|
See also:BERENGER, See also:ALPHONSE See also:MARIE MARCELLIN See also:- THOMAS
- THOMAS (c. 1654-1720)
- THOMAS (d. 110o)
- THOMAS, ARTHUR GORING (1850-1892)
- THOMAS, CHARLES LOUIS AMBROISE (1811-1896)
- THOMAS, GEORGE (c. 1756-1802)
- THOMAS, GEORGE HENRY (1816-187o)
- THOMAS, ISAIAH (1749-1831)
- THOMAS, PIERRE (1634-1698)
- THOMAS, SIDNEY GILCHRIST (1850-1885)
- THOMAS, ST
- THOMAS, THEODORE (1835-1905)
- THOMAS, WILLIAM (d. 1554)
THOMAS (1785-1866) , known as Berenger de la See also:Drome, See also:French lawyer and politician, son of a See also:deputy of the third See also:estate of See also:Dauphine to the Constituent See also:Assembly, was See also:born at See also:Valence on the 31st of May 1785. He entered the magistracy and became procureur See also:general at See also:Grenoble, but resigned this See also:- OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")
office on the restoration of the Bourbons. He now devoted himself mainly to the study of criminal See also:law, and in 1818 published La See also:Justice criminelle en See also:France, in which with See also:great courage he attacked the See also:special tribunals, provosts' courts or military commissions which were the See also:main See also:instruments of the Reaction, and advocated a return to the old See also:common law and trial by See also:jury. The See also:book had a considerable effect in discrediting the reactionary policy of the See also:government; but it was not until 1828, when Berenger was elected to the chamber, that he had an opportunity of exercising a See also:personal See also:influence on affairs as a member of the See also:group known as that of constitutional opposition. His courage, as well as his moderation, was again displayed during the revolution of 183o, when, as See also:president of the See also:parliamentary See also:commission for the trial of the ministers of See also:Charles X., he braved the fury of the See also:mob and secured a See also:sentence of imprisonment in See also:place of the See also:death See also:penalty for which they clamoured.
His position in the chamber was now one of much influence, and he had a large See also:share in the modelling of the new constitution, though his effort to secure a hereditary See also:peerage failed. Above all he was instrumental in framing the new criminal See also:code, based on more humanitarian principles, which was issued in 1835. It was due to him that, in 1832, the right, so important in actual French practice, was given to juries to find " extenuating. circumstances " in cases when See also:guilt involved the death penalty. In 1831 he had been made a member of the See also:court of See also:appeal (tour de cassation), and the same See also:year was nominated a member of the See also:academy of moral and See also:political sciences. He was raised to the peerage in 1839. This dignity he lost owing to the revolution of 1848; and as a politician his career now ended. As a See also:judge, however, his activity continued. He was president of the high courts of See also:Bourges and See also:Versailles in 1849. Having been appointed president of one of the See also:chambers of the court of cassation, he devoted himself entirely to judicial See also:work until his retirement, under the See also:age limit, on the 31st of May 186o. He now withdrew to his native See also:town, and occupied himself with his favourite work of reform of criminal law. In 1833 he had shared in the See also:foundation of a society for the reclamation of See also:young criminals, in which he continued to be actively interested to the end. In 1851 and 1852, on the commission of the academy of moral sciences, he had travelled in France and See also:England for the purpose of examining and comparing the penal systems in the two countries. The result was published in 1855 under the See also:title La Repression penale, comparaison du systeme penitentiaire en France et en Angleterre. He died on the 15th of May 1866.
His son, RENE BERENGER (1830- ), continued the work of his See also:father, and at the outbreak of the revolution of 187o was avocat general of See also:Lyons. He served as a volunteer in the Franco-See also:German See also:War, being wounded at Nuits on the 28th of See also:December. Returned to the See also:National Assembly by the See also:department of Drome, he was for a few days in 1873 See also:minister of public See also:works under See also:Thiers. He then entered the See also:senate, of which he was See also:vice-president from 1894 to 1897. He founded in 1871 a society for the reclamation of discharged prisoners, and presided over various bodies formed to secure improvement of the public morals. He succeeded Charles See also:Lucas in 1890 at the Academy of Moral and Political See also:Science.
End of Article: BERENGER, ALPHONSE MARIE MARCELLIN THOMAS (1785-1866)
Additional information and Comments
There are no comments yet for this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.
|
del.icio.us it!