Abolition of the "ancien regime."

The Revolution entirely abolished the _ancien regime_, and in the first

instance whatever remained of feudalism. The Constituent Assembly, in

the course of its immense work of settlement, wished to draw

distinctions, abolishing absolutely, without indemnity, all rights which

had amounted in the beginning to a usurpation and could not be

justified, e.g. serfdom and seigniorial courts of justice. On the other

hand, it declared subject to redemption such feudal charges as had been

the subject of contract or of a concession of lands. But as it was

almost impossible to discover the exact origin of various feudal

rights, the Assembly had proceeded to do this by means of certain legal

assumptions which sometimes admitted of a proof to the contrary. It

carefully regulated the conditions and rate of repurchase, and forbade

the creation in the future of any perpetual charge which could not be

redeemed: a principle that has remained permanent in French law. This

was a rational and equitable solution; but in a period of such violent

excitement it could not be maintained. The Legislative Assembly declared

the abolishment without indemnity of all feudal rights for which the

original deed of concession could not be produced; and to produce this

was, of course, in most cases impossible. Finally, the Convention

entirely abolished all feudal rights, and commanded that the old deeds

should be destroyed; it maintained on the contrary, though subject to

redemption, those tenures and charges which were solely connected with

landed property and not feudal.

With feudalism had been abolished serfdom. Further, the Constituent

Assembly suppressed nobility; it even forbade any one to assume and bear

the titles, emblems and arms of nobility. Thus was established the

equality of citizens before the law. The Assembly also proclaimed the

liberty of labour and industry, and suppressed the corporations of

artisans and workmen, the _jurandes_ and _maitrises_, as Turgot had

done. But, in order to maintain this liberty of the individual, it

forbade all associations between workers, or employers, fearing that

such contracts would again lead to the formation of corporations similar

to the old ones. It even forbade and declared punishable, as being

contrary to the declaration of the rights of man and the citizen,

combinations or strikes, or an agreement between workmen or employers to

refuse to work or to give work except on given conditions. Such, for a

long time, was French legislation on this point.

Administrative reorganization.

The Constituent Assembly gave to France a new administrative division,

that into departments, districts, cantons and communes; and this

division, which was intended to make the old provincial distinctions

disappear, had to serve all purposes, the department being the unit for

all public services. This settlement was definitive, with the exception

of certain modifications in detail, and exists to the present day. But

there was a peculiar administrative organism depending on this

arrangement. The constitution of 1791, it is true, made the king the

titulary head of the executive power; but the internal administration of

the kingdom was not actually in his hands. It was deputed, under his

orders, to bodies elected in each department, district and commune. The

municipal bodies were directly elected by citizens duly qualified; other

bodies were chosen by the method of double election. Each body consisted

of two parts: a council, for deliberative purposes, and a _bureau_ or

_directoire_ chosen by the council from among its numbers to form the

executive. These were the only instruments for the general

administration and for that of the direct taxes. The king could, it is

true, annul the illegal acts of these bodies, but not dismiss their

members; he could merely suspend them from exercising their functions,

but the matter then went before the Legislative Assembly, which could

maintain or remit the suspension as it thought fit. The king had not a

single agent chosen by himself for general administrative purposes. This

was a reaction, though a very exaggerated one, against the excessive

centralization of the _ancien regime_, and resulted in an absolute

administrative anarchy. The organization of the revolutionary government

partly restored the central authority; the councils of the departments

were suppressed; the Committee of Public Safety and the "representatives

of the people on mission" were able to remove and replace the members of

the elected bodies; and also, by an ingenious arrangement, national

agents were established in the districts. The constitution of the year

III. continued in this course, simplifying the organization established

by the Constituent Assembly, while maintaining its principle. The

department had an administration of five members, elected as in the

past, but having executive as well as deliberative functions. The

district was suppressed. The communes retained only a municipal agent

elected by themselves, and the actual municipal body, the importance of

which was considerably increased, was removed to the canton, and

consisted of the municipal agents from each commune, and a president

elected by the duly qualified citizens of the canton. The Directory was

represented in each departmental and communal administration by a

commissary appointed and removable by itself, and could dismiss the

members of these administrations.

Judicial system.

The Constituent Assembly decided on the complete reorganization of the

judicial organization. This was accomplished on a very simple plan,

which realized that ideal of the two degrees of justice which, as we

have noticed, was that of France under the _ancien regime_. In the lower

degrees it created in each canton a justice of the peace (_juge de

paix_), the idea and name of which were borrowed from England, but which

differed very much from the English justice of the peace. He judged,

both with and without appeal, civil cases of small importance; and, in

cases which did not come within his competency, it was his duty to try

to reconcile the parties. In each district was established a civil court

composed of five judges. This completed the judicial organization,

except for the court of cassation, which had functions peculiar to

itself, never judging the facts of the case but only the application of

the law. For cases coming under the district court, the Assembly had not

thought fit to abolish the guarantee of the appeal in cases involving

sums above a certain figure. But by a curious arrangement the district

tribunals could hear appeals from one another. With regard to penal

prosecutions, there was in each department a criminal court which judged

crimes with the assistance of a jury; it consisted of judges borrowed

from district courts, and had its own president and public prosecutor.

Correctional tribunals, composed of _juges de paix_, dealt with

misdemeanours. The Assembly preserved the commercial courts, or consular

jurisdictions, of the _ancien regime_. There was a court of cassation,

the purpose of which was to preserve the unity of jurisprudence in

France; it dealt with matters of law and not of fact, considering

appeals based on the violation of law, whether in point of matter or of

form, and if such violation were proved, sending the matter before

another tribunal of the same rank for re-trial. All judges were elected

for a term of years; the _juges de paix_ by the primary assembly of the

canton, the district judges by the electoral assembly consisting of the

electors of the second degree for the district, the members of the court

of cassation by the electors of the departments, who were divided for

the purpose into two series, which voted alternately. The Constituent

Assembly did, it is true, require professional guarantees, by proof of a

more or less extended exercise of the profession of lawyer from all

judges except the _juges de paix_. But the system was really the same as

that of the administrative organization. The king only appointed the

_commissaires du roi_ attached to the district courts, criminal

tribunals and the court of cassation; but the appointment once made

could not be revoked by him. These commissaries fulfilled one of the

functions of the old _ministere public_, their duty being to demand the

application of laws. The Convention did not change this general

organization; but it suppressed the professional guarantees required in

the case of candidates for a judgeship, so that henceforth all citizens

were eligible; and it also caused new elections to take place. Moreover,

the Convention, either directly or by means of one of its committees,

not infrequently removed and replaced judges without further election.

The constitution of the year III. preserved this system, but introduced

one considerable modification. It suppressed the district courts, and in

their place created in each department a civil tribunal consisting of

twenty judges. The idea was a happy one, for it gave the courts more

importance, and therefore more weight and dignity. But this reform,

beneficial as it would be nowadays, was at the time premature, in view

of the backward condition of means of communication.

The army.

The Constituent Assembly suppressed the militia and maintained the

standing army, according to the old type, the numbers of which were

henceforth to be fixed every year by the Legislative Assembly. The army

was to be recruited by voluntary enlistment, careful rules for which

were drawn up; the only change was in the system of appointment to

ranks; promotion went chiefly by seniority, and in the lower ranks a

system of nomination by equals or inferiors was organized. The Assembly

proclaimed, however, the principle of compulsory and personal service,

but under a particular form, that of the National Guard, to which all

qualified citizens belonged, and in which almost all ranks were

conferred by election. Its chief purpose was to maintain order at home;

but it could be called upon to furnish detachments for defence against

foreign invasion. This was an institution which, with many successive

modifications, and after various long periods of inactivity followed by

a revival, lasted more than three-quarters of a century, and was not

suppressed till 1871. For purposes of war the Convention, in addition to

voluntary enlistments and the resources furnished by the National

Guards, and setting aside the forced levy of 200,000 men in 1793,

decided on the expedient of calling upon the communes to furnish men, a

course which revived the principle of the old militia. But the Directory

drew up an important military law, that of the 6th Fructidor of the year

VI., which established compulsory military service for all, under the

form of conscription strictly so called. Frenchmen aged from 20 to 25

(_defenseurs conscrits_) were divided into five classes, each including

the men born in the same year, and were liable until they were 25 years

old to be called up for active service, the whole period of service not

exceeding four years. No class was called upon until the younger classes

had been exhausted, and the sending of substitutes was forbidden. This

law, with a few later modifications, provided for the French armies up

to the end of the Empire.

