He is known for his hostility to the press, and for trying to hold newspaper managers responsible for libels published after they had left the paper.

[1] His father was an "advocate in parliament" in the provinces of Poitou, Angoumois, Périgord, who acted as counsel for the town of Rochechouart.

[3] Bourdeau joined the revolutionary movement enthusiastically, but during the Terror (5 September 1793 – 28 July 1794) he was treated as a suspect and imprisoned at Limoges and then Tulle.

[4] After the first Bourbon Restoration Bourdeau was appointed deputy mayor of Limoges due to his royalist views.

To demand explanations would be to encroach on royal authority and show lack of confidence in the king's ministers.

[5] In the run-up to the 1827 elections Bourdeau led a very successful drive in Limoges to convince eligible voters to register and support the liberal cause.

After the fall of the Villèle ministry, in 1828 Jean Baptiste Gay, vicomte de Martignac, named him Director General of Registration and Domains, and Councilor of State.

Four days after leaving the ministry Bourdeau was appointed first president of Limoges and Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor.

The court did not accept this system of retrospective complicity, which was publicized in the press of the time as "Bourdeau justice.