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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