Taxation.

The Constituent Assembly abolished nearly all the taxes of the _ancien

regime_. Almost the only taxes preserved were the stamp duty and that on

the registration of acts (the old _controle_ and _centieme denier_), and

these were completely reorganized; the customs were maintained only at

the frontiers for foreign trade. In the establishment of new taxes the

Assembly was influenced by two sentiments: the hatred which had been

inspired by the former arbitrary taxation, and the influence of the

school of the Physiocrats. Consequently it did away with indirect

taxation on objects of consumption, and made the principal direct tax

the tax on land. Next in importance were the _contribution personnelle

et mobiliere_ and the _patentes_. The essential elements of the former

were a sort of capitation-tax equivalent to three days' work, which was

the distinctive and definite sign of a qualified citizen, and a tax on

personal income, calculated according to the rent paid. The _patentes_

were paid by traders, and were also based on the amount of rent. These

taxes, though considerably modified later, are still essentially the

basis of the French system of direct taxation. The Constituent Assembly

had on principle repudiated the tax on the gross income, much favoured

under the _ancien regime_, which everybody had felt to be arbitrary and

oppressive. The system of public contributions under the Convention was

arbitrary and revolutionary, but the councils of the Directory, side by

side with certain bad laws devised to tide over temporary crises, made

some excellent laws on the subject of taxation. They resumed the

regulation of the land tax, improving and partly altering it, and also

dealt with the _contribution personnelle et mobiliere_, the _patentes_,

and the stamp and registration duties. It was at this time, too, that

the door and window tax, which still exists, was provisionally

established; there was also a partial reappearance of indirect taxation,

in particular the _octrois_ of the towns, which had been suppressed by

the Constituent Assembly.

Religious liberty.

The Constituent Assembly gave the Protestants liberty of worship and

full rights; it also gave Jews the status of citizen, which they had not

had under the _ancien regime_, together with political rights. With

regard to the Catholic Church, the Assembly placed at the disposal of

the nation the property of the clergy, which had already, in the course

of the 18th century, been regarded by most political writers as a

national possession; at the same time it provided for salaries for the

members of the clergy and pensions for those who had been monks. It

abolished tithes and the religious orders, and forbade the re-formation

of the latter in the future. The ecclesiastical districts were next

reorganized, the department being always taken as the chief unit, and a

new church was organized by the civil constitution of the clergy, the

bishops being elected by the electoral assembly of the department (the

usual electors), and the cures by the electoral assembly of the

district. This was an unfortunate piece of legislation, inspired partly

by the old Gallican spirit, partly by the theories on civil religion of

J.J. Rousseau and his school, and, together with the civic oath imposed

on the clergy, it was a source of endless troubles. The constitutional

church established in this way was, however, abolished as a state

institution by the Convention. By laws of the years III. and IV. the

Convention and the Directory, in proclaiming the liberty of worship,

declared that the Republic neither endowed nor recognized any form of

worship. Buildings formerly consecrated to worship, which had not been

alienated, were again placed at the disposal of worshippers for this

purpose, but under conditions which were hard for them to accept.

Civil law.

Criminal law.

The Assemblies of the Revolution, besides the laws which, by abolishing

feudalism, altered the character of real property, passed many others

concerning civil law. The most important are those of 1792, passed by

the Legislative Assembly, which organized the registers of the _etat

civil_ kept by the municipalities, and laid down rules for marriage as a

purely civil contract. Divorce was admitted to a practically unlimited

extent; it was possible not only for causes determined by law, and by

mutual consent, but also for incompatibility of temper and character

proved, by either husband or wife, to be of a persistent nature. Next

came the laws of the Convention as to inheritance, imposing perfect

equality among the natural heirs and endeavouring to ensure the division

of properties. Illegitimate children were considered by these laws as on

the same level with legitimate children. The Convention and the councils

of the Directory also made excellent laws on the administration of

_hypotheques_, and worked at the preparation of a Civil Code (see CODE

NAPOLEON). In criminal law their work was still more important. In 1791

the Constituent Assembly gave France her first penal code. It was

inspired by humanitarian ideas, still admitting capital punishment,

though accompanied by no cruelty in the execution; but none of the

remaining punishments was for life. Long imprisonment with hard labour

was introduced. Finally, as a reaction against the former system of

arbitrary penalties, there came a system of fixed penalties determined,

both as to its assessment and its nature, for each offence, which the

judge could not modify. The Constituent Assembly also reformed the

procedure of criminal trials, taking English law as model. It introduced

the jury, with the double form of _jury d'accusation_ and _jury de

jugement_. Before the judges procedure was always public and oral. The

prosecution was left in principle to the parties concerned, plaintiffs

or _denonciateurs civiques_, and the preliminary investigation was

handed over to two magistrates; one was the _juge de paix_, as in

English procedure at this period, and the other a magistrate chosen from

the district court and called the _directeur du jury_. The Convention,

before separating, passed the _Code des delits et des peines_ of the 3rd

Brumaire in the year IV. This piece of work, which was due to Merlin de

Douai, was intended to deal with criminal procedure and penal law; but

only the first part could be completed. It was the procedure established

by the Constituent Assembly, but further organized and improved.

_The Consulate and the Empire._--The constitutional law of the Consulate

and the Empire is to be found in a series of documents called later the

_Constitutions de l'Empire_, the constitution promulgated during the

Hundred Days being consequently given the name of _Acte additionnel aux

Constitutions de l'Empire_. These documents consist of (1) the

Constitution of the 22nd Frimaire of the year VIII., the work of Sieyes

and Bonaparte, the text on which the others were based; (2) the

_senatus consulte_ of the 16th Thermidor in the year X., establishing

the consulate for life; and (3) the _senatus consulte_ of the 28th

Floreal in the year XII., which created the Empire. These constitutional

acts, which were all, whether in their full text or in principle,

submitted to the popular vote by means of a _plebiscite_, had all the

same object: to assure absolute power to Napoleon, while preserving the

forms and appearance of liberty. Popular suffrage was maintained, and

even became universal; but, since the system was that of suffrage in

many stages, which, moreover, varied very much, the citizens in effect

merely nominated the candidates, and it was the Senate, playing the part

of _grand electeur_ which Sieyes had dreamed of as his own, which chose

from among them the members of the various so-called elected bodies,

even those of the political assemblies. According to the constitution of

the year VIII., the first consul (to whom had been added two colleagues,

the second and third consuls, who did not disappear until the Empire)

possessed the executive power in the widest sense of the word, and he

alone could initiate legislation. There were three representative

assemblies in existence, elected as we have seen; but one of them, the

Corps Legislatif, passed laws without discussing them, and without the

power of amending the suggestions of the government. The Tribunate, on

the contrary, discussed them, but its vote was not necessary for the

passing of the law. The Senate was the guardian and preserver of the

constitution; in addition to its role of _grand electeur_, its chief

function was to annul laws and acts submitted to it by the Tribunate as

being unconstitutional. This original organization was naturally

modified during the course of the Consulate and the Empire; not only did

the emperor obtain the right of directly nominating senators, and the

princes of the imperial family, and grant dignitaries of the Empire that

of entering the Senate by right; but a whole body, the Tribunate, which

was the only one which could preserve some independence, disappeared,

without resort having been had to a plebiscite; it was modified and

weakened by _senatus consulte_ of the year X., and was suppressed in

1807 by a mere _senatus consulte_. The importance of another body, on

the contrary, the _conseil d'etat_, which had been formed on the

improved type of the ancient _conseil du roi_, and consisted of members

appointed by Napoleon and carefully chosen, continually increased. It

was this body which really prepared and discussed the laws; and it was

its members who advocated them before the Corps Legislatif, to which the

Tribunate also sent orators to speak on its behalf. The ministers, who

had no relation with the legislative power, were merely the agents of

the head of the state, freely chosen by himself. Napoleon, however,

found these powers insufficient, and arrogated to himself others, a fact

which the Senate did not forget when it proclaimed his downfall. Thus he

frequently declared war upon his own authority, in spite of the

provisions to the contrary made by the constitution of the year VIII.;

and similarly, under the form of _decrets_, made what were really laws.

