This constitution has never been printed in English, but would, I think, be
interesting to the people of the United States, I have the honor to forward
it for such disposition as may seem best to the Department of State.
[Inclosure 1 in No. 388.]
preliminary note.
The French constitution was framed and adopted by a national assembly
which met February 13, 1871, and sat for nearly five years, adjourning
December 30, 1875. The assembly had been elected by the people for the
purpose of ratifying the peace with Germany, and not as a constitutional
convention; but before the German troops had moved out of France the
assembly assumed to itself the powers of a constitutional convention,
and proceeded, very slowly and with many interruptions, to frame a
government for France.
An immense majority of the members when this assembly began were in favor
of a monarchy of one kind or another. The republicans of all shades only
numbered about 150, while there were 500 royalists, Orleanists, or
imperialists. But they disliked each other, and disagreed as to the
dynasty, and so did nothing until it was too late for a monarchy of any
kind.
A republic had been proclaimed in a revolutionary fashion on the 4th of
September, 1870, when the empire crumbled away at Sedan, and it was
still the form of government. It was allowed to continue provisionally,
and M. Thiers was chosen chief of the executive power, but they
expressly declared that this was only provisional, while they should
deliberate upon and determine the institutions of France, which they
fully intended should be a monarchy.
How came they to adopt a republican constitution? What brought about so
great a change? Time, debate, the growth of public sentiment among the
best classes of the French people reacting on the assembly, the
disagreement of its opponents, the statesmanship and patriotism of its
friends.
Thiers was then at the height of popularity. He had opposed the
disastrous war, and had saved all that was possible in making peace.
Twenty-six different districts elected him to the assembly by over two
millions of votes. He had always been a friend of constitutional
monarchy. He now began to show a strong leaning toward a republic in
moderate, conservative hands, as the permanent government of France. He
was a persuasive orator, of clear judgment, vast knowledge, a consummate
master of parliamentary tactics. Though President, he took part as a
member in all the deliberations of the assembly. Moderate common sense
leaders among the republicans came to the front. That party could no
longer be called a faction of extremists, radicals, impracticables,
theorists. It grew all over France, and while the assembly wore out the
months in delays, the country was advancing in republican sentiment.
In the spring of 1873 a great effort was made by the different sections
of the majority to unite and settle the whole question at once and
finally. M. Thiers was driven from the Presidency by “a vote of blame.”
Marshal MacMahon elected, and a combination immediately attempted of the
two branches of the house of Bourbon; the Count de Chambord, who was the
head of the legitimists, to be crowned as Henry V, and to adopt as his
heir the Count de Paris, the head of the Orleanists. But Count de
Chambord, a true Bourbon, refused to abandon the white flag, the emblem
of the ancient despotic régime, and the whole
scheme failed.
The majority controlling the assembly then (November 20, 1873) prolonged
Marshal MacMahon’s powers for seven years, knowing him to be in sympathy
with them, believing he would resign whenever they could agree upon a
restoration, and hoping to carry out their ideas long before the
expiration of his time.
But the country was getting weary of these endless delays in determining
the form of government. Year after year passed, audit was still
provisional. All the interests of the nation demanded a decision. The
new President himself felt constrained to ask them, in a message, to
proceed to the work of the constitution.
A committee of thirty was appointed to examine and report upon
constitutional laws. The majority of this commission were averse to a
republic; they protracted proceedings from month to month through the
whole winter and down to the end of the session in July, 1874, without
any result. Public opinion in its advance had passed
[Page 369]
he assembly, and that body now felt its
influence. At the partial elections frequently held to fill vacancies
when members died or resigned, the popular majorities were
republican.
The word had ceased to alarm. Many of the Orleanists of the center, who
had been in favor of a constitutional monarchy, began voting with the
republicans, who now counted twice their original number.
In January, 1875, the final debate began. Each vote showed the increasing
tendency until at last, on the 30th of January, an amendment
establishing the Presidency “of the republic,” and consequently the
republic itself as the definitive government of France, was carried by
353 votes against 352, a majority of one vote. This was decisive.
In the midst of the uncertainties among the groups of that assembly a
majority, though of only one vote, that was guided by a distinct great
idea, was sufficient to determine the wavering. More of the Orleanists
went over; the majority rose with every vote until February 25, 1875,
the birthday of the constitution, the great law organizing the public
powers, and which cast permanently the character of a parliamentary
republic, was adopted by 425 to 254 votes.
The law constituting the Senate had been passed the day before by 435 to
234. It was not until the 16th of July following that the third great
constitutional law, that on the relations of the public powers, was
finally passed.
