Louis Ruchonnet

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Louis Ruchonnet

Antoine Louis John Ruchonnet (born April 28, 1834 in Lausanne , † September 14, 1893 in Bern , resident in Saint-Saphorin ; usually called Louis Ruchonnet ) was a Swiss politician and lawyer . In addition to his legal work, he devoted himself to promoting the economy. From 1863 to 1868 and from 1874 to 1881 he was a member of the Grand Council of the Canton of Vaud . In between he was State Councilor from 1868 to 1874 . From 1866 he was also a member of the National Council and presided over it twice. In 1881 he was elected to the Federal Council as a representative of the radical parliamentary group (today's FDP ) . Until his death, with the exception of one year, he headed the Justice and Police Department and initiated numerous legislative procedures, the most important of which is debt collection and bankruptcy law . In 1883 and 1889 he was Federal President .

biography

Studies, work and family

His father François-Louis was a fencing master at the Lausanne Academy , his mother Susanne Boomer came from England . After attending high school, Louis Ruchonnet studied law at the academy from 1850 , although he had been more interested in geology . In the same year he joined the student associations Belles-Lettres and Helvetia , the latter he presided in 1854. In August 1855 he took part in the Federal Gymnastics Festival and won the first prize in sword and sword fencing. After 1856 the study with the licentiate had completed Ruchonnet acquired two years later the bar exam . He turned down the offer to take up the chair in civil law in Lausanne, as he preferred the profession of lawyer.

In 1859, after an internship in London , Ruchonnet opened a law firm in Lausanne. Two years later he married Gabrielle Rogivue, a granddaughter of Ignaz Troxler , with whom he had two sons. After her death, he married Élise Borgognon in 1874. In addition to his work as a lawyer, Ruchonnet devoted himself in particular to economic development. He was president of the Lausanne Trade and Industry Association and founded two savings banks , the Union Vaudoise de Crédit and the Caisse populaire , which covered the needs of traders and workers. He was close to the pacifist movement . In 1867 and 1869 he took part in the World Peace Congresses.

Political career

In 1863 Ruchonnet was elected to the Grand Council , which he presided over in 1866. He belonged to the left wing of the quarreling radicals and, because of his charimas, was considered to be their hope for the future. Promoted by Victor Luffy , he rebuilt the radical movement in the canton of Vaud . In 1868 he was elected to the cantonal government, the State Council . In this he was initially responsible for the education and culture department. He redesigned the school system at primary level and initiated the first steps to elevate the Lausanne Academy to the status of a university. In 1872 Ruchonnet temporarily headed the military direction for half a year before returning to his traditional direction in 1873. Also in 1873 he officiated as district president. In 1874 he resigned as a councilor and continued his political career as a councilor and member of the Lausanne municipal parliament. He also continued his law firm, which became one of the most prestigious in the entire canton. Ruchonnet's interns included two future federal councilors, Marc Ruchet and Eugène Luffy .

Ruchet ran for parliamentary elections in 1866 and secured one of the four seats in the Vaud-East constituency . In the National Council he was an opponent of the influential group of parliamentarians around "Railway King" Alfred Escher . In terms of railway policy, he advocated the continued construction of the Simplon line and fought against the Gotthard Railway favored by Escher , albeit ultimately in vain. In the debates on the total revision of the federal constitution , which were dominated by increasing centralism , he soon took over the leading position within the federal wing. The newspaper La Revue , which he founded in 1868 , developed into a mouthpiece for the French federalists. Ruchonnet was one of the main opponents of the centralized draft constitution of 1872, which the people narrowly rejected. He then took part in the drafting of the successful constitutional revision of 1874, which met more of the demands of the federalists.