They were afterwards called _decrets-lois_, and those that were not

indissolubly associated with the political regime of the Empire, and

survived it, were subsequently declared valid by the court of cassation,

on the ground that they had not been submitted to the Senate as

unconstitutional, as had been provided by the constitution of the year

VIII.

Administrative changes under Consulate and Empire.

This period saw the rise of a whole new series of great organic laws.

For administrative organization, the most important was that of the 28th

Pluviose in the year VIII. It established as chief authority for each

department a prefect, and side by side with him a _conseil general_ for

deliberative purposes; for each _arrondissement_ (corresponding to the

old _district_) a sub-prefect (_sous-prefet_) and a _conseil

d'arrondissement_; and for each _commune_, a mayor and a municipal

council. But all these officials, both the members of the councils and

the individual agents, were appointed by the head of the state or by the

prefect, so that centralization was restored more completely than ever.

Together with the prefect there was also established a _conseil de

prefecture_, having administrative functions, and generally acting as a

court of the first instance in disputes and litigation arising out of

the acts of the administration; for the Constituent Assembly had removed

such cases from the jurisdiction of the civil tribunals, and referred

them to the administrative bodies themselves. The final appeal in these

disputes was to the _conseil d'etat_, which was supreme judge in these

matters. In 1807 was created another great administrative jurisdiction,

the _cour des comptes_, after the pattern of that which had existed

under the _ancien regime_.

Judicial changes.

Judicial organization had also been fundamentally altered. The system of

election was preserved for a time in the case of the _juges de paix_ and

the members of the court of cassation, but finally disappeared there,

even where it had already been no more than a form. The magistrates were

in principle appointed for life, but under the Empire a device was found

for evading the rule of irremovability. For the judgment of civil cases

there was a court of first instance in every arrondissement, and above

these a certain number of courts of appeal, each of which had within its

province several departments. The separate criminal tribunals were

abolished in 1809 by the _Code d'Instruction Criminelle_, and the

magistrates forming the _cour d'assises_, which judged crimes with the

aid of a jury, were drawn from the courts of appeal and from the civil

tribunals. The _jury d'accusation_ was also abolished by the _Code

d'Instruction Criminelle_, and the right of pronouncing the indictment

was transferred to a chamber of the court of appeal. The correctional

tribunals were amalgamated with the civil tribunals of the first

instance. The _tribunal de cassation_, which took under the Empire the

name of _cour de cassation_, consisted of magistrates appointed for

life, and still kept its powers. The _ministere public_ (consisting of

imperial _avocats_ and _procureurs_) was restored in practically the

same form as under the _ancien regime_.

Taxation.

The former system of taxation was preserved in principle, but with one

considerable addition: Napoleon re-established indirect taxation on

articles of consumption, which had been abolished by the Constituent

Assembly; the chief of these were the duties on liquor (_droits reunis_,

or excise) and the monopoly of tobacco.

The Concordat.

The Concordat concluded by Napoleon with the papacy on the 26th Messidor

of the year IX. re-established the Catholic religion in France as the

form of worship recognized and endowed by the state. It was in principle

drawn up on the lines of that of 1516, and assured to the head of the

French state in his dealings with the papacy the same prerogatives as

had formerly been enjoyed by the kings; the chief of these was that he

appointed the bishops, who afterwards had to ask the pope for canonical

institution. The territorial distribution of dioceses was preserved

practically as it had been left by the civil constitution of the clergy.

The state guaranteed the payment of salaries to bishops and cures; and

the pope agreed to renounce all claims referring to the appropriation of

the goods of the clergy made by the Constituent Assembly. Later on, a

decree restored to the _fabriques_ (vestries) such of their former

possessions as had not been alienated, and the churches which had not

been alienated were restored for the purposes of worship. The law of the

18th Germinal in the year X., ratifying the Concordat, reasserted, under

the name of _articles organiques du culte catholique_, all the main

principles contained in the old doctrine of the liberties of the

Gallican Church. The Concordat did not include the restoration of the

religious orders and congregations; Napoleon sanctioned by decrees only

a few establishments of this kind.

The university.

One important creation of the Empire was the university. The _ancien

regime_ had had its universities for purposes of instruction and for the

conferring of degrees; it had also, though without any definite

organization, such secondary schools as the towns admitted within their

walls, and the primary schools of the parishes. The Revolution

suppressed the universities and the teaching congregations. The

constitution of the year III. proclaimed the liberty of instruction and

commanded that public schools, both elementary and secondary, should be

established. Under the Directory there was in each department an _ecole

centrale_, in which all branches of human knowledge were taught.

Napoleon, developing ideas which had been started in the second half of

the 18th century, founded by laws and decrees of 1806, 1808 and 1811 the

Universite de France, which provided and organized higher, secondary and

primary education; this was to be the monopoly of the state, carried on

by its _facultes_, _lycees_ and primary schools. No private educational

establishment could be opened without the authorization of the state.

The Codes.

But chief among the documents dating from this period are the Codes,

which still give laws to France. These are the Civil Code of 1804, the

_Code de Procedure Civile_ of 1806, the _Code de Commerce_ of 1807, the

_Code d'Instruction Criminelle_ of 1809, and the _Code Penal_ of 1810.

These monumental works, in the elaboration of which the _conseil d'etat_

took the chief part, contributed, to a greater or less extent, towards

the fusion of the old law of France with the laws of the Revolution. It

was in the case of the _Code Civil_ that this task presented the

greatest difficulty (see CODE NAPOLEON). The _Code de Commerce_ was

scarcely more than a revised and emended edition of the _ordonnances_ of

1673 and 1681; while the _Code de Procedure Civile_ borrowed its chief

elements from the _ordonnance_ of 1667. In the case of the _Code

d'Instruction Criminelle_ a distinctly new departure was made; the

procedure introduced by the Revolution into courts where judgment was

given remained public and oral, with full liberty of defence; the

preliminary procedure, however, before the examining court (_juge

d'instruction_ or _chambre des mises en accusation_) was borrowed from

the _ordonnance_ of 1670; it was the procedure of the old law, without

its cruelty, but secret and written, and generally not in the presence

of both parties. The _Code Penal_ maintained the principles of the

Revolution, but increased the penalties. It substituted for the system

of fixed penalties, in cases of temporary punishment, a maximum and a

minimum, between the limits of which judges could assess the amount.

Even in the case of misdemeanours, it admitted the system of extenuating

circumstances, which allowed them still further to decrease and alter

the penalty in so far as the offence was mitigated by such

circumstances. (See further under NAPOLEON I.)

Constitutional monarchy.

_The Restored Monarchy._--The Restoration and the Monarchy of July,

though separated by a revolution, form one period in the history of

French institutions, a period in which the same regime was continued and

developed. This was the constitutional monarchy, with a parliamentary

body consisting of two chambers, a system imitated from England. The

same constitution was preserved under these two monarchies--the charter

granted by Louis XVIII. in 1814. The revolution of 1830 took place in

defence of the charter which Charles X. had violated by the

_ordonnances_ of July, so that this charter was naturally preserved

under the "July Monarchy." It was merely revised by the Chamber of

Deputies, which had been one of the movers of the revolution, and by

what remained of the House of Peers. In order to give the constitution

the appearance of originating in the will of the people, the preface,

which made it appear to be a favour granted by the king, was destroyed.

The two chambers acquired the initiative in legislation, which had not

been recognized as theirs under the Restoration, but from this time on

belonged to them equally with the king. The sittings of the House of

Peers were henceforth held in public; but this chamber underwent another

and more fundamental transformation. The peers were nominated by the

king, with no limit of numbers, and according to the charter of 1814

their appointment could be either for life or hereditary; but, in

execution of an ordinance of Louis XVIII., during the Restoration they

were always appointed under the latter condition. Under the July

Monarchy their tenure of office was for life, and the king had to choose

them from among twenty-two classes of notables fixed by law. The

franchise for the election of the Chamber of Deputies had been limited

by a system of money qualifications; but while, under the Restoration,

it had been necessary, in order to be an elector, to pay three hundred

francs in direct taxation, this sum was reduced in 1831 to two hundred

francs, while in certain cases even a smaller amount sufficed. In order

to be elected as a deputy it was necessary, according to the charter of

1814, to pay a thousand francs in direct taxation, and according to that

of 1830 five hundred francs. From 1817 onwards there was direct

suffrage, the electors directly electing the deputies. The idea of those

who had framed the charter of 1814 had been to give the chief influence

to the great landed proprietors, though the means adopted to this end

were not adequate: in 1830 the chief aim had been to give a

preponderating influence to the middle and lower middle classes, and

this had met with greater success. The House of Peers, under the name of

_cour des pairs_, had also the function of judging attempts and plots

against the security of the state, and it had frequently to exercise

this function both under the Restoration and the July Monarchy.