In a constitution thus adopted piecemeal, through long struggles, with
many compromises, there are imperfections and uncertainties. Some of
those who voted for it were not sincere republicans, but felt
constrained to vote for some definite form of government, and hoped this
one would soon be changed or bent to suit their purposes. They preferred
ambiguity. They wished the powers of the Executive left vague and
elastic. They intended the Senate to be conservative and a check to the
Chamber of Deputies. The friends of free government made a good fight
and a winning one. The faults in their work are more in form than in
fact. There is no declaration of the rights of the citizen, but these
had been so often proclaimed in republican constitutions that they might
be regarded as uncontested public law.
No mention is made of the judiciary. That was already organized. This
constitution contains nothing superfluous. Every line is practical and
full of vitality and strength, as the shocks of experience have since
shown. The powers of the Executive seemed to be left iii uncertainty,
but the sharp lessons of trial soon taught the President the limits of
his authority.
This constitution is not a symmetrical document; it grew out of events,
the wants and wishes of a nation. It is an adjustment of political
machinery to do the work of the people in governing themselves. They
have watched its operation with incessant vigilance, and by their votes
at successive elections they have commanded the interpretation of every
uncertain phrase, in the sense of free representative government.
[Inclosure 2 in No. 388.]
constitution of the french republic.
Constitutional law* in relation to the organization of the
public powers.
Passed by the National Assembly February 25, 1875.
- Article 1. The legislative power is
exercised by two assemblies, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
The Chamber of Deputies is chosen by universal suffrage, under the
conditions prescribed by the electoral law. The composition, mode of
election, and powers of the Senate will be regulated by a special
law.
- Art. 2. The President of the Republic is
elected by an absolute majority of votes of the Senate and Chamber
of Deputies united in national assembly. He is named for seven
years. He is re-eligible,†
- Art. 3. The President of the Republic
has the initiative of laws, concurrently with the members of the two
chambers. He promulgates the laws when they have been voted by the
two chambers; he watches over and assures their execution. He has
the right to grant pardons amnesties can only be accorded by a law.
He disposes of the armed forces. He appoints to all the civil and
military employments. He presides at the national solemnities.
Envoys and embassadors from foreign powers are accredited to him.
Every act of the President of the Republic must be countersigned by
a minister.
- Art. 4, The President of the Republic
shall appoint, in cabinet council, the members of the council of
state in ordinary service as fast as vacancies shall occur, after
the promulgation of the present law.
- The councillors of state so appointed can only be removed by
decree rendered in cabinet council.
- The members of the council of state appointed by virtue of the law
of May 24, 1872, cannot be removed until the expiration of their
powers, except in the manner determined by law. After the separation
of the national assembly, the removal can only be pronounced by a
resolution of the Senate.
- Art. 5. The President of the Republic
may, in conformity with the advice of the Senate, dissolve the
Chamber of Deputies before the legal expiration of its term. In that
case, the electoral colleges are to be convoked for new elections
within a delay of three months.
- Art. 6. The ministers are jointly
responsible to the chambers for the general policy of the
government, and individually for their personal acts. The President
of the Republic is only responsible in case of high treason.*
- Art. 7. In case of a vacancy, on account
of death or any other cause, the two chambers united shall proceed
immediately to the election of a new President. In the interval, the
council of the ministers is invested with the executive
power.
- Art. 8. The chambers, deliberating
separately, shall have the right to declare, by an absolute majority
of the votes in each, either spontaneously or upon the request of
the President of the Republic, that the constitutional laws shall be
revised.
- After each of the two chambers has adopted this resolution, they
shall meet in national assembly to proceed to the revision. The
proceedings, in revising the constitutional laws, in whole or in
part, must be adopted by an absolute majority of the members
composing the national assembly. Nevertheless, during the
continuance of the powers conferred upon Marshal MacMahon by the law
of November 20, 1873, this revision can only take place upon the
proposition of the President of the Republic.
- Art. 9. The seat of the executive power
and of the two chambers, is at Versailles.†
Constitutional law in relation to the
organization of the Senate.
Passed February 24, 1875.
- Article 1. The Senate is composed of
three hundred members, two hundred and twenty-five elected by the
departments, and seventy-five by the national assembly.
