Born, 1736; died, June 24, 1814.
He was at the time of the Revolution one of the most distinguished
lawyers in Nancy. He pronounced violently in favour of the new
doctrines, and was elected by the _Tiers État_ of his native town
as their representative at the States-General. He took a considerable
part in the debates of the Assembly, and defended Nancy against the
attacks of the Jacobins. When the Convention took extreme measures,
Regnier disappeared from Paris until the events of the 9th Thermidor
were concluded. In 1795 he joined the Council of the Ancients, and
became first Secretary to and then President of the Council. He opposed
the return of the exiled _émigrés_ and caused the transportation
of many priests (February 1796). He was re-elected in 1799, but as
he was persuaded, by this time, that the Directorate could neither
serve the peace nor the aggrandisement of France, he took an active
part in arranging the _coup d’état_ of the 18th Brumaire (Nov.
1799). It was in his house that the conspirators met the day before
this event took place. When he was appointed a member of the _Conseil
d’État_, he catalogued and investigated all details with regard to
the National Domains. He was the principal author of that code of laws
known as the _Code Napoleon_, still the law of France. In 1802
he became Minister of Justice and also Chief Judge of France; he held
these offices until 1813. He was created Duc de Massa by the Emperor in
1805. In 1813, after resigning the portfolio of Minister of Justice,
Regnier became President of the Corps Législatif. After the first
abdication of Napoleon Regnier hoped to retain his position, but he was
doomed to be disappointed, a misfortune which, together with the fall
of the Emperor, to whom he was personally attached, probably hastened
his death, which occurred two months later, at the age of seventy-eight.