This was a period of parliamentary government; that is, of government by

a cabinet, resting on the responsibility of the ministers to the Chamber

of Deputies. The only interruption was that caused by the resistance of

Charles X. at the end of his reign, which led to the revolution of July.

Parliamentary government was practised regularly and in an enlightened

spirit under the Restoration, although the Chamber had not then all the

powers which it has since acquired. It is noteworthy that during this

period the right of the House of Peers to force a ministry to resign by

a hostile vote was not recognized. By the creation of a certain number

of new peers, a _fournee de pairs_, as it was then called, the majority

in this House could be changed when necessary. But the government of the

Restoration had to deal with two extreme parties of a very opposite

nature: the _Ultras_, who wished to restore as far as possible the

_ancien regime_, to whom were due the acts of the _chambre introuvable_

of 1816, and later the laws of the ministry of Villele, especially the

law of sacrilege and that voting compensation to the dispossessed

nobles, known as the _milliard des emigres_; and on the other hand the

_Liberals_, including the Bonapartists and Republicans, who were

attached to the principles of the Revolution. In order to prevent either

of these parties from predominating in the chamber, the government made

a free use of its power of dissolution. It further employed two means to

check the progress of the Liberals; firstly, there were various

alterations successively made in the electoral law, and the press laws,

frequently restrictive in their effect, which introduced the censorship

and a preliminary authorization in the case of periodical publications,

and gave the correctional tribunals jurisdiction in cases of press

offences. The best electoral law was that of 1817, and the best press

laws were those of 1819; but these were not of long duration. Under the

July Monarchy parliamentary government, although its machinery was

further perfected, was not so brilliant. The majorities in the Chamber

of Deputies were often uncertain, so much so, that more than once the

right of dissolution was exercised in order to try by new elections to

arrive at an undivided and certain majority. King Louis Philippe, though

sober-minded, wished to exercise a personal influence on the policy of

the cabinet, so that there were then two schools, represented

respectively by Thiers and Guizot, one of which held the theory that

"the king reigns but does not govern"; while the other maintained that

he might exercise a personal influence, provided that he could rely on a

ministry supported by a majority of the Chamber of Deputies. But the

weak point in the July Monarchy was above all the question of the

franchise. A powerful movement of opinion set in towards demanding an

extension, some wishing for universal suffrage, but the majority

proposing what was called the _adjonction des capacites_, that is to

say, that to the number of qualified electors should be added those

citizens who, by virtue of their professions, capacity or acquirements,

were inscribed after them on the general list for juries. But the

government obstinately refused all electoral reform, and held to the law

of 1831. It also refused parliamentary reform, by which was meant a rule

which would have made most public offices incompatible with the position

of deputy, the Chamber of Deputies being at that time full of

officials. The press, thanks to the Charter, was perfectly free, without

either censorship or preliminary authorization, and press offences were

judged by a jury.

The system of the Empire retained.

In another respect also the Restoration and the July Monarchy were at

one, the second continuing the spirit of the first, viz. in maintaining

in principle the civil, legal and administrative institutions of the

Empire. The preface to the charter of 1814 sanctioned and guaranteed

most of the legal rights won by the Revolution; even the alienation of

national property was confirmed. It was said, it is true, that the old

nobility regained their titles, and that the nobility of the Empire kept

those which Napoleon had given them; but these were merely titles and

nothing more; there was no privileged nobility, and the equality of

citizens before the law was maintained. Judicial and administrative

organization, the system of taxation, military organization, the

relations of church and state, remained the same, and the university

also continued to exist. The government did, it is true, negotiate a new

Concordat with the papacy in 1817, but did not dare even to submit it to

the chambers. The most important reform was that of the law concerning

recruiting for the army. The charter of 1814 had promised the abolition

of conscription, in the form in which it had been created by the law of

the year VI. The law of the 10th of March 1818 actually established a

new system. The contingent voted by the chambers for annual

incorporation into the standing army was divided up among all the

cantons; and, in order to furnish it, lots were drawn among all the men

of a certain class, that is to say, among the young Frenchmen who

arrived at their majority that year. Those who were not chosen by lot

were definitely set free from military service. The sending of

substitutes, a custom which had been permitted by Napoleon, was

recognized. This was the type of all the laws on recruiting in France,

of which there were a good number in succession up to 1867. On other

points they vary, in particular as to the duration of service, which was

six years, and later eight years, under the Restoration; but the system

remained the same.

The Restoration produced a code, the _Code forestier_ of 1827, for the

regulation of forests (_eaux et forets_). In 1816 a law had abolished

divorce, making marriage indissoluble, as it had been in the old law.

But the best laws of this period were those on finance. Now, for the

first time, was introduced the practice of drawing up regular budgets,

voted before the year to which they applied, and divided since 1819 into

the budget of expenditure and budget of receipts.

Together with other institutions of the Empire, the Restoration had

preserved the exaggerated system of administrative centralization

established in the year VIII.; and proposals for its relaxation

submitted to the chambers had come to nothing. It was only under the

July Monarchy that it was relaxed. The municipal law of the 21st of

March 1831 made the municipal councils elective, and extended widely the

right of voting in the elections for them; the _maires_ and their

assistants continued to be appointed by the government, but had to be

chosen from among the members of the municipal councils. The law of the

22nd of June 1833 made the general councils of the departments also

elective, and brought the _adjonction des capacites_ into effect for

their election. The powers of these bodies were enlarged in 1838, and

they gained the right of electing their president. In 1833 was granted

another liberty, that of primary education; but in spite of violent

protestations, coming especially from the Catholics, secondary and

higher education continued to be a monopoly of the state. Many organic

laws were promulgated, one concerning the National Guard, which was

reorganized in order to adapt it to the system of citizen

qualifications; one in 1832 on the recruiting of the army, fixing the

period of service at seven years; and another in 1834 securing the

status of officers. A law of the 11th of June 1842 established the great

railway lines. In 1832 the _Code Penal_ and _Code d'Instruction

Criminelle_ were revised, with the object of lightening penalties; the

system of extenuating circumstances, as recognized by a jury, was

extended to the judgment of all crimes. There was also a revision of

Book III. of the _Code de Commerce_, treating of bankruptcy. Finally,

from this period date the laws of the 3rd of May 1841, on expropriation

for purposes of public utility, and of the 30th of June 1838, on the

treatment of the insane, which is still in force. Judicial organization

remained as it was, but the amount of the sum up to which civil

tribunals of the first instance could judge without appeal was raised

from 1000 francs to 1500, and the competency of the _juges de paix_ was

widened.

_The Second Republic and the Second Empire._--From the point of view of

constitutional law, the Second Republic and the Second Empire were each

in a certain sense a return to the past. The former revived the

tradition of the Assemblies of the Revolution; the latter was obviously

and avowedly an imitation of the Consulate and the First Empire.

Republican constitution of 1848.