- Art. 2. The Departments of the Seine and
of the North will each elect five senators; the Departments of
Seine-Inférieure, Pas-de-Calais, Gironde, Rhône, Finistère,
Côtes-du-Nord, each four senators; the Loire-Inférieure,
Saône-et-Loire, Ille-et-Vilaine, Seine-et-Oise, Isère, Puy-du-Dôme,
Somme, Bouches-du-Rhône, Aisne, Loire, Manche, Maine-et-Loire,
Morbihan, Dordogne, Haute-Garonne, Charente-Inférieure, Calvados,
Sarthe, Hérault, Basses-Pyrénées, Gard, Aveyron, Vendée, Orne, Oise,
Vos-ges, Allier, each three senators; all the other departments each
two senators; the territory of Belfort, the three departments of
Algiers, the four colonies—Martinique, Guadaloupe, Réunion, and
French India—will each elect one senator.
- Art. 3. No one shall be elected senator
unless he is a Frenchman, not less than forty years of age, and in
the enjoyment of his civil and political rights.
- Art. 4. The senators of the departments
and colonies are elected by an absolute majority, and when there is
occasion, by balloting for a list.*
- In an electoral college, assembled at the seat of the department,
or of the colony, and composed of (1) the deputies, (2) the members
of the general council (of the deparement), (3) the members of the
council of the arrondissement, (4) delegates elected, one by each
municipal council (of a commune), from among the electors of the
commune.†
- In French India, the members of the colonial council or of the
local councils are substituted for the councillors of the
department, councillors of the arrondissement, and the delegates
from the municipal councils, the vote at the seat of the colonial
establishment.
- Art. 5. The senators chosen by the
assembly (life senators) are elected by balloting for a list and by
an absolute majority of suffrages.
- Art. 6. The senators from the
departments and colonies are elected for nine years, and are
renewable, one-third at a time, every three years. At the beginning
of the first session, the departments shall be divided into three
series, each containing an equal number of senators. The designation
by lot, of the series which shall be renewed at the expiration of
the first and of the second triennial period, will then he proceeded
with.
- Art. 7. The senators elected by the
assembly are irremovable. In case of a vacancy, by death,
resignation, or other cause, the senate will itself fill it within
two months.‡
- Art. 8. The Senate has, concurrently
with the Chamber of Deputies, the right of initiating and framing
laws. Financial laws must, however, in the first place, he presented
and adopted in the Chamber of Deputies.
- Art. 9. The Senate may be constituted a
court of justice to try either the President of the Republic or the
ministers, or to take cognizance of crimes attempted against the
safety of the state.
[Page 372]
Constitutional law in regard to the
relations of the public powers to each other.
Passed by National Assembly July 16, 1875.
Article 1. The Senate and Chamber of Deputies
meet every year on the second Tuesday of January, unless sooner called
together by the President of the Republic.
The two chambers shall be in session at least five months every year. The
session of one commences and ends at the same time as that of the
other.
On the Sunday following the reopening, public prayers shall be offered up
to God in the churches to call down his aid upon the labors of the
assembly.
Art. 2. The President of the Republic declares
the closing of the session. He has the right to call the chambers
together in extraordinary session. He shall call them together in the
interval of the sessions, if it is demanded by an absolute majority of
the members composing each chamber.
The President may adjourn the chambers. The adjournment, however, cannot
exceed the term of one month, nor take place more than twice in the same
session.
Art. 3. At least one month before the legal
termination of the powers of the President of the Republic, the chambers
shall meet together in National Assembly to proceed to the election of
the new President. In default of being called together this meeting will
take place of right on the fifteenth day before the expiration of those
powers. In case of the death or resignation of the President of the
Republic, the two chambers will assemble immediately and of right.
In case the Chamber of Deputies shall have been dissolved, pursuant to
article 5 of the law of February 25, 1875, at the time when the
Presidency of the Republic becomes vacant, the electoral colleges shall
be called together immediately and the Senate shall assemble of
right.
Art. 4. Any meeting of one of the two chambers
held outside of the time of the common session is illegal and absolutely
null, except in the case contemplated by the preceding article, and that
where the Senate sits as a court of justice, and in this last case it
can only exercise judicial functions.
Art. 5. The sittings of the senate and Chamber
of Deputies are public. Nevertheless each chamber may resolve itself
into secret committee, upon the request of a certain number of its
members, fixed by the rules. It shall decide afterwards by an absolute
majority whether the sitting shall be resumed in public on the same
subject.
Art. 6. The President of the Republic
communicates with the chambers by messages, which are read at the
tribune by a minister. The ministers have admission to the two chambers
and must be heard when they ask it. They may be assisted by
commissioners designated by decree of the President of the Republic, for
the discussion of a special bill.
Art. 7. The President of the Republic
promulgates the laws within the month which follows the transmission to
the government of the law definitively adopted. He shall, within three
days, promulgate laws, the promulgation of which shall have been
declared urgent by an express vote of both chambers. The President of
the Republic may, within the delay fixed for the promulgation, ask of
the two chambers a new deliberation, in a message giving his reasons
therefor, which cannot be refused.
