodical publication called Le Droit d'auteur giving information respecting the laws of different states relating to published matter of all kinds.
A fuller analysis, and some notice of the predecessors of Grotius, will be found in Hely, Etude sur le droit de la guerre de Grotius (Paris, 1875).