Antoine Portail (1675 – 3 May 1736) was a French politician, a First President of the Parlement of Paris, and a member of the French Academy.
Background
To fully understand this article, one must be familiar with the judicial system of France under the
Old Regime
Old or OLD may refer to:
Places
*Old, Baranya, Hungary
*Old, Northamptonshire, England
* Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD)
*OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Ma ...
, during the 17th and 18th centuries. Though the English word
parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
derived from the French word
parlement, they were not the same thing. A French parlement was closer to an English superior court of appeals. Just as the English parliament is divided into "chambers", a French parlement also had several "chambers". There were over a dozen French parlements throughout the country, the most important of which was in Paris. The highest "chamber" of the Parlement of Paris was the "Great Chamber".
Biography
The son of a member of the Great Chamber, and a student of
Charles Rollin
Charles Rollin (January 30, 1661 in Paris - December 14, 1741 in Paris) was a French historian and educator, whose popularity in his time combined with becoming forgotten by later generations makes him an epithet, applied to historians such as ...
, Antoine Portail rose from an attorney, to an attorney general, to the
President of the Mortar (chief justice of the Great Chamber), before becoming a First President (a royal appointed position) of the Parlement of Paris in 1724. The same year he was elected to the
French Academy
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...
. "His natural eloquence and his love of literature,"
d'Alembert
Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert (; ; 16 November 1717 – 29 October 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. Until 1759 he was, together with Denis Diderot, a co-editor of the '' Encyclopé ...
laconically noted, "were his qualifications to the Academy."
He was of great service to
Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Ver ...
and, under the
regency of Louis XV, he was appointed, with
Guillaume de Lamoignon de Blancmesnil
Guillaume II de Lamoignon, seigneur de Blancmesnil et de Malesherbes (Paris, 1683 —1772) was a French magistrate.
Biography
The second son of the président Chrétien François de Lamoignon, he was named general avocat for the Parlement of Pa ...
, President of the Chamber of Justice, created in 1716 to audit the country's financial records after 1698, and to prosecute any criminal activity uncovered. Later, he was one of the commissioners named to help the regent resolve the problems created by
John Law
John Law may refer to:
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* John Law (artist) (born 1958), American artist
* John Law (comics), comic-book character created by Will Eisner
* John Law (film director), Hong Kong film director
* John Law (musician) (born 1961) ...
's General Bank.
"He was," said
Barbier,
[Quoted by Pierre Larousse, ''Op. cit.''] "a magistrate who represented a very beautiful individual, graceful, with an infinite politeness for everyone and full of spirit."
He married the granddaughter of
Toussaint Rose.
References
External links
Biography at the French Academy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portail
1675 births
1736 deaths
French politicians
Members of the Académie Française