Joseph Aveline (December 10, 1881, Dorceau, Orne, France – December 12, 1958, Dorceau, Orne, France) was a 20th-century French politician and agricultural expert from the Orne department of France, who served as mayor of Dorceau for a half century and, as parliamentary deputy, opposed full powers to Marshall Philippe Pétain in July 1940.

[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Joseph Louis Aveline was born on December 10, 1881, on a cattle-breeding farm in Dorceau (now part of the Rémalard-en-Perche commune) in Orne, France.

His father had started the "New Farm" (French le Ferme-Neuve) there to breed Percheron horses and cattle of Normandy.

[2][3][4][7][8] Aveline spent his life as both politician and champion of Norman animal husbandry.

[9]) The farm was famed for breeding Percheron horses and Normande dairy cattle bulls.

He also headed a large stud farm and became a horse specialist who, later in life, went on lecture tours, particularly in South America.

In July 1940, with Paul Reynaud as president, he abstained from the vote for full powers to Marshal Philippe Pétain (who became the head of Vichy France).

[1][2][3][4][7] (After being appointed Premier by President Albert Lebrun, Marshal Pétain's cabinet agreed to end the war and signed an Armistice with Germany on 22 June 1940.

Pétain subsequently established an authoritarian regime when the National Assembly of the French Third Republic granted him full powers on 10 July 1940.

In 2018, the current mayor of Rémalard-en-Perche dedicated the "Joseph Aveline Hall" in the renovated mairie (town hall) of Dorceau, noting la carrière exceptionnelle de celui qui au cours un demi-siècle était le premier magistrat de sa commune ("outstanding career of one who during half a century was the first magistrate of his municipality").

Innovateur reconnu dans le monde agricole, il était commandant de la Légion d'honneur.