Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997.
Do you need
volunteer, community service, work, military or court hours?
|
|
Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997.
|
|
Click here and add this page to your favorites!
|
Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: POL-PRE |
|
|
PREFECT (prefet) , in France, the title of a high official. The prefects of the department were created by a law of the 28th Pluviose in the year VIII. (Feb. 17, 1800). They were intended to be the chief
In the administration of the ancien regime the term " prefect " was not employed; practically the only case in which it occurs was in the organization of the establishment
Alsace
The prefect has to a certain extent a double
series of functions. Firstly he is the general representative of the government, whose duty it is to ensure execution of the government's decisions, the exercise of the law, and the regular working of all branches of the public service in the department. In so far the role of the prefect is essentially political; he guarantees the direct and legal action of the government in his department. He has the supervision of all the state services in his department, which pro-cures the necessary uniformity in the working of the services, each of which is specialized within a narrow sphere. He serves as a local source of information to the government, and transmits to it complaints or representations from those under his administration. In the name of the state he exercises a certain administrative control over the local authorities, such as the conseil general, the mayors and the municipal councils. This control , though considerably restricted by the law of the loth of August 1871, on the conseils generaux, and that of the 5th of April 1884, on municipal organization, still holds good in some important respects. The prefect can still annul certain decisions of the conseil general. He can suspend for a month a municipal council, mayor or deputy-mayor; certain decisions of the municipal councils require his approval; and he may annul such of their regulations as are extra vires. He can annul or suspend the maire's decrees and he has also considerable control over public institutions, charitable and otherwise. He may make regulations (reglements) both on special
When the prefects were created in the year VIII. the intendants of provinces of the ancien regime were taken as a model, and there is a great resemblance between their respective functions. The prefect, however, is no more than an intendant in miniature, being only at the head of a department, whereas the intendant was over a genera/lie, which was a much larger district
Secondly, the prefect is not only the general representative of the government, but the representative of the department in the management of its local interests. But his unfettered powers inthis respect have been reduced under the third Republic. This has chiefly been the effect of the law of the loth of August 1871, which has led to decentralization, by increasing the powers of the conseils generaux. The law created a departmental committee (commission departementale), elected by the conseil general which, in the interval of the sessions of the latter, takes part in matters concerning the administration of the departmental interests, either in virtue of the law, or by a delegation of powers from the conseil general. The sous-prefets, having very limited powers of deciding questions, serve above all as intermediaries between the prefect and the persons under his administration. This function was most useful in the year VIII., when communications were difficult, even within a department, but nowadays it only leads to complications. As a matter of fact their chief
Thiers
End of Article: PREFECT (prefet) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/POL_PRE/PREFECT_prefet_.html"> PREFECT (prefet) </a> |
|
|
(Previous) PREFACE (Med. Lat. prefatia, for classical prae... |
(Next) PREHNITE |
|
Sponsored Advertisements