The provisional government set up by the revolution of the 24th of

February 1848 proclaimed universal suffrage, and by this means was

elected a Constituent Assembly, which sat till May 1849, and, after

first organizing various forms of another provisional government, passed

the Republican constitution of the 4th of November 1848. This

constitution, which was preceded by a preface recalling the Declarations

of Rights of the Revolution, gave the legislative power to a single

permanent assembly, elected by direct universal suffrage, and entirely

renewed every three years. The executive authority, with very extensive

powers, was given to a president of the Republic, also elected by the

universal and direct suffrage of the French citizens. The constitution

was not very clear upon the point of whether it adopted parliamentary

government in the strict sense, or whether the president, who was

declared responsible, was free to choose his ministers and to retain or

dismiss them at his own pleasure. This gave rise to an almost permanent

dispute between the president, who claimed to have his own political

opinions and to direct the government, and the Assembly, which wished to

carry on the traditions of cabinet government and to make the ministers

fully responsible to itself. Consequently, in January 1851, a solemn

debate was held, which ended in the affirmation of the responsibility of

ministers to the Assembly. On the other hand, the president, though very

properly given great power by the constitution, was not immediately

eligible for re-election on giving up his office. Now Louis Napoleon,

who was elected president on the 10th of December 1848 by a huge

majority, wished to be re-elected. Various propositions were submitted

to the Assembly in July 1851 with a view to modifying the constitution;

but they could not succeed, as the number of votes demanded by the

constitution for the convocation of a Constituent Assembly was not

reached. Moreover, the Legislative Assembly elected in May 1849 was very

different from the Constituent Assembly of 1848. The latter was animated

by that spirit of harmony and, in the main, of adhesion to the Republic

which had followed on the February Revolution. The new assembly, on the

contrary, was composed for the most part of representatives of the old

parties, and had monarchist aspirations. By the unfortunate law of the

31st of May 1850 it even tried by a subterfuge to restrict the universal

suffrage guaranteed by the constitution. It suspended the right of

holding meetings, but, on the whole, respected the liberty of the press.

It was especially impelled to these measures by the growing fear of

socialism. The result was the _coup d'etat_ of the 2nd of December 1851.

A detail of some constitutional importance is to be noticed in this

period. The _conseil d'etat_, which had remained under the Restoration

and the July Monarchy an administrative council and the supreme arbiter

in administrative trials, acquired new importance under the Second

Republic. The ordinary _conseillers d'etat_ (_en service ordinaire_)

were elected by the Legislative Assembly, and consultation with the

_conseil d'etat_ was often insisted on by the constitution or by law.

This was the means of obtaining a certain modifying power as a

substitute for the second chamber, which had not met with popular

approval. During its short existence the Second Republic produced many

important laws. It abolished the penalty of death for political crimes,

and suppressed negro slavery in the colonies. The election of

_conseillers generaux_ was thrown open to universal suffrage, and the

municipal councils were allowed to elect the _maires_ and their

colleagues. The law of the 15th of March 1850 established the liberty of

secondary education, but it conferred certain privileges on the Catholic

clergy, a clear sign of the spirit of social conservatism which was the

leading motive for its enactment. Certain humanitarian laws were passed,

applying to the working classes.

Constitution of Jan. 14, 1852.

Restoration of the Empire.

The empire liberal.

With the _coup d'etat_ of the 2nd of December 1851 began a new era of

constitutional plebiscites and disguised absolutism. The proclamations

of Napoleon on the 2nd of December contained a criticism of

parliamentary government, and formulated the wish to restore to France

the constitutional institutions of the Consulate and the Empire, just as

she had preserved their civil, administrative and military institutions.

Napoleon asked the people for the powers necessary to draw up a

constitution on these principles; the plebiscite issued in a vast

majority of votes in his favour, and the constitution of the 14th of

January 1852 was the result. It bore a strong resemblance to the

constitution of the First Empire after 1807. The executive power was

conferred on Louis Napoleon for ten years, with the title of president

of the Republic and very extended powers. Two assemblies were created.

The conservative Senate, composed of _ex officio_ members (cardinals,

marshals of France and admirals) and life members appointed by the head

of the state, was charged with the task of seeing that the laws were

constitutional, of opposing the promulgation of unconstitutional laws,

and of receiving the petitions of citizens; it had also the duty of

providing everything not already provided but necessary for the proper

working of the constitution. The second assembly was the _Corps

Legislatif_, elected by direct universal suffrage for six years, which

passed the laws, the government having the initiative in legislation.

This body was not altogether a _corps des muets_, as in the year VIII.,

but its powers were very limited; thus the general session assured to it

by the constitution was only for three months, and it could only discuss

and put to the vote amendments approved by the _conseil d'etat_; the

ministers did not in any way come into contact with it and could not be

members of it, being responsible only to the head of the state, and only

the Senate having the right of accusing them before a high court of

justice. The _conseil d'etat_ was composed in the same way and had the

same authority as it had possessed from the year VIII. to 1814; and it

was the members of it who supported projected laws before the Corps

Legislatif. To this was added a Draconian press legislation; not only

were press offences, many of which were mere expressions of opinion,

judged not by a jury but by the correctional tribunals; but further,

political papers could not be founded without an authorization, and were

subject to a regular administrative discipline; they could be warned,

suspended or suppressed without a trial, by a simple act of the

administration. The constitution of January 1852 was still Republican in

name, though less so than that of the year VIII. The period

corresponding with the Consulate was also shorter in the case of Louis

Napoleon. The year 1852 had not come to an end before a _senatus

consulte_, that of the 10th of November, ratified by a plebiscite,

re-established the imperial rank in favour of Napoleon III.; it also

conferred on him certain new powers, especially with reference to the

budget and foreign treaties; thus various cracks, which experience had

revealed in the original structure of the Empire, were filled up. This

period was called that of the _empire autoritaire_. Further features of

it were the free appointment of the _maires_ by the emperor, the oath of

fidelity to him imposed on all officials, and the legal organization of

official candidatures for the elections. Two measures marked the highest

point reached by this system: the _loi de surete generale_ of the 27th

of February 1858, which allowed the government to intern in France or

Algeria, or to exile certain French citizens, without a trial. The other

was the _senatus consulte_ of the 17th of February 1858, which made the

validity of candidatures for the Corps Legislatif subject to a

preliminary oath of fidelity on the part of the candidate. But for

various causes, which cannot be examined here, a series of measures was

soon to be initiated which were gradually to lead back again to

political liberty, and definitively to found what has been called the

_empire liberal_. One by one the different rules and proceedings of

parliamentary government as it had existed in France regained their

force. The first step was the decree of the 24th of November 1860, which

re-established for each ordinary session the address voted by the

chambers in response to the speech from the throne. In 1867 this

movement took a more decisive form. It led to a new constitution, that

of the 21st of May 1870, which was again ratified by popular suffrage.

While maintaining the Empire and the imperial dynasty, it organized

parliamentary government practically in the form in which it had

operated under the July Monarchy, with two legislative chambers, the

Senate and the Corps Legislatif, the consent of both of which was

necessary for legislation, and which, together with the emperor, had the

initiative in this matter. The laws of the 11th of May 1868 and the 6th

of June 1868 restored to a certain extent the liberty of the press and

of holding meetings, though without abolishing offences of opinion, or

again bringing press offences under the jurisdiction of a jury. Laws of

the 22nd and 23rd of July 1870 gave the _conseils generaux_, whose

powers had been somewhat widened, the right of electing their

presidents, and provided that the _maires_ and their colleagues should

be chosen from among the members of the municipal councils.

Economic and social reforms under the Second Empire.

Commercial treaties.

The legislation of the Second Empire led to a considerable number of

reforms. Its chief aim was the development of commerce, industry and

agriculture, and generally the material prosperity of the country. The

Empire, though restricting liberty in political matters, increased it in

economic matters. Such were the decrees and laws of 1852 and 1853

relating to land-banks (_etablissements de credit foncier_) and that of

1857 on trade-marks, those of 1863 and 1867 on commercial companies,

that of 1858 on general stores (_magasins generaux_) and warrants, that

of 1856 on drainage, that of 1865 on the _associations syndicales de

proprietaires_, that of 1866 on the mercantile marine. The law of the

14th of June 1865 introduced into France the institution, borrowed from

England, of cheques. But of still greater importance for economic

development than all these laws were the treaties concluded by the

emperor with foreign powers, in order to introduce, as far as possible,

free exchange of commodities; the chief of these, which was the model of

all the others, was that concluded with Great Britain on the 23rd of

January 1860. Moreover, the law of the 25th of May 1864 admitted for the

first time the right of strikes and lock-outs among workmen or

employers, annulling articles 414 and following of the _Code Penal_,

which had so far made them a penal offence, even when not accompanied by

fraudulent practices, threats or violence, tending to hinder the liberty

of labour. The superannuation fund (_caisse des retraites pour la

vieillesse_), supported by voluntary payments from those participating

in it, which had been created by the law of the 18th of June 1850, was

reorganized and perfected, and a law of the 11th of July 1868

established, with the guarantee of the state, two funds for voluntary

insurance, one in case of death, the other against accidents occurring

in industrial or agricultural employment. A decree of 1863 established

in principle the freedom of bakeries, and another in 1864 that of

theatrical management.

