PREFECT, in France, the title of a high official (prefet). The prefects of the department were created by a law of the 28th Pluviose in the year VIII. (Feb. 17, 1800). They were in tended to be the chief officers of internal administration, and have, in fact, discharged this function, especially under the First and Second Empire, surviving, under the other forms of government which modern France has seen.
The prefect has a double character and two series of functions. First, 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. Thus 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 neces sary 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 representa tions 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 con siderably restricted by the laws of Aug. ro, 1871, and April 5, 1884, still holds good in some important respects. The prefect can still annul certain decisions of the conseil general. He can sus pend 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 consider able control over public institutions, charitable and otherwise. He may make regulations both on special points and for the gen eral administration of the police.
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 were reduced under the Third Republic, chiefly by the law of Aug. ro, 1871, which led to decentralization, by increasing the powers of the conseils generaux.
The sous-prefets, having very limited powers of deciding ques tions, serve as intermediaries between the prefect and the per sons under his administration. This function was most useful in the year VIII., when communications were difficult, even within a department. At the present time their chief service to the ad ministration lies in keeping up good relations with the mires of the communes in their arrondissement, and thus acquiring a cer tain amount of influence over them.
The National Assembly of 1871 proposed to suppress the sous prefets, but the president, M. Thiers, persuaded them to recon sider their decision. The question has been raised from time to time, since that date, in the Chamber of Deputies, and finally, by the decree of Sept. 6, 1926, the Conseils de Prefecture were sup pressed and the Conseils de Prefecture interdepartementaux cre ated. The suppression of a certain number of the sous-prefectures was effected by the decree of Sept. ro, 1926.