LANJUINAIS, JEAN DENIS, COMTE French politician, was born at Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine) on March 12,1753, He studied law and became in 1775 professor of eccle siastical law at Rennes. His two important works of this period, Institutiones inris ecclesiastici and Praelectiones ha-is ecclesiastici, remained unpublished owing to the chaotic state of public affairs. Elected to the States General in 1789 he demanded the abolition of nobility and helped to establish the civil constitution of the clergy. In the Convention (1792) his views became more mod erate, and while adhering to his republican principles, he made repeated attacks on the Mountain, which resulted (April 15,1793) in a demand for his exclusion from the Assembly. Arrested with the Girondins, he escaped to Rennes where he drew up a pamphlet, Le Dernier Crime de Lanjuinais, denouncing the constitution of 1793. He was re-admitted to the Convention on March 8, 1795.
He maintained his liberal and independent attitude in the Conseil des Anciens, the senate and the chamber of peers, being president of the upper house during the Hundred Days. Following the Restoration most of his time was given to religious and political subjects. He died in Paris on Jan. 13, 1827. His writings in clude : Constitutions de la nation francaise (1819) ; Appreciation and Etudes biographiques et litteraires sur Antoine Arnauld, P. Nicole et Jacques Necker (1823).
For the life of the comte de Lanjuinais see also A. Robert and G. Cougny, Dictionnaire des parlementaires, vol. ii. (I89o) ; and F. A. Aulard, Les Orateurs de la Legislative et de la Convention For a bibliography of his work see J. M. Querard, La France litteraire, vol. iii. (1829).