Article
first.
The freedom and the human dignity are supreme values and intangible
goods. Their safeguard requires State the order and justice, and citizens
the discipline.
The Constitution delimits for this purpose the respective duties and
rights of the public power and the citizens by instituting a State
whose authority is based on the adhesion of the Nation.
Article
2.
The State recognizes and guarantees like fundamental freedoms: freedom
of conscience, the freedom of worship, freedom to teach, the freedom
of going and coming, freedom to express and publish its opinion, right
to meet, right of association. The exercise of these freedoms is regulated
by the law in front of which all the citizens are equal.
Article
3.
No one cannot marked, be stopped nor held that in the cases
determined by the law and according to forms' which it prescribed.
No one can be punished only under the terms of one law established
and promulgated before with the offence and legally applied.
Article
4.
Acquired by work and maintained by the family saving, the
property is an inviolable right, justified by the social function
that it confers to its holder; no one can be private for it only due
to public utility and under condition to a right allowance.
Article
5.
The State recognizes the rights of the communities spiritual, family,
professional and territorial in which the man takes the direction
of his social responsibility and finds support for the defense of
his freedoms.
Article
6.
The citizens freely name by vote their representatives at the local
and national assemblies, like at the professional and corporative
organizations.
Except in the elections of professional nature, an additional vote
is allotted to the heads of large families because of their responsibilities
and their loads.
Article
7.
The national representation votes the laws, authorizes the tax, controls
the expenditure and associates the Nation the management of the common
good.
Article
8.
The organization of the professions, under the control of the State,
referee and guarantor of the general interest, has the aim of returning
employers and employees interdependent of their company, to put an
end to antagonism classes and to remove the proletarian condition.
By a representation assured at all the levels work, the organized
professions take part in the economic and social action of the State.
Article
9.
The duties of the citizens towards the State are obedience with the
laws, an equitable participation in the public expenditure, the achievement
of their civic obligations which can go until the total sacrifice
for the safety of the Fatherland.
Article
10.
The head of the State holds his capacities of a Congress grouping
the elected officials of the Nation and the delegates of the local
authorities which make it up. He personifies the Nation and has the
load of his destinies.
Referee of the higher interests of the country, it ensures the work
of the institutions while maintaining - if it is necessary, by the
exercise of the right of dissolution - the continuous circuit of confidence
between the Government and the Nation.
Article
11.
The maintenance of the rights and freedoms as well as the respect
of the Constitution are guaranteed by a supreme Court of justice in
front of which any citizen can bring an action.
Article
12.
The three functions of the State - governmental function, legislative
function, judicial office - are exerted by distinct bodies.
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Title
first
The
governmental function
Article
13.
The governmental function is exerted by the head of the State, the
ministers and Secretaries of State.
Article
14.
The head of the State carries the title of president of the Republic.
He is elected for ten years by the national Congress, in front of
which he lends oath of fidelity to the Constitution.
He is re-eligible.
Article
15.
1° the President of the Republic names the Prime
Minister and, on the proposal of this one, the ministers and Secretaries
of State. It revokes them. It chairs the Council of Ministers.
2° the head of the State has the initiative of
the laws as well as the members of the two assemblies. It can only
present the bills carrying amnesties.
It promulgates the laws when they were voted by the two rooms. It
makes some ensure the execution.
It communicates with the rooms by messages which are read with the
platform by a minister.
Article
16.
1° the president of the Republic names with all
civil and military employment, for which the law did not envisage
of another mode of designation.
2° It has the right of reprieve.
3° the envoys and ambassadors of the foreign
powers are accredited near him.
4° It negotiates and ratifies the treaties.
No transfer, no exchange, no addition of territory can take place
only under the terms of one law. Peace treaties, of trade, those which
engage the public purses and those which relate to the state of the
people and the right of ownership of the French abroad become final
only after being voted by the two rooms.
5° It has the armed force.
6° It can declare the state of siege.
7° It cannot declare the war without the preliminary
and formal adhesion of the two rooms.
8° Each act of the head of the State, except
those which carry appointment or revocation of the Prime Minister
or the ministers and Secretaries of State, must be contresigned by
the ministers or Secretaries of State who ensure the execution of
it.
Article
17.
The president of the Republic can pronounce the dissolution of the
House of Commons with the assent of the Senate following the sending
of a justified message.
