Marguerite Dilhan

Marguerite Dilhan (1876–1956) was a French lawyer.

Born in 1876 in Miélan (Gers), she was the daughter of Ferdinand and Antoinette Cécile Valérie Ponsan, who married on December 27, 1875, in Sembouès. She was 16 when her father passed away, and 18 when her mother followed, leaving three orphaned daughters, of whom Marguerite was the eldest. To meet their financial needs, she studied law at the University of Toulouse, graduating in 1902.

During her brilliant studies, she was, thanks to her talents, Secretary of the Conference during her internship. She went on to become the first woman to open her own law firm and to plead before the Cour d'Assises in a criminal case on 26 November 1903, where she received the compliments of the judge for her defense. After obtaining her diploma in law at the University of Toulouse, she was sworn in July 1903, at the age of 27, thanks to the law of 1 December 1900 allowing women to take the oath of attorney after Olga Balachowski-Petit and Jeanne Chauvin. She continued her career as a lawyer for over fifty years. Agathe Dyvrande-Thévenin invited her to join the “Groupement amical des Avocates de France”, at a time when women did not yet have the right to vote. Marguerite Dilhan was elected its vice-president. This organisation later became the l'Association française des femmes des carrières juridiques.

Marguerite Dilhan successfully defended Arria Ly, a radical feminist who defended women's right to fair labor, the right to vote, and self-defense, engaged in duels against men. She also defended soldiers during the First World War before the war council. Later, in her office on rue Gatien-Arnoult, she was the lawyer for the very numerous Spanish refugees in Toulouse from 1939 onwards and for the Retirada. In coordination with her friend Marthe Condat, she fought for public hygiene and against health problems, including support for Goutte de lait. In connection with her work as a lawyer, she was secretary of the Société de patronage des libérés par le travail and the École de la paix.

Marguerite Dilhan received the Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 1933 and the Officier de la Légion d'honneur in 1949. Her funeral took place on March 6, 1956, in Toulouse's Saint-Sernin basilica, in the presence of many members of the Bar. The city of Toulouse named a street after her and a commemorative plaque adorns her former home and law firm, at 2 bis rue Gatien-Arnoult.

In the Gers :


 * the city of Miélan named a street for her following a decision of the city council on 29 June 2006.
 * the town of Saramon named a street Marguerite Dilhan.