Ruchonnet was President of the National Council in 1869 and 1874/75 . On December 10, 1875 it chose the Federal Assembly in the Federal Council , but he refused to accept the election; in his place Numa Droz moved into the state government. After Fridolin Anderwert's death on Christmas Day 1880, Ruchonnet was one of the most popular favorites again, but refused to run. The Federal Assembly elected Karl Hoffmann on February 22, 1881 , but he also refused the election. In the days that followed, there were numerous rallies by the Vaudois population, whereupon Ruchonnet let himself be changed. When the Bundesrat election was repeated on March 3, he received 102 out of 161 valid votes in the first ballot. His Catholic-Conservative challenger Philipp Anton von Segesser received 49 votes, and another ten votes.

Federal Council

Together with his official colleague Emil Welti , Ruchonnet was one of the dominant personalities in the Federal Council from the start. At first he was head of the trade and agriculture department . In addition to his main task, he also campaigned for a balance between Catholics and Protestants, whose relationship was very tense because of the Kulturkampf . Together with Welti, he negotiated the separation of the Canton of Ticino from the dioceses of Como and Milan . In 1882 he took over the Justice and Police Department . In 1883 he was Federal President and thus - according to the practice at the time - temporarily head of the Political Department . During his presidential year, he brought negotiations to a conclusion on the creation of the Diocese of Lugano . He also made the official opening of the first national exhibition in Zurich .

Ruchonnet moved back to the Justice and Police Department in 1884. Although he was a supporter of capitalism in general and free trade in particular, he was also aware of its disadvantages and looked for pragmatic solutions to the social question . First of all, under his supervision, employers' liability for work accidents was introduced. He then campaigned for a constitutional article as the basis for health and accident insurance. Under the impression of the ongoing technical change, he came to the conclusion that federalist Switzerland had to rethink its legal system . He worked out implementing provisions for the new Code of Obligations and drafted a federal judicial reform. The most pressing problem was the unification of the law, which had become necessary after the adoption of the new federal constitution and which was intended to replace the various cantonal laws. In 1885 Ruchonnet tackled his most important project, debt collection and bankruptcy law . After lengthy parliamentary deliberations, it survived a referendum on December 17, 1889 and was put into effect in 1892.

Inspired by Eugen Huber , Ruchonnet then began work on a uniform civil code , which was not to come into force until 1912. He also gave Carl Stooss the task of considering a uniform penal code . Under the impression of an anarchist attack on the Federal Palace in 1885 and the Wohlgemuth affair in 1889, he enforced a permanent federal prosecutor . Other important legislative procedures concerned the civil law situation of the resident (1891) and the reorganization of the Federal Supreme Court (1893). Also in 1893 he was vehemently committed against the slaughter ban initiative , but lost significantly.

Ruchonnet, who had been a member of the Masonic Lodge Espérance et Cordialité since 1862 , had been appointed Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite in 1887 . In 1889 he was Federal President for the second time. But since Numa Droz had broken the previous rotation principle and remained Foreign Minister, he did not have to change departments. In 1890 he was elected vice-president of the pacifist International Arbitration and Peace Association . In 1893 he succumbed to a heart condition during a Federal Council meeting in Bern .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Meuwly: Das Bundesratlexikon. P. 177.
  2. ^ Federal Councilor Louis Ruchonnet. (PDF, 1216 kB) The Bern Week, September 14, 1943, accessed on April 16, 2019 .
  3. ^ Meuwly: The Federal Council Lexicon. Pp. 177-178.
  4. ^ Meuwly: The Federal Council Lexicon. P. 178.
  5. ^ Meuwly: The Federal Council Lexicon. Pp. 178-179.
  6. ^ Meuwly: The Federal Council Lexicon. P. 179.
  7. ^ Meuwly: The Federal Council Lexicon. P. 180.
  8. ↑ a b Meuwly: Das Bundesratlexikon. P. 181.
predecessor Office successor
Fridolin other value Member of the Swiss Federal Council
1881–1893 		Eugène Luffy
personal data
SURNAME Ruchonnet, Louis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ruchonnet, Antoine Louis John (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss politician
DATE OF BIRTH April 28, 1834
PLACE OF BIRTH Lausanne
DATE OF DEATH September 14, 1893
Place of death Bern