Constant Fornerod

Constant Fornerod (* May 30, 1819 in Avenches, † November 27, 1899 in Bettens ) was a Swiss politician. After a career as a politician, he was Canton as representatives of the liberal- radical faction (now the FDP) elected to the Federal Council in 1855, where he remained until 1867. After his resignation, he led a financial institution and had to serve a multi-year prison sentence for his bankruptcy.

Biography

Study and Canton policy

The son of the magistrate of Avenches studied law and philosophy at the Academy in Lausanne. Further studies he graduated at the Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen and at the Ruprecht -Karls -Universität in Heidelberg. He continued his studies in Paris and then worked as a lecturer in Roman Law at the Academy of Lausanne.

Fornerods political career began in 1845 when he was selected for the circle Avenches in the Grand Conseil, the cantonal parliament of the canton of Vaud. This he was a member until 1855. From 1845 to 1848 he worked as a public writer and was then in the cantonal government, the Conseil d' État, was elected. As a Councillor, he led the cantonal justice and police department. From 1853 to 1855 he represented beyond his Canton in the Senate, he chaired this 1855.

Bundesrat

The United Federal Assembly elected him on 11 July 1855 as successor to the late Daniel -Henri Druey in the Bundesrat. Fornerod received while in the third ballot 84 of 148 votes cast. From 1855 to 1856, and 1858, he stood before the trade and Customs Department. From 1859 to 1861 he headed the Department of Finance and 1862 and from 1864 to 1866 the Military Department. In the years 1857, 1863 and 1867 Fornerod was President and took over, as was customary, in each case the Political Department ( Ministry of Foreign Affairs ).

Fornerod was, among others, involved in the development of diplomatic missions of Switzerland abroad (especially Berlin and Turin). After Neuchâtel trade of 1856, in which he had been working alongside Friedrich Frey- Herosé as a mediator, he pushed through a general amnesty for all those involved in the coup and was Prussia to renounce all claims to move ( the Canton of Neuchâtel had previously been a Prussian principality ). In Savoyerhandel of 1860 he supported in part the opinion of Jakob Stämpfli which called for a military occupation of Haute Savoie.

1863 Fornerod was involved in the founding of the initiated by Jakob Stämpfli Federal Bank, the predecessor of the Swiss National Bank. When asked about the route of the railway line Lausanne- Bern Fornerod was overruled by his Federal colleagues and had because of the collegiality, the route via Oron represented, which met in his Canton rejected. Thus he lost in the Vaud credibility.

Following the resignation

On October 31, 1867 Fornerod retired and handed his office to Victor Ruffy. In the same year he took over the management of the financial institution Crédit Franco - Suisse, based in Geneva, later he moved to Paris. 1870, the company went bankrupt, as executive director Fornerod was condemned and had to be served several years in prison. After his return to Switzerland, he found employment as a mere employee of the Jura - Simplon railway. His brother Justin, pastor retired, took on him later. When he died, Fornerod lived as a pensioner on a farm in Bettens, where he died alone at the age of 80 years.