Joseph Simeon - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

JOSEPH [[Jerome SIMEON, Comte]] (1749-1842), French jurist and politician, was born at Aix on the 30th of September 1749. His father, Joseph Sextius Simeon (1717-1788), had been professor of law and royal secretary for the parlement of Provence. J. J. Simeon followed his father's profession, but he was outlawed for his share in the federalist movement in 1793, and only returned to France after the revolution of Thermidor. In the council of the Five Hundred, of which he was now a member, he took the conservative side. In 1799, for protesting against the invasion of the chamber by P. F. C. Augereau, he was imprisoned until the 18th Brumaire (9th November). In the Tribunate he had an important share in the preparation of the Civil Code, being rewarded by a seat in the council of state. In 1807 he was one of the commissioners sent to organize the new kingdom of Westphalia, and was premier of King Jerome. He served the Restoration as councillor of state and in the chamber of peers. In 1820 he was under-secretary of state for justice, and in the next year minister of the interior until the fall of the Richelieu ministry. A baron of the Empire and count at the second Restoration, he was admitted to the Academy of Moral and Political Science in 1832, and in 1837 he became president of the Cour des Comptes. He died in Paris on the 19th of January 1842 in his 93rd year.

His SOn, Joseph Balthasar, Comte Simeon (1781-1846), entered the diplomatic service under the Empire. At the Restoration he was successively prefect of Var, Doubs and Pas de Calais. He was director-general of fine arts in 1828, and had a great reputation as a connoisseur and collector.