French Nobility - Nobility Since The Revolution

Nobility Since The Revolution

See also: Nobles of the First French Empire

Nobility and hereditary titles were abolished by the Revolutions of 1789 and 1848, but hereditary titles were restored by decree in 1852 and have never since been abolished in law. However, since 1875 the President of the Republic neither confers nor confirms French titles (specific foreign titles continued to be authorised for use in France by the office of the President as recently as 1961), but the French state still verifies them, civil courts can protect them, and criminal courts can prosecute their abuse.

The Restoration of Louis XVIII saw the return of the old nobility to power (while ultra-royalists clamored for a return of lost lands). The electoral laws of 1817 limited suffrage to only the wealthiest or most prestigious members (less than 0.5%) of the population, which included many of the old nobility.

Napoléon Bonaparte established his own hereditary titles during the Empire, and these new aristocrats were confirmed in legal retention of their titles even after his overthrow. In all, about 2200 titles were created by Napoleon I:

• Princes and Dukes:
  • sovereign princes (3)
  • duchies grand fiefs (20)
  • victory princes (4)
  • victory dukedoms (10)
  • other dukedoms (3)
• Counts (251)
• Barons (1516)
• Knights (385)

(There were 239 remaining families holding First Empire titles in 1975. Of those, perhaps 130–140 were titled. Only one title of prince and seven titles of duke remain.) Napoleon also established a new knightly order in 1802, the Légion d'honneur, which still exists.

Between 1830 and 1848 Louis Philippe, King of the French retained the House of Peers established by the Bourbons under the Restoration (although he made the peerage non-hereditary) and granted hereditary titles (but without "nobility").

The Second Empire of Napoleon III also conferred hereditary titles until monarchy was again abolished in 1870. If the Third Republic returned once again to the principles of equality espoused by the Revolution (at least among the political Radical party), in practice the upper echelons of French society maintained their notion of social distinction well into the 20th century (for example, as attested to by the presence of nobility and noble class distinctions in the works of Marcel Proust). The use of their titles was officially sanctioned.

French courts have, however, held that the concept of nobility is incompatible with the equality of all citizens before the law proclaimed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man of 1789, and remains part of the Constitution of 1958. Therefore, "nobility", as legal concept and status, has been effectively abolished in France.

Nonetheless, extant titles which were hereditary under one of France's monarchical regimes are considered part of the legal name which descend according to their original grants (insofar as they pass from and to males only), are incapable of becoming a legal part of the name by self-assumption or prolonged usage, and are entitled to the same protections in French civil and criminal courts as the name, even though they afford neither privilege nor precedence (cf., peerage of the United Kingdom). Regulation of titles is carried out by a bureau of the Ministry of Justice, which can verify and authorize the bearer to make legal use of the title in official documents such as birth certificates.