AGITES'SEAU, FRANcOIS D', a distinguished lawyer and chancellor of France, and pronounced by Voltaire to have been the most learned magistrate that France ever possessed, was born at Limoge, 1668 A.D. He received his earliest education from his father, and afterwards devoted himself to the study of law; became avocat-general at Paris in 1690, and at the age of 32, procurevr-general of the parliament. In this office he effected many improvements in the laws and in the administration of justice. He dis played great benevolence during a famine which occurred in the winter of 1709, applying all the means in his power for the alleviation of the calamity. As a steady defender of the rights of the people and of the Galilean church, he successfully opposed the decrees of Louis XIV. and the chancellor Voisin in favor of the papal bull Unigenitus (q.v.).
During the government of the duke of Orleans he became chancellor, but in the follow ing year fell into disgrace by opposing Law's system of finance, and retired to his country-scat at Fresnes. When, however, the ruin induced by Law's system produced a general outcry of dissatisfaction, A.was reinstated, in order to appease the people. But his well-meant efforts could not retrieve the desperate state of affairs. A.was afterwards exiled a second time, in consequence of his opposing cardinal Dubois; and though he (in 1727) obtained from cardinal Fleury permission to return, yet he did not again resume the office of chancellor till 1737. He resigned in 1750, and d. Feb. 9, 1751. His works, consisting of pleadings and speeches at the openings of the parliament, occupy 13 vol umes (Paris, 1759-89; Paris, 1819).