Pierre-Louis Roederer

Comte Pierre Louis Roederer (15 February 1754 – 17 December 1835) was a French politician, economist, and historian, politically active in the era of the French Revolution and First French Republic. Roederer's son, Baron Antoine Marie Roederer (1782–1865), also became a noted political figure.

Born in Metz, the son of a magistrate, he studied Law at the University of Strasbourg, and, at the age of twenty-five, became councillor at the parlement of Metz (in exchange for 32,000 livres), and was commissioned in 1787 to draw up a list of remonstrances. During the period, he became an admirer of the economist Adam Smith, and helped make his works known in France. His 1787 work Suppression des douanes intérieures advocated the suppression of internal customs houses; the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica describes it as "an elaborate treatise on the laws of commerce and on the theory of customs imposts".

In 1788 he published the boldly liberal pamphlet Députation aux États généraux ("Deputation to the Estates-General"). Partly on the strength of this he was elected deputy to the Estates-General by the Third Estate of the bailliage of Metz. Although not present at the event of June 1789, Roederer was sketched by Jacques-Louis David into his drawing of the Tennis Court Oath.

In the National Constituent Assembly, Roederer was a member of the committee of taxes (comité des contributions), prepared a scheme for a new system of taxation, drew up a law on patents, occupied himself with the laws relating to revenue stamps and assignats, and was successful in opposing the introduction of an income tax.

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