List of presidents of the Senate of France

President of the French Senate
Président du Sénat français (French)
Logo of the French Senate
since 1 October 2014
Senate of France
TypePresiding officer
Member ofFrench Parliament
ResidencePetit Luxembourg
Term length3 years,
renewable
Formation28 October 1795
First holderClaude-Antoine Rudel
Succession1st
WebsiteOfficial website

This article lists the presidents of the Senate of France (French: Président du Sénat français; official translation: Speaker of the Senate)[1] and assimilated chambers.

The Senate is the upper house of the French Parliament. It is presided over by a president. Although there had been Senates in both the First and Second Empires, these had not technically been legislative bodies, but rather advisory bodies on the model of the Roman Senate. France's first experience with an upper house was under the Directory from 1795 to 1799, when the Council of Ancients was the upper chamber. With the Restoration in 1814, a new Chamber of Peers was created, on the model of the British House of Lords. At first it contained hereditary peers, but following the July Revolution of 1830, it became a body to which one was appointed for life. The Second Republic returned to a unicameral system after 1848, but soon after the establishment of the Second Empire in 1852, a Senate was established as the upper chamber. In the Fourth Republic, the Senate was renamed the Council of the Republic, but its function was largely the same. With the new constitution of the Fifth Republic in 1959, the older name of Senate was restored.

Acting President of the French Republic

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The president of the Senate, in addition to his duties as presiding officer of the upper house of parliament, is also, according to the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, first in line of succession in case of death, resignation, or removal by impeachment of the president, thus becoming Acting President of the Republic until a new election can be held.[2] This has already occurred twice. Alain Poher, the president of the French Senate, served as Acting President of France from 28 April until 20 June 1969 (between the resignation of President Charles de Gaulle and the installation of his elected successor President Georges Pompidou) and again from 3 April until 27 May 1974 (between the death of President Georges Pompidou and the installation of his elected successor President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing).

List of officeholders

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Under the Directory (1795–1799)

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Presidents of the Council of Ancients:

Portrait Name Took office Left office
Claude-Antoine Rudel 28 October 1795 28 October 1795
Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux 28 October 1795 2 November 1795
Pierre-Charles-Louis Baudin 2 November 1795 23 November 1795
François Denis Tronchet 23 November 1795 22 December 1795
Théodore Vernier 22 December 1795 22 January 1796
Guillaume François Charles Goupil de Préfelne 22 January 1796 20 February 1796
Claude Ambroise Régnier 20 February 1796 21 March 1796
Jacques Antoine Creuzé-Latouche 21 March 1796 20 April 1796
Jean-Barthélémy Le Couteulx de Canteleu 20 April 1796 20 May 1796
Charles-François Lebrun 20 May 1796 19 June 1796
Jean-Étienne-Marie Portalis 19 June 1796 19 July 1796
Jean Dussaulx 19 July 1796 18 August 1796
Honoré Muraire 18 August 1796 23 September 1796
Roger Ducos 23 September 1796 22 October 1796
Jean-Gérard Lacuée, count of Cessac 22 October 1796 21 November 1796
Jean-Jacques Bréard 21 November 1796 21 December 1796
Boniface Paradis 21 December 1796 20 January 1797
Sébastien Ligeret de Beauvais 20 January 1797 19 February 1797
Joseph Clément Poullain de Grandprey 19 February 1797 21 March 1797
Jean-François-Bertrand Delmas 21 March 1797 20 April 1797
Edme-Bonaventure Courtois 20 April 1797 20 May 1797
François Barbé-Marbois 20 May 1797 19 June 1797
Louis Bernard de Saint-Affrique 19 June 1797 19 July 1797
Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours 19 July 1797 18 August 1797
André-Daniel Laffon de Ladebat 18 August 1797 4 September 1797
Jean-Antoine Marbot 6 September 1797 23 September 1797
Emmanuel Crétet 23 September 1797 22 October 1797
Jean-Pierre Lacombe-Saint-Michel 22 October 1797 21 November 1797
Jean François Philibert Rossée 21 November 1797 21 December 1797
Jean-Baptiste Marragon 21 December 1797 20 January 1798
Jean Rousseau 20 January 1798 19 February 1798
Pardoux Bordas 19 February 1798 21 March 1798
Étienne Mollevaut 21 March 1798 20 April 1798
Jacques Poisson de Coudreville 20 April 1798 20 May 1798
Claude Ambroise Régnier 20 May 1798 19 June 1798
Jean-Antoine Marbot 19 June 1798 19 July 1798
Étienne Maynaud de Bizefranc de Laveaux 19 July 1798 18 August 1798
Pierre Antoine Laloy 18 August 1798 23 September 1798
Benoît Michel Decomberousse 23 September 1798 22 October 1798
Emmanuel Pérès de Lagesse 22 October 1798 21 November 1798
Jean-Augustin Moreau de Vormes 21 November 1798 21 December 1798
Jean-Baptiste Perrin des Vosges 21 December 1798 20 January 1799
Dominique Joseph Garat 20 January 1799 19 February 1799
Jean-Aimé Delacoste 19 February 1799 21 March 1799
Mathieu Depère 21 March 1799 20 April 1799
Claude-Pierre de Delay d'Agier 20 April 1799 20 May 1799
Charles Claude Christophe Gourdan 20 May 1799 19 June 1799
Pierre-Charles-Louis Baudin 19 June 1799 19 July 1799
Louis Dubois du Bais 19 July 1799 18 August 1799
Mathieu-Augustin Cornet 18 August 1799 24 September 1799
Joseph Cornudet des Chaumettes 24 September 1799 23 October 1799
Louis-Nicolas Lemercier 23 October 1799 10 November 1799

