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Prefect (from the Latin praefectus, perfect participle of praeficere: "make in front", i.e., put in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition.
A prefect's office, department, or area of control is called a prefecture, but in various post-Roman cases there is a prefect without a prefecture or vice versa. The words "prefect" and "prefecture" are also used, more or less conventionally, to render analogous words in other languages, especially Romance languages.
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Praefectus, often with a further qualification, was the formal title of many, fairly low to high-ranking, military or civil officials in the Roman Empire, whose authority was not embodied in their person (as it was with elected Magistrates) but conferred by delegation from a higher authority. They did have some authority in their prefecture such as controlling prisons and in civil administration.
The Praetorian prefect (Praefectus praetorio) began as the military commander of a general's guard company in the field, then grew in importance as the Praetorian Guard became a potential kingmaker during the Empire. From the Emperor Diocletian's tetrarchy (c. 300) they became the administrators of the four Praetorian prefectures, the government level above the (newly created) dioceses and (multiplied) provinces.
As Egypt was a special crown domain, a rich and strategic granary, where the Emperor enjoyed an almost pharaonic position unlike any other province or diocese, its head was styled uniquely Praefectus Augustalis, indicating that he governed in the personal name of the august emperor.
For some auxiliary troops, specific titles could even refer to their peoples:
Especially in Middle Latin, præfectus was used to refer to various officers—administrative, military, judicial, etc.—usually alongside a more precise term in the vernacular (such as Burggraf).
The term is used by the Catholic Church, which based much of its canon law terminology on Roman law, in several different ways.
In the United States, formerly in many Catholic high schools this title was given to a member of the faculty ("prefect of discipline" in charge of student attendance, general order and such).
The Prefect of Police (Préfet de police) is the officer in charge of co-ordinating police forces in the various administrative circumscriptions of Paris. The local police in Japan are divided among prefectures too.
PREFECT (prefet), in France, the title of a high official. The prefects of the department were created by a law of the 28th Pluviose in the year VIII. (Feb. 17, 1800). They were intended to be the chief organs of internal administration, and have, in fact, discharged this function, especially under the First and Second Empire, surviving, though with diminished importance, under the other forms of government which modern France has seen. In comparison with other French officials, they are well paid (the salary nowadays ranges from 39,000 to 18,000 francs according to the class).
In the administration of the ancien regime the term "prefect" was not employed; practically the only case in which it occurs was in the organization of the establishment of institutions opened by the religious orders, in which there was generally a "prefect of the studies" (prefet des etudes). In the year VIII., in the discussion of the law of the 28th Pluviose, no reason was stated for the choice of this term. But like the "Tribunes" and "Consuls" of the constitution of the year VIII., it was taken from. the Roman institutions which were then so fashionable (see Praefect); it may also be recalled that Voltaire had used the term "prefecture" in speaking of the authority of Louis XIV. over the free towns of Alsace.
The prefect has to a certain extent a double character and two series of functions. Firstly he is the general representative of the government, whose duty it is to ensure execution of the government's decisions, the exercise of the law, and the regular working of all branches of the public service in the department. In so far the role of the prefect is essentially political; he guarantees the direct and legal action of the government in his department. He has the supervision of all the state services in his department, which procures the necessary uniformity in the working of the services, each of which is specialized within a narrow sphere. He serves as a local source of information to the government, and transmits to it complaints or representations from those under his administration. In the name of the state he exercises a certain administrative control over the local authorities, such as the conseil general, the mayors and the municipal councils. This control, though considerably restricted by the law of the 10th of August 1871, on the conseils generaux, and that of the 5th of April 1884, on municipal organization, still holds good in some important respects. The prefect can still annul certain decisions of the conseil general.. He can suspend for a month a municipal council, mayor or deputy-mayor; certain decisions of the municipal councils require his approval; and he may annul such of their regulations as are extra vires. He can annul or suspend the maire's decrees and he has also considerable control over public institutions, charitable and otherwise. He may make regulations (reglements) both on special points, in virtue of various laws, and for the general administration of the police.
When the prefects were created in the year VIII. the intendants of provinces of the ancien regime were taken as a model, and there is a great resemblance between their respective functions. The prefect, however, is no more than an intendant in miniature, being only at the head of a department, whereas the intendant was over a generalite, which was a much larger district. In the same way the sous-prefets correspond to the subdelegues of the intendants, with the difference that they are actual officials subordinate to the prefects, while the subdelegues were merely the representatives with whom the intendants provided themselves, and to whom they gave powers.
Secondly, the prefect is not only the general representative of the government, but the representative of the department in the management of its local interests. But his unfettered powers in this respect have been reduced under the third Republic. This has chiefly been the effect of the law of the 10th of August 1871, which has led to decentralization, by increasing the powers of the conseils generaux. The law created a departmental committee (commission departementale), elected by the conseil general which, in the interval of the sessions of the latter, takes part in matters concerning the administration of the departmental interests, either in virtue of the law, or by a delegation of pOwers from the conseil general. The sous-prefecs, having very limited powers of deciding questions, serve above all as intermediaries between the prefect and the persons under his administration. This function was most useful in the year VIII., when communications were difficult, even within a department, but nowadays it only leads to complications. As a matter of fact their chief service to the administration lies in keeping up good relations with the maires of the communes in their arrondissement, and thus acquiring a certain amount of influence over them. The National Assembly, which passed the law of the 10th of August 1871, had also decided to suppress the sous-prefets, but M. Thiers, who was then president of the Republic, persuaded them to reconsider this decision. Since then the Chamber of Deputies has on several occasions taken advantage of the budget to attempt the suppression of the sous-prefecs by refusing to vote the amount necessary for the payment of their salaries. But the government has always opposed this unconstitutional measure, holding that the suppression could only be effected by an organic law, and that it would necessarily involve a remodelling of the administrative organization. So far their view has prevailed in the Chambers. (J. P. E.)
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