Lawyer, and a member of the French Senate; born at Nyons, near Avignon, Aug. 2, 1818; died at Montpellier Feb. 6, 1891. He was a lawyer at Montpellier under the government of July, 1830, and became attorney of the republic at Béziers. On Dec. 10, 1848, he was dismissed, and at the coup d'état (Dec. 2, 1851) was deported. After the accession of Napoleon III. he returned to Montpellier and took an active part in the struggles of the republican party against the empire. From the revolution of Sept. 4 to April 23, 1871, he was prefect of the department of Hérault, where he energetically opposed the "Government of Moral Order." On Feb. 20, 1876, he was elected to represent the second district of Montpellier in the Chamber of Deputies, where he was one of the leaders of the Republican Union. After the crisis of May 16, 1877, he was reelected (Oct. 14). In 1887 he introduced the measures which established almost complete freedom of the press in France. The elections of Aug. 21, 1887, compelled Lisbonne to retire from public life; he soon reentered it, however (Jan. 5, 1888), and as senator from Hérault introduced a measure in restriction of those of 1887. This was carried by the Senate, but was defeated in the Chamber of Deputies.
- La Grande Encyclopédie,