Reforms in the criminal law.

Civil legislation.

Taxation and army.

Criminal law was the subject of important legislation. Two codes were

promulgated on special points, the codes of military justice for the

land forces (1857) and for the naval forces (1858). But the common law

was also largely remodelled. A law of the 10th of June 1858, it is true,

created certain new crimes, with a view to protecting the members of the

imperial family, and that of the 17th of July 1856 increased the powers

and independence of the _juges d'instruction_; but, on the other hand,

useful improvements were introduced by laws of 1856 and 1865, and

notably with regard to precautionary detention and provisional release

with or without bail. A law of the 20th of May 1863 organized a simple

and rapid procedure, copied from that followed in England before the

police courts, for summary jurisdiction. A law of 1868 permitted the

revision of criminal trials after the death of the condemned person. But

the most far-reaching reforms took place in 1854, namely, the abolition

of the total loss of civil rights which formerly accompanied

condemnation to imprisonment for life, and the law of the 30th of May on

penal servitude (_travaux forces_) which substituted transportation to

the colonies for the system of continental convict prisons. Finally, in

1863, there was a revision of the _Code Penal_, which, in the process of

lightening penalties, made a certain number of crimes into

misdemeanours, and in consequence transferred the judgment of them from

the assize courts to the correctional tribunals. In civil legislation

may be noted the law of the 23rd of March 1855 on hypothecs (see CODE

NAPOLEON); that of the 22nd of July 1857, which abolished seizure of the

person (_contrainte par corps_) for civil and commercial debts; and

finally, the law of the 14th of July 1866, on literary copyright. The

system of taxation was hardly modified at all, except for the

establishment of a tax on the income arising from investments (shares

and bonds of companies) in 1857, and the tax on carriages (1862). On the

1st of February 1868 was promulgated an important military law, which,

however, passed the Corps Legislatif with some difficulty. It asserted

the principle of universal compulsory military service, at least, in

time of war. It preserved, however, the system of drawing lots to

determine the annual contingent to be incorporated into the standing

army; the term of service was fixed at five years, and it was still

permissible to send a substitute. But able-bodied men who were not

included in the annual contingent formed a reserve force called the

_garde nationale mobile_, each department organizing its own section.

These _gardes mobiles_, though they were not effectively organized or

exercised under the Empire, took part in the war of 1870-71.

Definitive establishment of the Republic.

_The Third Republic._--The Third Republic had at first a provisional

government, unanimously acclaimed by the people of Paris. It was

accepted by France, exercised full powers, and sustained by no means

ingloriously a desperate struggle against the enemy; a certain number of

its _decrets-lois_ are still in force. After the capitulation of Paris,

a National Assembly was elected to treat with Germany. It was elected in

accordance with the electoral law of 1849, which had been revived with a

few modifications, and it met at Bordeaux to the number of 753 members

on the 13th of February 1871. It was a sovereign assembly, since France

had no longer a constitution, and for this very reason it claimed from

the outset constituent powers; the Republican party at the time,

however, contested this claim, the majority in the assembly being

frankly monarchist, though divided as to the choice of a monarch. But

for some time the National Assembly either could not or would not

exercise this power, and up to 1875 affairs remained in a provisional

state, legalized and regulated this time by the Assembly. This was an

application, though unconscious, of a form of government which M. Grevy

had proposed to the Constituent Assembly in 1848. There was a single

assembly, with one man elected by it as head of the executive power (the

first to be elected was M. Thiers, who received the title of president

of the Republic in August 1871), who was responsible to the Assembly and

governed with the help of ministers chosen by himself, who were also

responsible to it. Thiers fell on the 24th of May 1873. His place was

taken by Marshal MacMahon, on whom the Assembly later conferred, in

November 1873, the position of president of the Republic for seven

years, when the refusal of the comte de Chambord to accept the tricolour

in place of the white flag of the Bourbons had made any attempt to

restore the monarchy impossible. Henceforth the definitive adoption of

the Republican form of government became inevitable, and the opinion of

the country began to turn in this direction, as was shown by the

elections of deputies which took place to fill up the gaps occurring in

the Assembly. The Assembly, however, shrank from the inevitable

solution, and when a discussion was begun in January 1875 on the

projected constitutional laws prepared by the _commission des trente_,

the only proposals made by the latter were for a more complete

organization of the powers of one man, Marshal MacMahon. But on the 30th

of January 1875 was adopted, by 353 votes to 352, an amendment by M.

Wallon which provided for the election of an indefinite succession of

presidents of the Republic; this amounted to a definitive recognition of

the Republic. In this connexion it has often been said that the Republic

was established by a majority of one. This is not an accurate statement,

for it was only the case on the first reading of the law; the majority

on the second and third readings increased until it became considerable.

There was a strong movement in the direction of a reconciliation between

the parties; and there had been a _rapprochement_ between the

Republicans and the Right Centre. At the end of February were passed and

promulgated two constitutional laws, that of the 25th of February 1875,

on the organization of the public powers, and that of the 24th of

February 1875, on the organization of the senate. In the middle of the

year they were supplemented by a third, that of the 16th of July 1875,

on the relations between the public powers.

The French Constitution.

Thus was built up the actual constitution of France. It differs

fundamentally, both in form and contents, from previous constitutions.

As to its form, instead of a single methodical text divided into an

uninterrupted series of articles, it consisted of three distinct laws.

As to matter, it is obviously a work of an essentially practical nature,

the result of compromise and reciprocal concessions. It does not lay

down any theoretical principles, and its provisions, which were arrived

at with difficulty, confine themselves strictly to what is necessary to

ensure the proper operation of the governmental machinery. The result is

a compromise between Republican principles and the rules of

constitutional and parliamentary monarchy. On this account it has been

accused, though unjustly, of being too monarchical. Its duration, by far

the longest of any French constitution since 1791, is a sign of its

value and vitality. It is in fact a product of history, and not of

imagination. Its composition is as follows. The legislative power was

given to two elective chambers, having equal powers, the vote of both of

which is necessary for legislation, and both having the right of

initiating and amending laws. The constitution assures them an ordinary

session of five months, which opens by right on the second Tuesday in

January. One house, the Chamber of Deputies, is elected by direct

universal suffrage and is entirely renewed every four years; the other,

the Senate, consists of 300 members, divided by the law of the 27th of

February 1875 into two categories; 75 of the senators were elected for

life and irremovable, and the first of them were elected by the National

Assembly, but afterwards it was the Senate itself which held elections

to fill up vacancies. The 225 remaining senators were elected by the

departments and by certain colonies, among which they were apportioned

in proportion to the population; they are elected for nine years, a

third of the house being renewed every three years. The electoral

college in each department which nominated them included the deputies,

the members of the general council of the department and of the councils

of the arrondissements, and one delegate elected by each municipal

council, whatever the importance of the commune. This was practically a

system of election in two and, partly, three degrees, but with this

distinguishing feature, that the electors of the second degree had not

been chosen purely with a view to this election, but chiefly for the

exercise of other functions. The most important elements in this

electoral college were the delegates from the municipal councils, and by

giving one delegate to each, to Paris just as to the smallest commune in

France, the National Assembly intended to counterbalance the power of

numbers, which governed the elections for the Chamber of Deputies, and,

at the same time, to give a preponderance to the country districts. The

75 irremovable senators were another precaution against the danger from

violent waves of public opinion. The executive power was entrusted to a

president, elected for seven years (as Marshal MacMahon had been in

1873), by the Chamber and the Senate, combined into a single body under

the name of National Assembly. He is always eligible for re-election,

and is irresponsible except in case of high treason. His powers are of

the widest, including the initiative in legislation jointly with the two

chambers, the appointment to all civil and military offices, the

disposition, and, if he wish it, the leadership of the armed forces, the

right of pardon, the right of negotiating treaties with foreign powers,

and, in principle, of ratifying them on his own authority, the consent

of the two chambers being required only in certain cases defined by the

constitution. The nomination of _conseillers d'etat_ for ordinary

service, whom the National Assembly had made elective, as in 1848, and

elected itself, was restored to the president of the Republic, together

with the right of dismissing them. But these powers he can only exercise

through the medium of a ministry, politically and jointly responsible to

the chambers, and forming a council, over which the president usually

presides.

The French Republic is essentially a parliamentary republic. The right

of dissolving the Chamber of Deputies before the expiration of its term

of office belongs to the president, but in order to do so he must have,

besides a ministry which will take the responsibility for it, the

preliminary sanction of the Senate. The Senate is at the same time a

high court of justice, which can judge the president of the Republic and

ministers accused of crimes committed by them in the exercise of their

functions; in these two cases the prosecution is instituted by the

Chamber of Deputies. The Senate can also be called upon to judge any

person accused of an attempt upon the safety of the state, who is then

seized by a decree of the president of the Republic, drawn up in the

council of ministers. Possible revision of the constitution is provided

for very simply: it has to be proposed as a law, and for its acceptance

a resolution passed by each chamber separately, by an absolute majority,

is necessary. The revision is then carried out by the Senate and the

Chamber of Deputies to form a National Assembly. There have been two

revisions since 1875. The first time, in 1879, it was simply a question

of transferring the seat of the government and of the chambers back to

Paris from Versailles, where it had been fixed by one of the

constitutional laws. The second time, in 1884, more fundamental

modifications were required. The most important point was to change the

composition and election of the Senate. With a view to this, the new

constitutional law of the 14th of August 1884 abolished the

constitutional character of a certain number of articles of the law of

the 24th of February 1875, thus making it possible to modify them by an

ordinary law. This took place in the same year; the 75 senators for life

were suppressed for the future by a process of extinction, and their

seats divided among the most populous departments. Further, in the

electoral college which elects the senators, there was allotted to the

municipal councils a number of delegates proportionate to the number of

members of the councils, which depends on the importance of the commune.

The law of the 14th of August 1884 also modified the constitution in

another important respect. The law of the 25th of February 1875 had

admitted the possibility not only of a partial, but even of a total

revision, which could affect and even change the form of the state. The

law of the 14th of August 1884, however, declared that no proposition

for a revision could be accepted which aimed at changing the republican

form of government. The composition of the Chamber of Deputies was not

fixed by the constitution, and consequently admitted more easily of

variation. Since 1871 the mode of election has oscillated between the

_scrutin de liste_ for the departments and the _scrutin uninominal_ for

the arrondissements. The organic law of the 30th of November 1875 had

established the latter system; in 1885 the _scrutin de liste_ was

established by law, but in 1889 the _scrutin d'arrondissement_ was

restored; and in this same year, on account of the ambitions of General

Boulanger and the suggestion which was made for a sort of plebiscite in

his favour, was passed the law on plural candidatures, which forbids

anyone to become a candidate for the Chamber of Deputies in more than

one district at a time.

Working of the constitution.

The system established by the constitution of 1875 has worked

excellently in some of its departments; for instance, the mode of

electing the president of the Republic. Between 1875 and 1906 there were

seven elections, sometimes under tragic or very difficult conditions;

the election has always taken place without delay or obstruction, and

the choice has been of the best. The high court of justice, which has

twice been called into requisition, in 1889 and in 1899-1900, has acted

as an efficient check, in spite of the difficulties confronting such a

tribunal when feeling runs high. Parliamentary government in the form

set up by the constitution, besides the criticism to which this system

is open in all countries where it is established, even in England, met

with special difficulties in France. In the first place, the useful but

rather secondary role assigned to the president of the Republic has by

no means satisfied all those who have occupied this high office. Two

presidents have resigned on the ground that their powers were

insufficient. Another, even after re-election, had to withdraw in face

of the opposition of the two chambers, being no longer able to obtain a

parliamentary ministry. It is difficult, however, to accept the theory

of an eminent American political writer, Mr John W. Burgess,[1] that in

order to attain to a position of stable equilibrium, the French Republic

ought to adopt the presidential system of the United States. In France

this sharp division between the two powers has never been observed

except in those periods when the representative assemblies were

powerless, under the First and Second Empires. It is true that the

apparent multiplicity of parties and their lack of discipline, together

with the French procedure of _interpellations_ and the orders of the day

by which they are concluded, make the formation of homogeneous and

lasting cabinets difficult; but since the end of the 19th century there

has been great progress in this respect. Another difficulty arose in

1896. The Senate, appealing to the letter of the constitution and

relying on its elective character, claimed the right of forcing a

ministry to resign by its vote, in the same way as the Chamber of

Deputies. The Senate was victorious in the struggle, and forced the

ministry presided over by M. Leon Bourgeois to resign; but the precedent

is not decisive, for in order to gain its ends the Senate had recourse

to the means of refusing to sanction the taxes, declining to consider

the proposals for the supplies necessary for the Madagascar expedition

so long as the ministry which it was attacking was in existence. The

weakest point in the French parliamentary organism is perhaps the right

of dissolution. It is difficult of application, for the reason that the

president must obtain the preliminary consent of the Senate before

exercising it; moreover, this valuable right has been discredited by its

abuse by Marshal MacMahon in the campaign of the 16th of May 1877, on

which occasion he exercised his right of dissolution against a chamber,

the moderate but decidedly republican majority in which he was

re-elected by the country.

Reforms under the Third Republic.

The religious congregations.

Education.

Separation of church and state.

The legislative reforms carried out under the Third Republic are very

numerous. As to public law, it is only possible to mention here those of

a really organic character, chief among which are those which safeguard

and regulate the exercise of the liberties of the individual. The law of

the 30th of June 1881, modified in 1901, established the right of

holding meetings. Public meetings, whether for ordinary or electoral

purposes, may be held without preliminary authorization; the law of 1881

prescribed a declaration made by a certain number of citizens enjoying

full civil and political rights, which is now remitted. The only really

restrictive provision is that which does not allow them to be held in

the public highway, but only in an enclosed space. But this is made

necessary by the customs of France. The law of the 21st of July 1881 on

the press is one of the most liberal in the world. By it all offences

committed by any kind of publication are submitted to a jury; the

punishment for the mere expression of obnoxious opinions is abolished,

the only punishment being for slander, libel, defamation, inciting to

crime, and in certain cases the publication of false news. The law of

the 1st of July 1901 established in France the right of forming

associations. It recognizes the legality of all associations strictly so

called, the objects of which are not contrary to law or to public order

or morality. On condition of a simple declaration to the administrative

authority, it grants them a civil status in a wide sense of the term.

Religious congregations, on the contrary, which are not authorized by a

law, are forbidden by this law. This was not a new principle, but the

traditional rule in France both before and after the Revolution, except

that under certain governments authorization by decree had sufficed. As

a matter of fact the unauthorized congregations had been tolerated for a

long time, although on various occasions, and especially in 1881, their

partial dissolution had been proclaimed by decrees. The law of 1901

dissolved them all, and made it an offence to belong to such a

congregation. The members of unauthorized congregations, and later, in

1904, even those of the authorized congregations, were disqualified from

teaching in any kind of establishment. The liberty of primary education

was confirmed and reorganized by the law of the 30th of October 1886,

which simply deprived the clergy of the privileges granted them by the

law of 1850, though the latter remains in force with regard to the

liberty of secondary education. A law passed by the National Assembly

(July 12, 1875) established the liberty of higher education. It even

went beyond this, for it granted to students in private _facultes_ who

aspired to state degrees the right of being examined before a board

composed partly of private and partly of state professors. The law of

the 18th of March 1880 abolished this privilege. Another law, that of

the 22nd of March 1882, made primary education obligatory, though

allowing parents to send their children either to private schools or to

those of the state; the law of the 16th of June 1881 established secular

(_laique_) education in the case of the latter. The Third Republic also

organized secondary education for girls in lycees or special colleges

(_colleges de fille_). Finally, a law of the 10th of July 1896 dealing

with higher education and the faculties of the state reorganized the

universities, which form distinct bodies, enjoying a fairly wide

autonomy. A law of the 19th of December 1905, abrogating that of the

18th Germinal in the year X., which had sanctioned the Concordat,

proclaimed the separation of the church from the state. It is based on

the principle of the secular state (_etat laique_) which recognizes no

form of religion, though respecting the right of every citizen to

worship according to his beliefs, and it aimed at organizing

associations of citizens, the object of which was to collect the funds

and acquire the property necessary for the maintenance of worship, under

the form of _associations cultuelles_, differing in certain respects

from the associations sanctioned by the law of the 1st of July 1901, but

having a wider scope. It also handed over to these regularly formed

associations the property of the ecclesiastical establishments formerly

in existence, while taking precautions to ensure their proper

application, and allowed the associations the free use of the churches

and places of worship belonging to the state, the departments or the

communes. If no _association cultuelle_ was founded in a parish, the

property of the former _fabrique_ should devolve to the commune. But

this law was condemned by the papacy, as contrary to the church

hierarchy; and almost nowhere were _associations cultuelles_ formed,

except by Protestants and Jews, who complied with the law. After many

incidents, but no church having been closed, a new law of the 2nd of

January 1907 was enacted. It permits the public exercise of any cult, by

means of ordinary associations regulated by the law of the 1st of July

1901, and even of public meetings summoned by individuals. Failing all

associations, either _cultuelles_ or others, churches, with their

ornaments and furniture, are left to the disposition of the faithful and

ministers, for the purpose of exercising the cult; and, on certain

conditions, the long use of them can be granted as a free gift to

ministers of the cult.

