Editing President (government title) (section)

===France===
In pre-revolutionary [[Kingdom of France|France]], the president of a ''[[Parlement]]'' evolved into a powerful [[magistrate]], a member of the so-called ''[[noblesse de robe]]'' ("[[nobility]] of the gown"), with considerable judicial as well as administrative authority. The name referred to his primary role of presiding over trials and other hearings. In the 17th and 18th centuries, seats in the ''Parlements'', including presidencies, became effectively hereditary, since the holder of the office could ensure that it would pass to an heir by paying the crown a special tax known as the ''[[paulette (tax)|paulette]]''. The post of "first president" (''premier président''), however, could be held by only the [[King of France|King]]'s nominees. The ''Parlements'' were abolished by the [[French Revolution]]. In modern France the chief judge of a court is known as its president (''président de la cour'').

By the 18th century, the president of a [[France|French]] [[parlement]] was addressed as "Monsieur le Président". In [[Pierre Choderlos de Laclos]]'s 1782 novel ''[[Les Liaisons dangereuses]]'' ("Dangerous Liaisons"), the wife of a magistrate in a parlement is referred to as Madame la Présidente de Tourvel ("Madam President of Tourvel"). The fictional name Tourvel refers not to the ''parlement'' in which the magistrate sits, but rather, in imitation of an aristocratic title, to his private estate. This influenced parliamentary usage in France. When the [[Second French Republic]] was established in 1848, "Monsieur le Président" became the title of the president of the French Republic.