René Bérenger, born in

Bourg-lès-Valence Bourg-lès-Valence (; oc, Lo Borg de Valença) is a commune in the Drôme department in southeastern France. It is a suburb of Valence. The archaeologist and Hellenist Fernand Courby (1878–1932) was born in Bourg-lès-Valence. In 2014–2019 ...

(

Drôme Drôme (; Occitan: ''Droma''; Arpitan: ''Drôma'') is the southernmost department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. Named after the river Drôme, it had a population of 516,762 as of 2019.

) on 22 April 1830 and died Alincourt (

Ardennes The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...

) on 29 August 1915, was a French lawyer, judge, and politician.

Life

He was the son of Alphonse-Marie-Marcellin-Thomas Bérenger, and followed his father into the legal profession. At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, he was Avocat général of

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

but resigned to enlist as a volunteer. He was wounded at

Nuits Nuits (; also known, though unofficially, as ''Nuits-sur-Armançon'') is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France. See also *Armançon river *Communes of the Yonne department The following is a li ...

on 28 December and was later awarded the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

. Returned to the National Assembly by the ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

'' of

as a member of the ''Centre gauche'' parliamentary group, he was for a few days in 1873 minister of public works under

Jules Armand Dufaure Jules Armand Stanislas Dufaure (; 4 December 1798 – 28 June 1881) was a French statesman. Biography Dufaure was born at Saujon, Charente-Maritime, and began his career as an advocate at Bordeaux, where he won a great reputation by his oratoric ...

. He then was made a

Senator for life A senator for life is a member of the senate or equivalent upper chamber of a legislature who has life tenure. , six Italian senators out of 206, two out of the 41 Burundian senators, one Congolese senator out of 109, and all members of the Bri ...

, and was vice president of the

French Senate The Senate (french: Sénat, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly (France), National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. The French Senate is made up of 34 ...

from 1894 to 1897. In 1871 he founded a society for the reclamation of discharged prisoners, and presided over various bodies formed to secure improvement of the public morals. He succeeded

Charles Lucas Sir Charles Lucas, 1613 to 28 August 1648, was a professional soldier from Essex, who served as a Cavalier, Royalist cavalry leader during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Taken prisoner at the end of the First English Civil War in March 1646, ...

in 1890 at the

Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

. Laws introduced in 1885 and 1891 that bear his name concern, respectively, parole and suspended sentences.Jean-Lucien Sanchez
Les lois Bérenger (lois du 14 août 1885 et du 26 mars 1891)
'' Criminocorpus'', 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berenger, Rene 1830 births 1915 deaths People from Drôme Politicians from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes French republicans French Ministers of Public Works Transport ministers of France Members of the National Assembly (1871) French life senators 19th-century French lawyers Members of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques French military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War Recipients of the Legion of Honour