French author, born at Paris, on the 18th of January 1811. While engaged as a typefounder he studied law, and became known by his Histoire du droit de propriété foncière en Europe depuis Constantin jusqu’à nos jours (1839), which was crowned by the Academy of Inscriptions. In 1842 he became an advocate of the royal court of Paris, but he continued to devote attention to literature. After an essay on Savigny (1842) he published Recherches sur la condition civile et politique des femmes depuis les Romains jusqu’à nos jours (1843) and Essai sur les lois criminelles des Romains concernant la Responsibilité des magistrats (1845). He was now a member of the Academy of Inscriptions, and in 1849 was made professor of comparative legislation in the Collège de France. He was a liberal Republican, an ardent admirer of American institutions, and a firm friend of the North during the civil war. Under the Empire his political activity was confined to his writings and speeches, which were not without effect in preparing the way for the new Republic. While he constantly held up the American government as a model for French imitation, he also rendered immense service to the cause of the American Union by his work, Les États-Unis et la France (1862), in which he set forth the causes of the civil war. Elected in 1871 to the National Assembly, he took part especially in matters relating to public instruction, and in 1874 he was secretary of the committee on the constitution. His political occupations compelled him for some years to leave the duties of his professorship to a substitute, yet his colleagues thrice elected him director of the college. Laboulaye was an active supporter of Pres. Thiers, and after the reactionary movement had transferred the presidency to MacMahon he became the leader of the Left Centre. In December, 1875, he was chosen a senator for life, and in the upper house maintained firmly the same liberal yet independent attitude. At this time he was appropriately made president of the French-American committee for the celebration of the centenary of American independence. His moderation was conspicuously shown in the discussions on religious instruction in France. The tone of all his writings and speeches was cheerful and hopeful, and he lived to see much of what he had advocated prevailing and accepted in his country. He died at Paris on the 25th of May 1883.
Besides the works already mentioned Laboulaye published Histoire politique des États Unis (3 vols., 1855–65); La Liberté religieuse (1856); L’État et ses Limites (1863): Lettres politiques (1872). He also translated from English the principal works of Channing and the Memoirs and Correspondence of Franklin. In his Paris en Amérique (1863) prominent features of American and French social and political customs are mingled in highly picturesque fashion. Another lively romance was Le Prince Caniche (1868). In his Contes bleus (1863) and some later publications he showed an admirable faculty in writing for children. See also “The Twelve Months,” “The Story of Coquerico,” Abdallah; or, The Four-leaved Shamrock and Paris in America.
