François-Xavier Menoud

Francois-Xavier Menoud

François-Xavier Menoud (born July 26, 1821 in La Magne , † September 15, 1904 in Friborg ) was a Swiss politician and State Councilor of the canton of Friborg .

biography

He was Catholic and from La Joux-La Magne. His parents were Joseph Menoud (born 1799), and Marguerite born. Menoud. Joseph Menoud was a wealthy farmer and came from a family of local notables : He was Ammann von La Magne , justice of the peace and councilor (1831–1847). François-Xavier Menoud married Marie Frossard, daughter of François-Laurent Frossard (1789–1874), canton judge, Grand Councilor (1831, 1848–1866, 1871–1874) and State Councilor (1831–1839). As a liberal and moderate radical, Frossard allied himself with the conservatives in 1856 and became a cantonal judge. He played a major role in the career of François-Xavier Menoud, his brother Félicien (1832-1924) Ammann von La Joux and one of the organizers of the Posieux People's Assembly(1852) was. Paul Menoud (1861–1916), son of François-Xavier, was police commissioner, councilor (1901–1915) and councilor of the city of Freiburg (1907–1916). After his work as a police officer, he was administrator of the Beauregard brewery before he worked in the cantonal building insurance.

François-Xavier Menoud attended primary school in his home village and, from 1834, the lessons of Canon Lhoste in Romont . He was then a student of the St. Michael College , which he completed with the Matura , and then taught for two years at the Theresianum in Innsbruck (1845–1846). Returned to Freiburg (1847), he was secretary of the Education Council when the Sonderbund War broke out, in which he participated as a lieutenant . From 1847 to 1848 he worked for ten months in the law firm of Louis de Wuilleret . Because of his participation in a failed uprising (October 22, 1848) he had to spend four years abroad. He lived in France, gave private lessons in Lyon (1848) and then worked as a tutor in the family of the Vicomte de La Chapelle in Uxelles (1849-1851). Returned to Freiburg, he studied at the law academy (1852-1854) and at the same time completed an internship with notary Tissot. On November 21, 1854, he obtained his notary's license. He worked as a notary in the Gruyère district (1852–1854) and in the Saane district (1854–1876).

Menoud's political career began in the Grand Council: after his election in December 1856, he was a member of parliament for 45 years until he resigned in 1901 and left his place to his son Paul. He was also active under the federal dome: the Grand Council sent him six times to the Council of States , where he sat from 1872 to 1883. He was elected to the State Council for the first time on May 8, 1874, but declined this honor for professional - he hesitated to give up his flourishing notary - and family reasons, as his father-in-law Frossard advised him against it. Alphonse Théraulaz became State Councilor in his place . On August 1, 1876, Menoud was elected to the Council of State for the second time as Perroud's successor and took over the building management (1876–1878). From 1878 to 1881 he was the director of justice and wrote the code of criminal procedure and the laws on civil status and marriage.

At the head of the finance department (1882-1892) he showed his true skills. In continuation of the work of Louis de Weck-Reynold , he reduced the national debt by issuing cheap conversion bonds for the canton. He changed the Registration Act (1882) and was able to put the State Bank Act (1892) into effect.

Menoud quickly became one of the strongest men in the government, whose presidium he shared with Weck-Reynold and then with Alphonse Théraulaz : in 1878, 1880, 1882, 1884, 1886, 1887, 1889, 1891 and 1892 he served as primus inter pares of the Council of State. As an avid conservative of the "old school" he did not oppose the rise of Georges Python and the young ultramontane conservatives. For this, the venerable magistrate and nine-time President of the State Council was rewarded by being appointed director of the State Bank, an office he held until 1900.

Menoud played a major role in economic affairs. He was involved in the reorganization of the Beauregard brewery, sat on the board of directors of the Western Switzerland Railway Company (1877-1889) and the Jura-Simplon Railway (1890-1900). He was Vice President and then President of the Supervisory Board of the Kantonalbank and was a member of the boards of directors of the cantonal mortgage bank (1881–1893) and the Swiss mortgage bank (1889–1902).

From 1900 on, due to his old age and poor health, he withdrew more and more from politics and business life and left his place to his son Paul. He died on September 15, 1904 in Freiburg at the age of 84. With him, one of the last actors in the events of 1848 and the generation that came to power in 1856 disappeared. Menoud was an interesting personality: a notary who had success in politics and in the years 1880–1890 (with Alphonse Théraulaz ) became the strong man of the canton, who knew how to handle finances and who ended his career at the head of the new state bank, the competitor of the cantonal bank founded by the radicals.

literature

• Georges Andrey , John Clerc, Jean-Pierre Dorand et Nicolas Gex: The Freiburg Council of State: 1848–2011. History, organization, members . Editions La Sarine, Freiburg 2012, ISBN 978-2-88355-153-4 .

Web links

• Nicolas Willemin and GL: Menoud, François-Xavier. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .