Senator for life (France)

At one time the French Senate was composed of 300 members, of whom 75 were inamovible ("unremovable").

The 75 were elected by list and by an absolute majority of votes, and were irremovable, like the members of the Chamber of Peers under the Bourbon Restoration and the July Monarchy.

[1] Émile Deshayes de Marcère, the last surviving sénateur inamovible, died in 1918.

[1] Notable immovable senators included Gaston Audiffret-Pasquier, first president of the Senate; the scientist Marcellin Berthelot, who became minister of public education and then minister of foreign affairs; Monseigneur Dupanloup; Jules Grévy, elected President of the Republic in 1879; Louis Martel, elected President of the Senate in 1879; Philippe Le Royer, elected President of the Senate in 1882; Auguste Scheurer-Kestner, the defender of Alfred Dreyfus; the abolitionist Victor Schœlcher and the statesman Henri-Alexandre Wallon.

Some members of Parliament and commentators suggested that it should be replaced by a life membership in the Senate.

The first 75 senators for life elected at the beginning of the Third Republic
Caricature of Henri-Alexandre Wallon , father of the Third Republic, who was a senator for life from 1875 until his death in 1904.