Jules Basdevant was a French law professor.

He was born in Anost

Anost

Anost is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in Bourgogne in eastern France.-References:**...

, Saône-et-Loire

Saône-et-Loire

Saône-et-Loire is a French department, named after the Saône and the Loire rivers between which it lies.-History:When it was formed during the French Revolution, as of March 4, 1790 in fulfillment of the law of December 22, 1789, the new department combined parts of the provinces of southern...

, a village in the Parc Naturel Régional du Morvan about halfway between Paris and Lyon

Lyon

Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

 in eastern France.

After obtaining his Ph.D. in law, he began teaching at the law faculty in Paris, in February 1903, as an agrégé

Agrégation

In France, the agrégation is a civil service competitive examination for some positions in the public education system. The laureates are known as agrégés...

. He was later transferred to the law faculty of Rennes

Rennes

Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...

 where he lectured from 1903 to 1907. He then went to Grenoble

Grenoble

Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...

, where he was a professor until 1918, when he went back to Paris. Basdevant was promoted several times; in 1922 as professor of international law and historical treaties, in 1924 as professor of people's law and also became a technical expert for the French delegation at the Peace preliminary conference of 1919.

He worked for the Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs is an American magazine and website on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published since 1922 by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...

 Department from 1930 to 1941 as a law consultant. He was elected a member of the Academy of Political and Moral Sciences

Academy of Political and Moral Sciences

The Académie des sciences morales et politiques is a French learned society. It is one of the five academies of the Institut de France.The académie was founded in 1795, suppressed in 1803, and reestablished in 1832 through the appeal of Guizot to King Louis Philippe New International Encyclopedia...

 in 1944. In 1946 took up an inaugural seat on the International Court of Justice

International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands...

, a position he held until 1964. He served as the Court's first Vice President, from 1946 to 1949 and as President from 1949 to 1952.

Jules Basdevant is the father of Suzanne Bastid.