René Capitant

René Marie Alphonse Charles Capitant (19 August 1901 in La Tronche, Isère – 23 May 1970 in Suresnes) was a French lawyer and politician.

René Capitant
French Minister of Justice
In office 31 May 1968 – 27 April 1969
President	Charles de Gaulle
Prime Minister	Georges Pompidou Maurice Couve de Murville
Preceded by	Louis Joxe
Succeeded by	Jean-Marcel Jeanneney
Personal details
Born	(1901-08-19)19 August 1901 La Tronche, France
Died	23 May 1970(1970-05-23) (aged 68) Suresnes, France
Political party	UNR PRS

He was the son of a lawyer, Henri Capitant, and attended the Lycée Henri-IV in Paris. He received his Juris Doctor degree also in Paris.

In 1930, he was appointed to the faculty of the University of Strasbourg and became a member of the Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes, an anti-fascist organization of intellectuals.

During World War II, he was involved in the creation of the resistance movement Combat in Clermont-Ferrand. He had to leave the country and became a law professor at the University of Algiers in 1941. After the Liberation, he became the Minister of Public Education in the provisional government.

From 1945 to 1951, he was a leftist Gaullist member of the National Assembly of France. In 1946, he founded, with Louis Vallon, the Union gaulliste.

After 1951, he was a law professor in Paris and was named director of the Franco-Japanese House in Tokyo from 1957 to 1960. He was then re-elected to the National Assembly from 1962 to 1968.

He served as the Minister of Justice (Garde des Sceaux) in the Georges Pompidou and Couve de Murville governments from 1968 to 1969.

Political offices
Preceded by Louis Joxe	Minister of Justice 1968–1969	Succeeded by Jean-Marcel Jeanneney

References

• French Wikipedia article on René Capitant