District (France)
The district ( French district ) was an administrative unit that existed in France between 1790 and 1795. It corresponds to today's arrondissements .
In the course of the French Revolution , the National Assembly decided on December 22, 1789 to redistribute the national territory into 75-85 departments , each of which should be divided into 3 to 9 districts. The districts in turn should be divided into cantons of around 4 French square miles (“environ de quatre lieues carrées”). In a little more than two months, the restructuring in 83 departments and 555 districts was made, as "Décret sur la Division du royaume en départemens" passed on February 28, 1790 and confirmed by the king on March 4, 1790. The districts should support the administration of the department in enforcing the law.
In the constitution of the republic of year III (1795), the districts are no longer mentioned, only the departments and cantons. Five years later, the law of the 28th Pluviose of the year VIII (February 17th, 1800) resumed the idea of a further stage between prefecture and canton; However, these subdivisions have now been significantly enlarged and called "Arrondissement" based on considerations that have existed since the 1770s at the time of the Ancien Régime . The number of arrondissements - based on today's national territory - was 371 in 1800.
Nowadays, the fourth level of administrative division in the French Southern and Antarctic Lands is known as a district (corresponds to the municipality in the rest of France).
Web links
- Loi du 28 pluviose an VIII (PDF; 25 kB), law that, among other things, provided for the conversion of the districts into arrondissements