Jean de Cambacérès

Jean de Cambacérès (1753-1824), French statesman and jurist, born in Montpellier. Educated as a lawyer, Cambacérès became president of the criminal court in Montpellier in 1791. During the French Revolution, he was elected to the National Convention and voted somewhat reluctantly for the execution of King Louis XVI. Avoiding party politics, Cambacérès concentrated on legal matters and formulated the civil code from which the Code Napoléon was eventually derived. In 1796 he became a member of the Council of Five Hundred, the lower house of the new legislature set up by the constitution of 1795. In June 1799 he became minister of justice, and in November of that year he assisted in the coup d'état that brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power as First Consul; in 1804 Bonaparte became emperor of France as Napoleon I. In 1799 Cambacérès was appointed to the second highest position in the nation as Second Consul, in 1804 he was made archchancellor of the empire, and in 1808 Napoleon created him duke of Parma. In 1813-1814 Cambacérès directed civil affairs as president of the Council of Regency, finally voting for Napoleon's abdication. During the Hundred Days, however, he again served Napoleon as minister of justice and president of the House of Peers. After Waterloo and the permanent restoration of the Bourbons under Louis XVIII, Cambacérès was exiled because of his involvement in the death of Louis XVI and went to live in Belgium. His legal and political rights were restored to him in 1818, and he returned to France.