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PREFECT (prefet)

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 277 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PREFECT (prefet) , in See also:France, the See also:title of a high See also:official. The prefects of the See also:department were created by a See also:law of the 28th Pluviose in the See also:year VIII. (Feb. 17, 1800). They were intended to be the See also:chief See also:organs of See also:internal See also:administration, and have, in fact, discharged this See also:function, especially under the First and Second See also:Empire, surviving, though with diminished importance, under the other forms of See also:government which See also:modern France has seen. In comparison with other See also:French officials, they are well paid (the See also:salary nowadays ranges from 39,000 to 18,000 francs according to the class). In the administration of the ancien regime the See also:term " prefect " was not employed; practically the only See also:case in which it occurs was in the organization of the See also:establishment of institutions opened by the religious orders, in which there was generally a " prefect of the studies " (prefet See also:des etudes). In the year VIII., in the discussion of the law of the 28th Pluviose, no See also:reason was stated for the choice of this term. But like the " Tribunes " and " Consuls " of the constitution of the year VIII., it was taken from the See also:Roman institutions which were then so See also:fashion-able (see See also:PRAEFECT) ; it may also be recalled that See also:Voltaire had used the term " prefecture " in speaking of the authority of See also:Louis XIV. over the See also:free towns of See also:Alsace. The prefect has to a certain extent a See also:double See also:character and two See also:series of functions. Firstly he is the See also:general representative of the government, whose See also:duty it is to ensure See also:execution of the government's decisions, the exercise of the law, and the See also:regular working of all branches of the public service in the department. In so far the role of the prefect is essentially See also:political; he guarantees the See also:direct and legal See also:action of the government in his department.

He has the supervision of all the See also:

state services in his department, which See also:pro-See also:cures the necessary uniformity in the working of the services, each of which is specialized within a narrow See also:sphere. He serves as a See also:local source of See also:information to the government, and transmits to it complaints or representations from those under his administration. In the name of the state he exercises a certain administrative See also:control over the local authorities, such as the conseil general, the mayors and the municipal See also:councils. This control, though considerably restricted by the law of the loth of See also:August 1871, on the conseils generaux, and that of the 5th of See also:April 1884, on municipal organization, still holds See also:good in some important respects. The prefect can still annul certain decisions of the conseil general. He can suspend for a See also:month a municipal See also:council, See also:mayor or See also:deputy-mayor; certain decisions of the municipal councils require his approval; and he may annul such of their regulations as are extra vires. He can annul or suspend the maire's decrees and he has also considerable control over public institutions, charitable and otherwise. He may make regulations (reglements) both on See also:special points, in virtue of various See also:laws, and for the general administration of the See also:police. - When the prefects were created in the year VIII. the intendants of provinces of the ancien regime were taken as a See also:model, and there is a See also:great resemblance between their respective functions. The prefect, however, is no more than an See also:intendant in See also:miniature, being only at the See also:head of a department, whereas the intendant was over a genera/See also:lie, which was a much larger See also:district. In the same way the sous-prefets correspond to the subdelegues of the intendants, with the difference that they are actual officials sub-See also:ordinate to the prefects, while the subdelegues were merely the representatives with whom the intendants provided themselves, and to whom they gave See also:powers. Secondly, the prefect is not only the general representative of the government, but the representative of the department in the management of its local interests.

But his unfettered powers inthis respect have been reduced under the third See also:

Republic. This has chiefly been the effect of the law of the loth of August 1871, which has led to decentralization, by increasing the powers of the conseils generaux. The law created a departmental See also:committee (See also:commission departementale), elected by the conseil general which, in the See also:interval of the sessions of the latter, takes See also:part in matters concerning the administration of the departmental interests, either in virtue of the law, or by a delegation of powers from the conseil general. The sous-prefets, having very limited powers of deciding questions, serve above all as intermediaries between the prefect and the persons under his administration. This function was most useful in the year VIII., when communications were difficult, even within a department, but nowadays it only leads to complications. As a See also:matter of fact their chief service to the administration lies in keeping up good relations with the maires of the communes in their See also:arrondissement, and thus acquiring a certain amount of See also:influence over them. The See also:National See also:Assembly, which passed the law of the loth of August 1871, had also decided to suppress the sous-prefets, but M. See also:Thiers, who was then See also:president of the Republic, persuaded them to reconsider this decision. Since then the Chamber of Deputies has on several occasions taken See also:advantage of the See also:budget to See also:attempt the suppression of the sous-prefets by refusing to See also:vote the amount necessary for the See also:payment of their salaries. But the government has always opposed this unconstitutional measure, holding that the suppression could only be effected by an organic law, and that it would necessarily involve a remodelling of the administrative organization. So far their view has prevailed in the See also:Chambers. (J.

P.

End of Article: PREFECT (prefet)

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