Joseph Girard (French pronunciation: [ʒozɛf ʒiʁaʁ]; 9 October 1815 – 25 June 1890) was a Swiss lawyer and politician.
[1] The son of a businessman, he was born in Carouge and studied law from 1835 onwards at the University of Geneva, graduating and starting to practice five years later.
He became noted for his speeches and his radical-liberal views and after the 1846 Liberal Revolution he became an active politician.
He was responsible for policing and justice and frequently came into conflict with James Fazy.
He also worked as an investigating judge from 1856 onwards, but in 1873 had to resign from all his posts due to illness.