He can, on the request of the Prime Minister, and in the event of
dissension between the two assemblies or the government and one of
the assemblies, or in the event of vote of a motion of distrust with
regard to the cabinet or of a minister, to pronounce dissolution without
opinion of the Senate.
The dissolution automatically intervenes if the House of Commons votes
of distrust against three successive cabinets.
Article
18.
1° the Prime Minister, the ministers and Secretaries
of State are responsible in front of the head for the State, individually
within the framework of their own attributions, collectively for the
general policy of the cabinet.
2° the ministers and Secretaries of State go
to the assemblies when they consider it necessary. They must be heard
there when they ask it.
Article
19.
1° the head of the State is represented by a
governor in each province defined by the law which institutes them.
2° It names and revokes the governor by contresigned
decree of the Prime Minister.
3° the governor is assisted by the provincial
Council.
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Title
II
The
legislative function
Article
20.
1° the French people names by voice of votes
its representatives at the legislative assemblies: the Senate and
the House of Commons.
In the composition of the Senate, a place is reserved to the elected
representatives of the professional and corporative institutions and
for the elites of the country.
2° Whatever the origin of their mandate, the
members of an assembly have the same duties, the same prerogatives,
the same rights.
They are bound by no engagement with regard to those which indicated
them, and they do not act, in the performance of their duties, which
according to their conscience and for the good of the State.
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Vote
Article
21.
1° Is entitled to vote at the national assemblies
the French and Frenchwomen born of French, old father of twenty and
one years, enjoying their civil laws and political. To the same assemblies
the French born of French, father twenty-five years old are eligible,
enjoying their civil laws and political.
2° the law fixes the other conditions of the
electorate and eligibility.
It institutes the family vote on the following basis: the father or,
possibly, the mother, head of family of three children and more, are
entitled to a double vote.
3° the vote is secret.
4° the rules above, relating to the electorate
and eligibility, are applicable to the elections of the provincial,
departmental and municipal councils. The Frenchwomen, born from French
father, twenty-five years old, enjoying their civil laws and political,
are eligible with these councils.
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The
Senate and the House of Commons
Article 22.
The Senate is composed of:
1° Two hundred and fifty members, elected by
departmental colleges including/understanding the departmental advisers
and of delegated town councils;
2° Thirty members, designated by the Head of
the State among the elected representatives of the professional and
corporative institutions;
3° Twenty members, designated by the head of
the State among the elites of the country;
4° former presidents of the Republic to the expiry
of their mandate.
The members of the first two categories are elected or designated
for nine years and are renewable per third every three years. The
members of the third and fourth categories are senators has life.
An organic law determines the conditions under which the delegates
of the town councils are elected, the methods of the election and
senator nomination, as well as the number of the senators by department.
The members of the Senate must be at least forty years old.
Article
23.
1° the House of Commons is composed of five hundred
members, elected for six years by the vote for all and direct, only
one turn.
Each department must have at least two deputies.
2° With the case of dissolution of the House
of Commons, it is proceeded has its renewal within two months and
the Room is joined together in the ten days which follow the electoral
operation closure.
Article
24.
1° Each assembly indicates her office with the
secret vote, for one year, under the conditions fixed by its payment.
2° the assemblies must be brought together each
year into two session one total duration at least four months and
six months at the maximum.
The two assemblies can be convened in extraordinary session by the
president of the Republic each time that it considers it useful.
The first ordinary session opens automatically third Tuesday of January;
the second, during which the draft budget is examined, first Tuesday
after All Saints' day.
The session of an assembly starts and finishes at the same time as
that of the other.
The head of the State can, by decree, to pronounce the adjournment
of the assemblies for one duration maximum one month during a session.
The session closure is pronounced by the head of the State.
3° the meetings of the Senate and the House of
Commons are public. Nevertheless, each room can be constituted in
secret committee on the request for a certain number of its members
fixed by the payment.
Article
25.
1° the Assemblies vote the laws.
Their members can address to the ministers and to Secretaries of State
of the oral or written questions, as well as interpellations.
2° the vote is personal.
3° Any motion comprising confidence or distrust
with regard to the cabinet or of a minister is of right the object
of an open vote.
It can be discussed only one clear day after the date on which it
was deposited.
Article
26.
1° the members of the assemblies can deposit
private bills or amendments with the projects and private bills. The
proposals or amendments involving creation or increase in public expenditure,
whatever the ways and means which they provide, can be put under discussion
only if the government accepts their catch in consideration.
