ABSTRACT
(1753–1824), French statesman. Cambacérès was born into a noble family of magistrates in Montpellier in southern France. He pursued a legal career in the 1770s and 1780s, supported the French Revolution in 1789, and won election as deputy to the National Convention (1792–1795). He avoided taking any clear-cut political stand in the assembly, lest it compromise him with one or another of the rival factions, and instead laboured discreetly to reform and codify French law. He stayed in politics under the Directory (1795–1799), becoming Minister of Justice in June 1799. After Napoleon Bonaparte’s coup d’état in November 1799, he became Second Consul, the second personage in the State. When Napoleon was proclaimed Emperor in May 1804, he named Cambacérès Arch-Chancellor of the Empire. He presided over the Senate and supervised the administration during Napoleon’s frequent absences on military campaigns. He worked hard, showing skill, tact and good judgement, but was indecisive by nature and always totally subservient to the Emperor. Napoleon made him duke of Parma in 1808.
