René Capitant

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

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 inteelectuels antifascistes, an anti-fascist organization of intellecuals.

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

For 1945 to 1951, he was a leftist Gaullist deputy. 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 deputy from 1962 to 1968.

He served as the Minister of Justice ("Garde des Sceaux") in the Georges Pompidou government from 1968 to 1969.

References

*French Wikipedia article on René Capitant