Emile Acollas
Encyclopedia
Emile Acollas was a French professor of Jurisprudence
born in La Châtre
, Indre
.
He was one of the founders of the League of Peace and Freedom
set up in 1867. His call for the conference gained 10,000 adherents including Victor Hugo
, John Stuart Mill
, Elisée Reclus
, Giuseppe Garibaldi
, Louis Blanc
and Mikhail Bakunin
. Karl Marx
was dismissive and urged the newly formed International Workingmen's Association
to have no official involvement. Acollas insisted that the first Conference, held in Geneva
, should be called a "revolutionary conference". At the subsequent conference held in 1869 in Lausanne
, Acollas attacked the very idea of monarchy
. But the League was to collapse with the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War
.
In 1870 Acollas had the post at the University of Berne
, when the Paris Commune
appointed him Dean of the Law Faculty of the University of Paris
. However he never took up the post and avoided any recriminations, returning to Paris
in 1871. He set up the Acollas Law School primarily for foreign students wishing to attend the University of Paris.
Georges Clemenceau
and the Japan
ese noble Saionji Kinmochi
were both linked to the school. Saionji was to continue to visit Acollas, and later described him as his best friend in Europe
. Acollas was interested in oriental language and became a member of the Japanese Research Society. Other Japanese students included Nakae Chomin
who was active in the Japanese Freedom and People's Rights Movement
.
Acollas took a critical view of Rousseau's theory of rights, arguing that his ideas on individual autonomy would lead to a dictatorship
of the majority
. Rather he propsed a republic
an system of representative government. His student Nakae translated Rousseau's Social Contract
and became known as the "Rousseau of the East".
Acollas ran unsuccessfully in the French general election in 1876 calling for a complete amnesty for the communards
, calling for a decentralised federalism, revocable mandates for elected representatives and free association a way of gaining an equitable distribution of goods. These demands were similar to Bakunin's proposals at the League for Peace and Freedom and are also present in the demands of the Japanese Popular Rights Movement.
Acollas is mentioned in Nakae's book A Discourse by Three Drunkards on Government 1887, where a chacter called "Shinshikun" (Highbrow) remarks:
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
born in La Châtre
La Châtre
La Châtre is a commune in the Indre department in central France.-People:*It was the birth place of Henri de Latouche and Emile Acollas. André Boillot the auto racing driver crashed here in 1932 and died from his injuries....
, Indre
Indre
Indre is a department in the center of France named after the river Indre. The inhabitants of the department are called Indriens.-History:Indre is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
.
He was one of the founders of the League of Peace and Freedom
League of Peace and Freedom
The Inaugural Congress of the League of Peace and Freedom was originally planned for September 5, 1867 in Geneva. Emile Acollas set up the League’s Organising Committee which enlisted the support of John Stuart Mill, Elisée Reclus and his brother Élie Reclus....
set up in 1867. His call for the conference gained 10,000 adherents including Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
, John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
, Elisée Reclus
Élisée Reclus
Élisée Reclus , also known as Jacques Élisée Reclus, was a renowned French geographer, writer and anarchist. He produced his 19-volume masterwork La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes , over a period of nearly 20 years...
, Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...
, Louis Blanc
Louis Blanc
Louis Jean Joseph Charles Blanc was a French politician and historian. A socialist who favored reforms, he called for the creation of cooperatives in order to guarantee employment for the urban poor....
and Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a well-known Russian revolutionary and theorist of collectivist anarchism. He has also often been called the father of anarchist theory in general. Bakunin grew up near Moscow, where he moved to study philosophy and began to read the French Encyclopedists,...
. Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
was dismissive and urged the newly formed International Workingmen's Association
International Workingmen's Association
The International Workingmen's Association , sometimes called the First International, was an international organization which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist political groups and trade union organizations that were based on the working class...
to have no official involvement. Acollas insisted that the first Conference, held in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, should be called a "revolutionary conference". At the subsequent conference held in 1869 in Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
, Acollas attacked the very idea of monarchy
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
. But the League was to collapse with the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
.
In 1870 Acollas had the post at the University of Berne
University of Berne
The University of Bern is a university in the Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a broad choice of courses and programmes in eight faculties and some 160 institutes. The university is an...
, when the Paris Commune
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune was a government that briefly ruled Paris from March 18 to May 28, 1871. It existed before the split between anarchists and Marxists had taken place, and it is hailed by both groups as the first assumption of power by the working class during the Industrial Revolution...
appointed him Dean of the Law Faculty of the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
. However he never took up the post and avoided any recriminations, returning to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1871. He set up the Acollas Law School primarily for foreign students wishing to attend the University of Paris.
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was a French statesman, physician and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920. For nearly the final year of World War I he led France, and was one of the major voices behind the Treaty of Versailles at the...
and the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese noble Saionji Kinmochi
Saionji Kinmochi
Prince was a Japanese politician, statesman and twice Prime Minister of Japan. His title does not signify the son of an emperor, but the highest rank of Japanese hereditary nobility; he was elevated from marquis to prince in 1920...
were both linked to the school. Saionji was to continue to visit Acollas, and later described him as his best friend in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Acollas was interested in oriental language and became a member of the Japanese Research Society. Other Japanese students included Nakae Chomin
Nakae Chomin
was the pen-name of a journalist, political theorist and statesman in Meiji period Japan. His real name was . His major contribution was the popularization of the egalitarian doctrines of the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Japan...
who was active in the Japanese Freedom and People's Rights Movement
Freedom and People's Rights Movement
The was a Japanese political and social movement for democracy in 1880s....
.
Acollas took a critical view of Rousseau's theory of rights, arguing that his ideas on individual autonomy would lead to a dictatorship
Dictatorship
A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator. It has three possible meanings:...
of the majority
Majority
A majority is a subset of a group consisting of more than half of its members. This can be compared to a plurality, which is a subset larger than any other subset; i.e. a plurality is not necessarily a majority as the largest subset may consist of less than half the group's population...
. Rather he propsed a republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
an system of representative government. His student Nakae translated Rousseau's Social Contract
Social contract
The social contract is an intellectual device intended to explain the appropriate relationship between individuals and their governments. Social contract arguments assert that individuals unite into political societies by a process of mutual consent, agreeing to abide by common rules and accept...
and became known as the "Rousseau of the East".
Acollas ran unsuccessfully in the French general election in 1876 calling for a complete amnesty for the communards
Communards
The Communards were members and supporters of the short-lived 1871 Paris Commune formed in the wake of the Franco-Prussian War and France's defeat....
, calling for a decentralised federalism, revocable mandates for elected representatives and free association a way of gaining an equitable distribution of goods. These demands were similar to Bakunin's proposals at the League for Peace and Freedom and are also present in the demands of the Japanese Popular Rights Movement.
Acollas is mentioned in Nakae's book A Discourse by Three Drunkards on Government 1887, where a chacter called "Shinshikun" (Highbrow) remarks:
- Recently when the French philosopher Emile Acollas classified all the various kinds of laws, he ranked international law in terms of morality rather than jurisprudence. According to Acollas . . . (m)orality, unlike law, is made effective by the dictates of individual conscience. Similarly international law has no officials to enforce it, but depends instead only on the 'consciences' of the nations involved.