Cambacérès, Jean Jacques Régis de

views updated

Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès (zhäN zhäk rāzhēs´ də käNbäsārĕs´), 1753–1824, French revolutionary and legislator. He was deputy to the National Convention and to the Council of Five Hundred, second consul under Napoleon (1799–1804), and archchancellor of the empire. Throughout his career, his chief interest was in developing the principles of revolutionary jurisprudence. He played a major part in the preparation of the Code Napoléon. In 1808, Cambacérès was made duke of Parma. Minister of justice in the Hundred Days (1815), he was exiled after the restoration of the monarchy until 1818.