2° the bills of finances must be presented initially
at the House of Commons.
3° Each project or private bill is subjected,
in each assembly with the examination of a commission especially indicated
for this purpose. The commission can propose amendments. However,
the assembly deliberates on the text on the project or the proposal
before examining the amendments.
The participation of the civils servant of the State who are not members
of the assembly, with work of a commission, is prohibited.
Article
27.
1° In the event of rejection or of modification
of a project or a proposal, the government can require a second deliberation
which obligatorily takes place within two maximum month.
2° the promulgation of the laws must intervene
in the month which follows their final adoption by the assemblies.
It must intervene in the three days for the laws whose promulgation
will have been declared urgent by a express vote of one or the other
room, unless, within this time, the head of the State does not ask
for a new deliberation, which cannot be refused.
Article
28.
No
member of one or the other room can be continued or sought at the
time of the opinions or voted by him in the performance of his duties.
No member of one or the other room can, throughout being, session
continued out of criminal or correctional matter, or decree, that
with the authorization of the supreme Court of justice, except the
case of obvious offence.
If the interested assembly requires it, the custody or the continuation
of a member of one or other room, decree or continued during the intersession,
is suspended during the following session and for all its duration.
Article
29.
The members of the assemblies receive an allowance equal to the remuneration
of the advisers of State in ordinary service.
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The French National Assembly
Article
30.
1° the President of the Republic can, for the
revision of the Constitution, to join together the Senate and the
House of Commons as a national Parliament, either spontaneously, or
on voted by the two rooms after deliberations separated in the majority
from two thirds from the legal number of the members.
2° the two rooms can also meet as a national
Parliament on resolution taken by one of them in the majority of two
thirds of the legal number of the members, to rule on the committal
for trial of the head of the State, the ministers or the Secretaries
of State.
3° Any convocation of the French National Assembly
must clarify the points to which its deliberations will relate.
The Parliament is not, to in no case, mistress of her agenda.
Its decisions are made in the majority of two thirds of the legal
number of its members. 4° the French National Assembly has as
an office the office of the Senate.
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Title
III
The
national Congress
Article
31.
1° the national Congress is consisted by the
members of the two assemblies and the provincial advisers or - until
the designation of those - the delegates of the departmental councils
in a number equal to that of the senators and the deputies.
2° at least One month before the legal term of
the capacities of the president of the Republic, the national Congress
will have to be joined together to carry out the designation of its
successor. In the absence of convocation, this meeting would take
place full the fifteenth day before the expiry of its capacities.
In the event of vacancy by death or for very other causes, the national
Congress automatically meets within three day to proceed to the election
of a new head of the State.
Until the service of oath, the capacities of the president of the
Republic are exerted by the Council of Ministers.
If the House of Commons would be dissolved at the time when would
occur the vacancy, the electoral colleges would be convened at once
and the Senate would automatically meet.
3° the election takes place with the secret vote.
With the two first turns, the election requires the absolute majority
of the legal number of the members of the Congress. With the third
turn, the relative majority is enough.
4° the national Congress has as an office the
office of the Senate.
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Title
IV
The
judicial office
Article
32.
Justice is returned to the French people.
The judicial office is exerted by magistrates whose clean statute
guarantees independence.
The magistrates of the seat are irremovable. They are named by the
president of the Republic. Their advance is decided by this one on
assent of a court chaired by the first president of the Supreme court
of appeal and composed magistrates elected by the Supreme court of
appeal and the Courts of Appeal. Similar provisions are taken for
the magistrates of the seat of the Court of Auditors.
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Supreme Court of justice
Article
33.
The safeguard of the Constitution and the exercise of political justice
are ensured by the supreme Court of justice.
Article
34.
The supreme Court of justice has following attributions:
1° It rules on the recourse for unconstitutionality
of the law;
2° It is exclusive competent to judge the head
of the State on committal for trial by the French National Assembly;
3° It judges the ministers or Secretaries of
State on committal for trial either by the president of the Republic,
or by the French National Assembly;
4° It considers any person committal for trial
by the head of the State for conspiracy against the securityof the
State;
5° It carries out the checking of the electoral
operations tending to the senator nomination and of the deputies and
comes to a conclusion on the requests for liftings of immunity and
about the requests for forfeiture with regard to them.
Article 35.
1° the supreme Court of justice is made up of
fifteen advisers in ordinary service and six advisers in extraordinary
service.