Art. 8. The President of the Republic
negotiates and ratifies treaties. He communicates them to the chambers
as soon as the interest and safety of the state permit. Treaties of
peace, of commerce, treaties which engage the finances of the state,
those which relate to the personal condition and rights of property of
French citizens in foreign countries, are not definitive until they have
been voted by the two chambers.
No cession, nor exchange, nor addition of territory can take place except
in virtue of a law.
Art. 9. The President of the Republic cannot
declare war without the previous assent of the two chambers.
Art. 10. Each chamber is the judge of the
eligibility of its members and of the regularity of their election; it
alone can accept their resignations.
Art. 11. The officers of each chamber are
elected every year for the duration of the session, and for any
extraordinary session which may take place before the ordinary session
of the following year. When the two chambers meet in National Assembly
their officers shall be composed of the president, vice-president, and
secretaries of the Senate.
Art. 12. The President of the Republic can be
impeached by the Chamber of Deputies only, and can be tried by the
Senate only. The ministers may be impeached by the Chamber of Deputies
for crimes committed in the exercise of their functions. In that case
they are tried by the Senate.
The Senate may be constituted a court of justice by decree of the
President of the Republic, rendered in cabinet council, to try any
person arraigned for crime attempted against the safety of the
state.
If proceedings have been commenced in the ordinary courts of justice, the
decree for the convocation of the Senate may be issued up to the time
when the case is ordered
[Page 373]
to
trial. The mode of procedure for the impeachment, the examination, and
the judgment will he determined by a law.
Art. 13. No member of either chamber shall be
prosecuted or called to account for opinions or votes given by him in
the exercise of his functions.
Art. 14. No member of either chamber shall,
during the continuance of the session, be prosecuted or arrested without
the authorization of the chamber to which he belongs, or a charge of
crime or misdemeanor, unless it be a case where he is taken in the
act.
The imprisonment or prosecution of a member of either chamber is
suspended during the session or during its whole continuance, if the
chamber requires it.
Organic law in relation to the election
of Senators.
Passed by the National Assembly August 2, 1875.
Article 1. A decree of the President of the
Republic, issued at least six weeks in advance, fixes the day of
elections for the Senate, and at the same time that of choosing the
delegates from the municipal councils. There shall be an interval of not
less than one month between the choice of delegates and the election of
Senators.
Art. 2. Each municipal council elects one
delegate. The election is held without debate, in secret ballot, by an
absolute majority of suffrages. After two ballots a relative majority is
sufficient, and in case of a tie, the oldest is elected.
It the mayor does not form part of the municipal council, he shall
preside, but he shall take no part in the vote.
On the same day, and in the same manner, a substitute shall be elected to
fill the place of the delegate in case he resigns or is prevented from
serving. No one shall be chosen by the municipal councils who is a
deputy member of the general council of the department, or member of the
council of arrondissement. Any elector in the commune may be chosen,
including the municipal councillors, without distinction.
Art. 3. In communes where there is a municipal
commission, the delegate and the substitute shall be chosen by the
former council.*
Art. 4. If the delegate has not been present at
the election, the mayor shall take care to notify him of it within
twenty-four hours. He must send to the prefect, within five days, notice
of his acceptance. In case he declines or is silent, the substitute
takes his place and is then entered on the list as the delegate from the
commune.
Art. 5. The report of the election of the
delegate and of the substitute is transmitted immediately to the
prefect; it mentions the acceptance or the refusal of the delegates and
substitutes, as well as protests made by one or more members of the
municipal council against the regularity of the election. A copy of this
report is posted on the door of the mayor’s office.
Art. 6. A table of the results of the election
of delegates and substitutes is prepared by the prefect within eight
eight days; this table is communicated to any one applying for it; it
may be copied and published. Every elector may, in like manner, examine
and copy, in the offices of the prefecture, the list, by communes, of
the municipal councilors in the department, and, in the offices of the
subprefectures, the list by communes of the municipal councillors of the
arrondissement.
Art. 7. Every elector of the commune may,
within three days, send directly to the prefect a protest against the
regularity of the election. If the prefect is of opinion that the
proceedings have been irregular, he has the right to demand that they be
annulled.
Art. 8. Protests in relation to the election of
delegates or substitutes are passed upon, reserving appeal to the
council of state by the council of the prefecture, and in the colonies
by the privy council.
The delegate whose election is annulled because he does not fulfill one
of the conditions required by the law, or because of a defect of form,
is replaced by the substitute.