Administrative changes.

Among the organic laws concerning administrative affairs there are two

of primary importance; that of the 10th of August 1871, on the

_conseils generaux_, considerably increased the powers and independence

of these elective bodies, which have become important deliberative

assemblies, their sessions being held in public. The law of 1871 created

a new administrative organ for the departments, the _commission

departmentale_, elected by the council-general of the department from

among its own members and associated with the administration of the

prefect. The other law is the municipal law of the 5th of April 1884,

which effected a widespread decentralization; the _maires_ and their

_adjoints_ are elected by the municipal council.

Reorganization of the army.

The war of 1870-71 necessarily led to a modification of the military

organization. The law of the 25th of July 1872 established the principle

of compulsory service for all, first in the standing army, the period of

service in which was fixed at five years, then in the reserve, and

finally in the territorial army. But the application of this principle

was by no means absolute, only holding good in time of war. Each annual

class was divided into two parts, by means of drawing lots, and in time

of peace one of these parts had only a year of service with the active

army. The previous exemptions, based either on the position of supporter

of the family (as in the case of the son of a widow or aged father, &c.)

or on equivalent services rendered to the state (as in the case of young

ecclesiastics or members of the teaching profession), were preserved,

but only held good for service in the active army in times of peace.

Finally, the system of conditional engagement for a year allowed young

men, for the purposes of study or apprenticeship to their profession,

only to serve a year with the active army in time of peace. By this

means it was sought to combine the advantages of an army of veterans

with those of a numerous and truly national army. But the conditional

volunteering (_volontariat conditionnel_) for a year was open to too

great a number of people, and so brought the system into discredit. As

those who profited by it had to be clothed and maintained at their own

expense, and the sum which they had to furnish for this purpose was

generally fixed at 1500 francs, it came to be considered the privilege

of those who could pay this sum. A new law of the 15th of July 1889

lessened the difference between the two terms which it attempted to

reconcile. It reduced the term of service in the active army to three

years, and the exemptions, which were still preserved, merely reduced

the period to a year in times of peace. The same reduction was also

granted to those who were really pursuing important scientific,

technical or professional studies; the system was so strict on this

point that the number of those who profited by those exemptions did not

amount to 2000 in a year. This was a compromise between two opposing

principles; the democratic principle of equality, being the stronger,

was bound to triumph. The law of the 21st of March 1905 reduced the term

of service in the active army to two years, but made it equal for all,

admitting of no exemption, but only certain facilities as to the age at

which it had to be accomplished.

Justice and taxation.

In 1883 the judicial _personnel_ was reorganized and reduced in number.

With the exception of a few modifications the main lines of judicial

organization remained the same. In 1879 the conseil d'etat was also

reorganized. The whole fabric of administrative jurisdiction was

carefully organized, and almost entirely separated from the active

administration.

The system of taxation has remained essentially unaltered; we may

notice, however, the laws of 1897, 1898 and 1900, which abolished or

lessened the duties on so called _hygienic_ drinks (wine, beer, cider),

and the financial law of 1901, which rearranged and increased the

transfer fees, and established a system of progressive taxation in the

case of succession dues.

Labour legislation.

The labour laws, which generally partook of the nature both of public

and of private law, are a sign of our times. Under the Third Republic

they have been numerous, the most notable being: the law of the 21st of

March 1884 on professional syndicates, which introduced the liberty of

association in matters of this kind before it became part of the common

law (see TRADE UNIONS); the law of the 9th of April 1898 on the

liability for accidents incurred during work, and those which have

completed it; that of the 22nd of December 1892 on conciliation and

arbitration in the case of collective disputes between employers and

workmen; that of the 29th of June 1893 on the hygiene and safeguarding

of workers in industrial establishments, and the laws which regulate the

work of children and women in factories; finally, that of the 15th of

July 1893 on free medical attendance (see LABOUR LEGISLATION).

Criminal law.

As to criminal law, there have been more than fifty enactments, mostly

involving important modifications, due to more scientific ideas of

punishment, so that we may say that it has been almost entirely recast

since the establishment of the Third Republic. The separate system

applied in cases of preventive detention and imprisonment for short

periods; liberation before the expiry of the term of sentence, subject

to the condition that no fresh offence shall be committed within a given

time; transportation to the colonies of habitual offenders; the

remission of the penalty in the case of first offenders, and the lapsing

of the penalty when a certain time has gone by without a fresh

condemnation; greater facilities for the rehabilitation of condemned

persons, which now became simply a matter for the courts, and occurred

as a matter of course at the end of a certain time; such were the chief

results of this legislation. Finally, the law of the 8th of December

1897 completely altered the form of the preliminary examination before

the _juge d'instruction_, which had been the weakest point in the French

criminal procedure, though it was still held in private; the new law

made this examination really a hearing of both sides, and made the

appearance of counsel for the defence practically compulsory.

As to private law, both civil and commercial, we could enumerate between

1871 and 1906 more than a hundred laws which have modified it, sometimes

profoundly, and have for the most part done very useful work without

attracting much attention. They are generally examined and drawn up by

commissions of competent men, and pass both chambers almost without

discussion. There have, however, been a few which aroused public

interest and even deep feeling. Firstly, there was the law of the 27th

of July 1884, and those which completed it; this law re-established

divorce, which had been abolished since 1816, but only permitted it for

certain definite causes determined by law. On the other hand, the law of

the 6th of February 1893 increased the liberty and independence of a

woman who was simply judicially separated, in order to encourage

separation, as opposed to divorce, when the conditions allowed it. The

law of the 25th of March 1896 on the succession of illegitimate

children, who were recognized by the parents, treated them not in the

same way as legitimate children, but gave them the title of heirs in the

succession of their father and mother, together with much greater rights

than they had possessed under the _Code Civil_. The law of the 24th of

July 1899, on the protection of children who are ill-treated or morally

neglected, also modified some of the provisions of the law as applied to

the family, with a view to greater justice and humanity. Finally, on the

occasion of the centenary of the _Code Civil_ (see CODE NAPOLEON), a

commission, composed of members of the chambers, magistrates, professors

of law, lawyers, political writers, and even novelists and dramatic

authors, was given the task of revising the whole structure of the code.

See generally Adhemar Esmein, _Cours elementaire d'histoire du droit

francais_ (6th ed., 1906); J. Brissand, _Cours d'histoire generale du

droit francais public et prive_ (1904); Ernest Glasson, _Histoire du

droit et des institutions en France_ (1887-1904); Paul Viollet,

_Histoire des institutions politiques et administratives de la France_

(3rd ed., 1903); Fustel de Coulanges, _Histoire des institutions

politiques de l'ancienne France_; Jacques Flach, _Les Origines de

l'ancienne France_ (1875-1889); Achille Luchaire, _Histoire des

institutions monarchiques de la France sous les premiers Capetiens_

(2nd ed., 1900); Hippolyte Taine, _Les Origines de la France

contemporaine_ (1878-1894); Adhemar Esmein, _Elements de droit

constitutionnel francais et compare_ (4th ed., 1906); Leon Duguit et

Henry Monnier, _Les Constitutions et les principales lois politiques

de la France depuis 1789_ (1898). (J. P. E.)