The Chancellor of France (French: Chancelier de France), also known as the Grand Chancellor or Lord Chancellor,[citation needed] was the officer of state responsible for the judiciary of the Kingdom of France. The Chancellor was responsible for seeing that royal decrees were enrolled and registered by the sundry parlements, provincial appellate courts. However, since the Chancellor was appointed for life, and might fall from favour, or be too ill to carry out his duties, his duties would occasionally fall to his deputy, the Keeper of the Seals of France (Garde des sceaux de France).
The last Chancellor died in 1790, by which time the French Revolution was well underway, and the position was left vacant. Instead, in 1791, the Chancellor's portfolio and responsibilities were assigned to the Keeper of the Seals who was accordingly given the additional title of Minister of Justice under the Revolutionary government. After the Bourbon Restoration in 1814, the position of the Chancellor was divorced from its judicial responsibilities and re-established as president of the Chamber of Peers, the upper house of the French parliament until 1848. The last Chancellor was Etienne-Denis Pasquier, appointed by King Louis Philippe I in 1837.
See also Royal Administration of Merovingian and Carolingian Dynasties.