Most Famous French Jurists

France has produced 272 notable jurists throughout history, led by Joseph Bonaparte. Rankings are drawn from a cross-verified academic dataset of 152,953 people.

Category All
Citizenship All
JB
Joseph Bonaparte French Diplomat 1768 – 1844
# 1,781
PD
Pierre de Fermat French Lawyer 1601 – 1665
# 2,141
JA
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin French Lawyer 1755 – 1826
# 10,195
CD
Chevalier d'Éon French Diplomat 1728 – 1810
# 11,526
EJ
Eva Joly French Juge Born 1943
# 17,372
JV
Jacques Vergès French Lawyer 1925 – 2013
# 17,522
AQ
Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville French Magistrat 1746 – 1795
# 23,199
LR
Louis Renault (jurist) French Lawyer 1843 – 1918
# 25,885
JP
Jean-Étienne-Marie Portalis French Lawyer 1746 – 1807
# 30,768
GD
Guillaume de Nogaret French Lawyer 1260 – 1313
# 31,662
AJ
Anne Jean Marie René Savary French Diplomat 1774 – 1833
# 33,846
IO
Ivo of Kermartin French Lawyer 1253 – 1303
# 36,628
LA
Louis Auguste Le Tonnelier de Breteuil French Diplomat 1730 – 1807
# 51,915
FG
François Gény French Lawyer 1861 – 1959
# 64,871
BD
Bernardino Drovetti French Diplomat 1776 – 1852
# 69,912
AC
Antoine Christophe Saliceti French Diplomat 1757 – 1809
# 80,103
FD
François de Menthon French Lawyer 1900 – 1984
# 97,380
PL
Pierre Louis Jean Casimir de Blacas French Diplomat 1771 – 1839
# 107,049
DV
Denis Vrain-Lucas French Lawyer 1816 – 1881
# 115,834
PA
Pierre Arpaillange French Magistrat 1924 – 2017
# 116,623