The Inheritance: Myths and Realities of the Prefectoral System

The prefectoral administration inherited by the Fifth Republic bore many outward signs of its illustrious Napoleonic origins. For, like his eminent forebear of the Consulate and the Empire, the Prefect of the Fourth Republic still wore an impressive uniform, lived in an official residence of palatial proportions and presided over all important public ceremonies. Moreover, most administrative law textbooks contained descriptions of the prefectoral system which apparently indicated just how little the basic structures, functions and powers had been modified in the preceding century and a half. It is perhaps not surprising that, at a time before the mass ownership of televisions, telephones and cars, the prefecture (préfecture , the Prefects’ official residence and offices), still retained prestige as the local outpost of the ‘all-powerful’ Parisian rulers. 1