Born at
Pont-l'Évêque, Calvados (
Normandy) to a
notary father, Thouret became an
avocat at the
parlement of
Rouen in 1773, and in 1787 produced a much-approved report on the state of Normandy. His brother,
Michel Augustin Thouret (1748–1810), a physician, was a key opponent of the ideas of
Franz Mesmer and a promoter of
vaccination in France.
National Assembly In 1788 he participated in the agitation that contributed to the recall of the
Estates-General. Thouret was elected deputy to the Estates-General by the
third estate of Rouen, and was instrumental in composing the local
cahiers de doléances. In the
Constituent Assembly (beginning 17 June 1789) his eloquence gained him great influence. Like so many lawyers of his time, he was violently opposed to the clergy, and strongly supported the
secularization of church property. He also advocated the suppression of the
religious orders and of all
ecclesiastical privileges, and actively contributed to the change of the judiciary and administrative system; in particular, he demanded the writing of a uniform
civil code. He was four times elected president of the
Constituent Assembly (3 August 1789, declined to serve; 12–23 November 1789; 8–27 May 1790; 11–30 September 1791, the final sessions of the Assembly), which is more times than anyone else.
Constitutional Committee Thouret joined the
Constitutional Committee late in September 1789. Article five of the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was adopted on his initiative, but his most important efforts surrounded the process by which France was divided into départements though 1790. On 3 September 1791, a deputation of sixty members of the Constituent Assembly under the presidency of Thouret presented the
1791 Constitution to
Louis XVI; on 13 September, the King addressed the Assembly, declaring that he accepted the Constitution.
Later days After the Assembly's dissolution, Thouret became a member, and then in 1793 president, of the
Court of Cassation. He was included in the proscription of the
Girondists, whose political opinions he shared, and was
guillotined in Paris, during the
Reign of Terror, the same day as fellow Constitutional Committee member
Isaac René Guy le Chapelier, and defense attorney for
Louis XVI,
Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes. ==Legacy==