Nicolas Jean-Baptiste Ravot, seigneur d'Ombreval (28 September 1680 – 18 October 1729) was a French magistrate and administrator who served as Lieutenant General of Police of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

from 1724 to 1725.

Biography

Born in Paris, he was the son of Jean-Baptiste Ravot d'Ombreval, a member of the ''

parlement A ''parlement'' (), under the French Ancien Régime, was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 parlements, the oldest and most important of which was the Parlement of Paris. While both the modern Fre ...

'' of Paris, and of Geneviève Berthelot, from the wealthy and influential Berthelot family of

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

s (see

Jeanne Agnès Berthelot de Pléneuf, marquise de Prie Jeanne Agnès Berthelot de Pléneuf, marquise de Prie (August 1698 – 7 October 1727), was a French noblewoman who for a brief period exercised extraordinary control of the French court during the reign of King Louis XV Louis XV (15 Feb ...

, who was the niece of Geneviève Berthelot). Nicolas Ravot d'Ombreval was Advocate General at the ''

cour des aides The Courts of Aids (French: ''Cours des aides'') were sovereign courts in ''Ancien Régime'' France, primarily concerned with customs, but also other matters of public finance. They exercised some control over certain excise taxes and octroi dutie ...

'' of Paris, the appeal court for disputes arising out of the collection of taxes within the jurisdiction of the ''parlement'' of Paris, which covered half of France's territory. Nicolas Ravot d'Ombreval was also ''

maître des requêtes A Master of Requests () is a counsel of the French ''Conseil d'État'' (Council of State), a high-level judicial officer of administrative law in France. The office has existed in one form or another since the Middle Ages. The occupational title ...

''. On 28 January 1724, he was appointed Lieutenant General of Police of Paris, i.e. head of the

Paris Police The police prefecture (french: préfecture de police) is the unit of the French Ministry of the Interior that provides police, emergency services, and various administrative services to the population of the city of Paris and the surrounding t ...

. While Lieutenant General of Police, he was responsible for the royal edict of 24 September 1724 which created the

Paris Bourse Euronext Paris is France's securities market, formerly known as the Paris Bourse, which merged with the Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Brussels exchanges in September 2000 to form Euronext NV. As of 2022, the 795 companies listed had a combined market ...

. He also revived the old decrees of the

provost of Paris The Mayor of Paris (french: Maire de Paris) is the chief executive of Paris, the capital and largest city in France. The officeholder is responsible for the administration and management of the city, submits proposals and recommendations to the C ...

(the medieval representative of the King in the city of Paris) against prostitution. He was the first one to regulate '' fiacre'' services (horse-drawn for-hire carriages known as

hackney carriage A hackney or hackney carriage (also called a cab, black cab, hack or London taxi) is a carriage or car for hire. A hackney of a more expensive or high class was called a remise. A symbol of London and Britain, the black taxi is a common ...

s in England) with his order of 24 May 1725. He left the Lieutenancy General of Police of Paris on 28 August 1725 and was appointed ''

intendant An intendant (; pt, intendente ; es, intendente ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In ...

'' of the ''

généralité ''Recettes générales'', commonly known as ''généralités'' (), were the administrative divisions of France under the Ancien Régime and are often considered to prefigure the current ''préfectures''. At the time of the French Revolution, there ...

'' of

Tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...

, succeeding

René Hérault René Hérault, Seigneur de Fontaine-l'Abbé et de Vaucresson (23 April 1691 – 2 August 1740), simply known as René Hérault, and sometimes as René Hérault de Vaucresson, was a French magistrate and administrator who served as Lieuten ...

, who succeeded him as Lieutenant General of Police of Paris. He was dismissed from his office of ''intendant'' on 11 August 1726. Nicolas Ravot d'Ombreval was married to Thérèse Gabrielle Bréau (1678-1769). He died in 1729 at the age of 49 and was buried in the church of Dame-Marie-les-Bois, a village between Tours and

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the most populated city of the ...

where he owned the

seigneury ''Seigneur'' is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. A seigneur refers to the person or collective who owned a ''seigneurie'' (or ...

and château of La Guérinière. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ravot D'ombreval, Nicolas 1680 births 1729 deaths Politicians from Paris Lieutenant generals of police of Paris