Career
Trained as a lawyer, he became councilor of the Cour des comptes et des aides (a fiscal court) at Montpellier and in 1789 was president of the criminal tribunal at Herault. He was elected to the National Convention in 1792 and submitted to it a draft of what later became the new civil code of France. He voted, though with reserve, for the execution of King Louis XVI. Politically moderate, he avoided identification with any party and assumed the role of legal technician, becoming an influential member of the assembly's legislative committee and working on the new legal codes.
Under the Directory he became a member of the Council of Five Hundred, the lower house of parliament under the constitution in 1795, and in June 1799 he became minister of justice. As such, he took part in the plot of the 18th Brumaire to bring Napoleon Bonaparte to power. When Napoleon was made First Consul in December 1799, Cambaceres was named Second Consul. In this role he proved cautious and able, often moderating the measures of Napoleon and supervising reorganization of the administration and the judiciary. Napoleon often relied on his advice.
When Napoleon became emperor Cambaceres' services were richly rewarded. In 1804 he became Arch-Chancellor of the Empire, holding second place in the state, and in 1808 he was given the title of Duke of Parma. During Napoleon's absence on campaigns he presided over the meetings of the ministers.
He rallied to the Bourbons in 1814 when Napoleon fell, resumed his functions when Napoleon returned during the Hundred Days (1815), and was exiled by Louis XVIII after Waterloo. However, he was permitted to return to France in 1818 and died in Paris on Mar. 8, 1824. Cambaceres was typical of the able administrators who wanted, above all, a stable and efficient government, whatever the form of regime.