Pierre Paul Devès (3 November 1837 – 12 November 1899) was a French politician.
He was a deputy from 1876 to 1884, and senator from 1886 until his death in 1899.
He was Minister of Agriculture from 1881 to 1882, and Minister of Justice from 1882 to 1883.
Early years (1837–76)
Pierre Paul Devès was born on 3 November 1837 in Aurillac, Cantal.
He trained as a lawyer and joined the bar in Béziers.
He became a member of the general council of the
Hérault
Hérault (; oc, Erau, ) is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France. Named after the Hérault River, its prefecture is Montpellier. It had a population of 1,175,623 in 2019.Servian.
During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71) he was state prosecutor in Béziers from 20 September 1870 to 7 February 1871, when he became mayor of Béziers.
National politics (1876–99)
Devès was elected as a deputy for Béziers on 20 February 1876, and sat with the Republican Left. He was reelected after the house was dissolved on 14 October 1877.
He was reelected in the second round on 4 September 1881, then resigned and ran successfully for election for Bagnères-de-Bigorre on 18 December 1881.
He was
Minister of Agriculture
An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...
from 14 November 1881 to 26 January 1882 in the cabinet of
Léon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta (; 2 April 1838 – 31 December 1882) was a French lawyer and republican politician who proclaimed the French Third Republic in 1870 and played a prominent role in its early government.
Early life and education
Born in Cahors, Ga ...
.
His ministry was created by Gambetta with the aim of rallying the peasants to the Republican cause.
Devès was Minister of Justice and Religion from 7 August 1882 to 28 January 1883 in the cabinet of
Charles Duclerc
Charles Théodore Eugène Duclerc (; 7 August 1812, Bagnères-de-Bigorre – 29 January 1888) was a French journalist and politician of the Third Republic. He was a member of the editorial board of the ''National'' newspaper. Duclerc served ...
, then
Minister of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
from 29 January 1884 to 20 February 1883 in the cabinet of
Armand Fallières
Clément Armand Fallières (; 6 November 1841 – 22 June 1931) was a French statesman who was President of France from 1906 to 1913.
He was born at Mézin in the ''département'' of Lot-et-Garonne, France, where his father was clerk of ...
.
On the issue of the naturalization of Algerian Jews, Devès made a tacit concession to antisemitism in Algeria and France.
He favored a literal interpretation of the 1870
Crémieux decree
The Crémieux Decree () was a law that granted French citizenship to the majority of the Jewish population in French Algeria (around 35,000), signed by the Government of National Defense on 24 October 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War. It was ...
, which supported naturalization of Jews in the areas of Algeria that were departments in 1870, but not in the
M'zab
The M'zab or Mzab ( Mozabite: ''Aghlan'', ar, مزاب) is a natural region of the northern Sahara Desert in Ghardaïa Province, Algeria. It is located south of Algiers and there are approximately 360,000 inhabitants (2005 estimate).
Geolog ...
protectorate in the south.
In the elections of 4 October 1885 Devès ran on the Republican list for Hautes-Pyrénées and was not elected.
He again failed to be elected on 13 December 1885 in the Seine department.
On 29 August 1886 he was elected senator for the Cantal department, and sat with the Left. He was reelected on 7 January 1894. He held office until 1 January 1899.
Paul Devès died in Paris on 12 November 1899 at the age of 62.