Raphaël Alibert
Henri Albert François Joseph Raphaël Alibert was a French jurist and politician associated with Vichy France. A royalist and traditionalist long close to Action Française, he helped draft the constitutional acts by which Philippe Pétain assumed state powers in July 1940 and, as Minister of Justice, sponsored early Vichy laws including the review of naturalisations and the first Law on the status of Jews.
Politics
Alibert was a Catholic monarchist and an ardent reader of Charles Maurras. He taught at the École libre des sciences politiques and worked in business and public law circles during the late Third Republic. He ran unsuccessfully for the Chamber of Deputies in 1928 and, although close to Action Française, he did not formally join the movement after its papal condemnation in 1926.Enters government
On 16 June 1940, in the cabinet formed by Pétain, Alibert became Undersecretary of State to the Presidency of the Council. He opposed proposals to transfer the government to North Africa and drafted the exposé des motifs for the Révolution nationale. On 10 July the National Assembly voted constitutional powers to Pétain; the following days Pétain signed acts—prepared in Alibert’s ministry—that concentrated executive and legislative authority in the Head of State and adjourned the Parliament sine die.Minister of Justice
Appointed Keeper of the Seals on 12 July 1940, Alibert oversaw measures that marked the early Vichy legal order:- the law of 22 July 1940 establishing a commission to review all naturalisations granted since 1927, which led to thousands of denaturalisations;
- the law of 13 August 1940 dissolving so-called “secret societies” and sequestering their assets;
- the ”first” Law on the status of Jews of 3 October 1940, excluding Jews from large parts of public life; contemporary and later accounts credit Alibert and his cabinet with a leading role in its preparation.