2° Among the fifteen advisers in ordinary service,
twelve are thus recruited: three advisers of State, three advisers
has the Supreme court of appeal, three professors of the Faculty of
Law of the State, three barristers presidents or former barristers
presidents of the order of lawyers attached to a Court of Appeal or
members of the order of lawyers to the Council of State and the Supreme
court of appeal, chosen by H Cour supreme itself on lists of presentation
drawn up by the bodies or orders above and comprising three names
for each seat to provide.
Three seats are, moreover, held for personalities not belonging to
the bodies or orders mentioned, but obligatorily presented by these
bodies or orders reason has, on each list, of two names for any vacancy
in these three seats. The only conditions of presentation are the
general conditions applicable to the advisers in ordinary service,
fixed below at article 36.
The first members of the supreme Court of justice in ordinary service
will be named by the head of the State on the same presentations.
3° the six advisers in extraordinary service
are appointed annually by the Senate among its members, at the beginning
of the ordinary session, has the absolute majority.
They sit at the supreme Court of justice when it is joined together
in the cases envisaged with the 2°, 3°, and 4° of article
34 to judge the head of the State, the ministers or Secretaries of
State or any person committal for trial by the president of the Republic
for attack against the safety of the State.
Article
36.
1° the advisers in ordinary service elect among
them the president and the vice-president of the supreme Court of
justice. They are irremovable. They must be at least fifty years old
to the day of their nomination. They remain in functions up to seventy-five
years, except if their forfeiture is marked or if they are unable
permanent to fulfill their functions. The examination and the decision
which these exceptional cases comprise are competence of the Court
itself.
The functions of advisers in ordinary service are incompatible with
the mandate of senator or deputy and with the exercise of any profession.
The advisers in ordinary service preserve at life their treatment,
except the case of forfeiture.
This treatment is equal A that of the ministers.
2° the parquet floor of the supreme Court of
justice is composed of a Attorney General and two prosecuting attorneys,
selected by the head of the State at the beginning of each year, among
the magistrates of the parquet floor of the Supreme court of appeal
or the Courts of Appeal.
However, when the Court meets to rule on a committal for trial by
the French National Assembly, this one designates in its centre three
members to support the charge.
Article
37.
1° the recourse for unconstitutionality is admissible
only if it has as a base the violation of a provision of the Constitution.
It is formed by way of exception.
2° the exception of unconstitutionality can be
raised in front of any jurisdiction, but only in first authority,
either by the public ministry, or by the parts, or, of office, by
the seized jurisdiction.
3° As soon as the exception of unconstitutionality
was raised, the procedure with the main thing is suspended until the
judgment of the supreme Court of justice on the value of the recourse.
This stop is essential on any jurisdiction having to know species
at the time of which it was returned.
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Title V
Town
councils, departmental and provincial
Article 38.
1° the town council is elected for six years
by the direct vote for all with the list system.
2° the mayor and the assistants are elected by
the town council in the communes whose population does not exceed
ten thousand inhabitants.
The law determines the mode of nomination mayor and of associated
in the communes where the population exceeds this figure.
3° the law envisages the conditions under which
the town councils can dissolved and be replaced temporarily by special
delegations.
4° It establishes the special municipal mode
of Paris, Lyon and Marseilles.
Article
39.
The departmental council is elected for six years by the direct vote
for all, by uninominal system, at a rate of an adviser per canton.
Article
40.
1° the provincial council is formed:
For two thirds, members elected by the departmental councils;
For a third, members named by the government on the proposal of the
governor, among the elected representatives of the professional and
corporative organizations and among the elites of the province.
2° the term of the office is six years. This
mandate is incompatible with that of deputy or senator.
3° the number of the provincial advisers is,
for the whole of the provinces, equal to that of the senators and
the deputies.
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Title
: VI
The
government of the Empire
Article
41.
1° the overseas territories on which, with various
titles, the French State exerts its sovereignty or extends its protection,
constitute the Empire.
2° In the Empire, the government exerts its authority
via senior officials responsible for safety interior and external
of the territories which they manage or control.
3° the Empire is governed by particular legislations.
Article
42.
1° Near the president of the Republic is instituted
a council of Empire called to deliver its opinion on the questions
interesting the French field of overseas.
2° In the parts of the Empire where the social
evolution and safety allow it, the representative of the head of the
State is assisted by an advisory council.
3° the law fixes the conditions under which the
traditional participation of certain colonies is exerted in the national
representation.
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