Under the Consulate (1799–1804)

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Presidents of the Sénat conservateur:

Portrait Name Took office Left office
Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès 27 December 1799 13 February 1800
François Barthélemy 13 February 1800 27 February 1801
François Denis Tronchet 27 February 1801 2 August 1801
François Christophe Kellermann 2 August 1801 18 January 1802
Louis-Nicolas Lemercier 18 January 1802 4 August 1802

Under the First Empire (1804–1814)

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Presidents of the Sénat conservateur:

Portrait Name Took office Left office
François de Neufchâteau 19 May 1804 19 May 1806
Gaspard Monge 19 May 1806 1 July 1807
Bernard Germain de Lacépède 1 July 1807 1 July 1808
Jean-Denis-René de Saint-Vallier 1 July 1808 1 July 1809
Germain Garnier 1 July 1809 1 July 1811
Bernard Germain de Lacépède 1 July 1811 1 July 1813
François Barthélemy 1 July 1813 1 July 1814

Under the Bourbon Restoration (1814–1830)

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Presidents of the Chamber of Peers:

Portrait Name Took office Left office
Charles-Henri, chevalier Dambray 4 June 1814 20 March 1815
Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès 2 June 1815 7 July 1815
Charles-Henri, chevalier Dambray 12 October 1815 12 December 1829
Claude-Emmanuel, marquis de Pastoret 17 December 1829 3 August 1830

Under the July Monarchy (1830–1848)

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Presidents of the Chamber of Peers:

Portrait Name Took office Left office
Étienne-Denis Pasquier 3 August 1830 24 February 1848

Under the Second Empire (1852–1870)

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Presidents of the Senate:

Portrait Name Took office Left office Political party
Jérôme Bonaparte 28 January 1852 30 November 1852 Bonapartist
Raymond-Theodore Troplong 30 December 1852 1 March 1869 Bonapartist
Adrien Marie Devienne 3 March 1869 20 July 1869 Bonapartist
Eugène Rouher 20 July 1869 4 September 1870 Bonapartist

Under the Third Republic (1870–1940)

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Presidents of the Senate:

Portrait Name Took office Left office Political party
Gaston Audiffret-Pasquier 13 March 1876 15 January 1879 Conservative
Louis Martel 15 January 1879 25 May 1880 Conservative
Léon Say 25 May 1880 2 February 1882 Republican
Philippe Le Royer 2 February 1882 24 February 1893 Republican
Jules Ferry 24 February 1893 17 March 1893 Left Republican
Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour 27 March 1893 16 January 1896 Opportunist Republican
Émile Loubet 16 January 1896 18 February 1899 Left Republican
Armand Fallières 3 March 1899 17 January 1906 Democratic Republican Alliance
Antonin Dubost 16 February 1906 14 January 1920 Democratic Republican Alliance
Léon Bourgeois 14 January 1920 22 February 1923 Radical
Gaston Doumergue 22 February 1923 13 June 1924 Radical
Justin de Selves 19 June 1924 9 January 1927 Radical
Paul Doumer 14 January 1927 13 May 1931 Radical
Albert Lebrun 11 June 1931 10 May 1932 Democratic Alliance
Jules Jeanneney 3 June 1932 9 July 1940 Radical

Under the Fourth Republic (1946–1958)

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Presidents of the Council of the Republic:

Political party
  MRP   Radical

Portrait Name Took office Left office Political party
Auguste Champetier de Ribes 27 December 1946 6 March 1947 MRP
Gaston Monnerville 18 March 1947 2 October 1958 Radical

Under the Fifth Republic (1958–present)

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Presidents of the Senate:

Political party
  Radical   CD; CDS; FD   RPR; UMP; LR   PS

Portrait Name Took office Left office Political party
Gaston Monnerville 9 December 1958 2 October 1968 Radical
Alain Poher 3 October 1968 1 October 1992 CD (until 1976)
CDS (from 1976;
within the UDF from 1978)
René Monory 2 October 1992 1 October 1998 CDS (until 1995)
FD (from 1995;
within the UDF)
Christian Poncelet 2 October 1998 30 September 2008 RPR (until 2002)
UMP (from 2002)
Gérard Larcher 1 October 2008 30 September 2011 UMP
Jean-Pierre Bel 1 October 2011 30 September 2014 PS
Gérard Larcher 1 October 2014 Incumbent UMP (until 2015)
LR (since 2015)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "The Speaker of the Senate". senat.fr. Senate (France). Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  2. ^ The exact title is "President of the Senate, exercising provisionally the functions of the President of the Republic"; see how Alain Poher is referred to on signing statutes into law, e.g. law 69-412 Archived 28 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine
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