Jean-Baptiste Teste (20 October 1780, in Bagnols-sur-Cèze, Gard – 20 April 1852, in Chaillot, now in Paris) was a French politician of the July Monarchy.
He distinguished himself early in his education, according to Joseph Marie Portalis, in the "Demosthenic forms" of his oratorical debut (noted by others for his elocution difficulties).
He was elected on 17 May 1815 as deputy to the Hundred Days Chamber for Gard (50 votes out of 73) but was unable to attend the parliament due to his administrative duties.
Proscribed on the Second Restoration, he sought refuge in Liège, where he again practiced as a lawyer until being expelled and forbidden to return for 22 months after defending the anti-Russian and anti-Austrian journal Le Mercure surveillant.
On 16 December 1843, Guizot removed Teste from the ministry but gave him major compensation, including making him a peer of France and head of the Cour de cassation.
A member of the royal family even intervened in his favour by requesting the retiring president of the civil chamber to name Teste as his successor.
In 1843, to get the concession for a salt mine at Gouhenans renewed, he and his associates bribed Teste (as minister of public works) with 94,000 francs.
On 17 July the Chambre des pairs condemned him to three years in prison, to return the 94,000 franc bribe and to pay a fine of the same amount to the Hospice de Paris.
President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte then authorised him to spend the rest of his sentence in a nursing home at Chaillot and reduced the fine to be paid to 44,000 francs.