In case the election of the delegate and that of the substitute are
annulled, or in case both decline, or die after accepting, the municipal
council will proceed to a new election on the day fixed by an order of
the prefect.
Art. 9. Eight days, at the latest, before the
election of Senators, the prefect, and in the colonies the director of
the interior, shall prepare the list of the electors of the department
in alphabetical order. This list is communicated to any one applying for
it, and may be copied and published.
No elector can have more than one vote.
Art. 10. The deputies, the members of the
general council, or of the councils of the arrondissement, who have been
proclaimed by the committee on returns, but whose
[Page 374]
powers have not been verified, shall he
inscribed on the list of electors, and may take part in the vote.
Art. 11. In each of the three departments of
Algiers, the electoral college is composed of, first, the deputies;
second, the members of the general councils who are French citizens;
third, delegates elected by the members of each municipal council who
are French citizens, from among the electors of the commune who are
French citizens.
Art. 12. The electoral college is presided over
by the presiding judge of the civil tribunal of the chief town of the
department or colony. He is assisted by the two oldest and the two
youngest electors present at the opening of the session. The officers
thus composed will choose a secretary among the electors.
If the president is prevented from serving, he is replaced by the
vice-president, and in his absence by the oldest judge.
Art. 13. The officers will divide the electors,
in alphabetical order, into voting sections comprising at least one
hundred electors; will name the president and scrutators of each
section; will decide all difficulties and contests which may arise in
the course of the election, due regard being had, however, to the
decisions rendered by virtue of article 8 of the present law.
Art. 14. The first ballot commences at eight
o’clock in the morning and closes at noon. The second commences at two
and closes at four o’clock. The third, if there is occasion for it,
commences at six and closes at eight. The results of the ballots are
verified by the officers, and proclaimed the same day by the president
of the electoral college.
Art. 15. No one is elected senator at either of
the first two ballots, unless he receives, first, an absolute majority
of the votes cast; second, a number of votes equal to one-fourth of the
electors registered. At the third ballot a relative majority suffices,
and in case of a tie the oldest is elected.
Art. 16. Electoral meetings for the nomination
of senators may be held in conformity with the regulations laid down in
the law of June 6, 1868, with the following modifications:
- 1.
- These meetings may be held from the day of the nomination of
the delegates to the day of the vote, inclusively.
- 2.
- They must be preceded by a declaration made, not later than
the evening before, by seven senatorial electors of the
arrondissement, indicating the place, day, and hour of the
meeting, and the names, professions, and residences of the
candidates who will present themselves.
- 3.
- The municipal authorities will take care that no one enters
the meeting unless he is a deputy, councillor general,
councillor of the arrondissement, delegate or candidate. A
delegate will prove his title by a certificate from the mayor of
his commune; a candidate by a certificate from the functionary
who shall have received the declaration mentioned in the
preceding paragraph.
Art. 17. Delegates, who shall have taken part
at all the ballots shall, if they apply for it, receive from the public
funds, upon the presentation of their letters of convocation, endorsed
by the president of the electoral college, allowance for mileage, which
will be paid to them on the same base and in the same manner as that
accorded to jurors by articles 33, 90 et seq., of
the decree of June 18, 1811.
A regulation of the public administration will determine the mode of
taxing and paying this compensation.*
Art. 18. Every delegate who, without legitimate
cause, fails to take part in all the ballots, or who, being hindered
therefrom, has not notified the substitute in proper time, shall be
fined 50 francs by the civil tribunal of the chief town of the
department, upon the application of the public prosecutor.
The same penalty may be applied to the substitute delegate, who, after
having been apprised by letter, telegraphic dispatch, or notice
delivered to him personally, in sufficent time fails to take part in the
electoral proceedings.
Art. 19. Every attempt at corruption by the
employment of the means set forth in Articles 1” et
seq. of the penal code, to influence the vote of an elector, or
to induce him to abstain from voting, shall be punished by imprisonment
for from three months to two years and a fine of from 50 to 500 francs,
or by one of these penalties only. Article 463 of the penal code is
applicable to the penalties inflicted by the present article.†
Art. 20. The functions of senator are
incompatible with those of councillor of state, and maitre des
requites.‡
[Page 375]
Prefect and sub-prefect (except prefect of Seine and prefect of police),
law officers of the state in the courts of appeal and tribunals of first
instance (except the prosecutor-general of the court of Paris), the
treasurer-paymaster of the department, receiver of taxes of
arrondissement, and functionary or employé in the central
administrations of the ministries.
Art. 21. The following-described persons cannot
be elected (senators) by the department or by the colony comprised in
whole or in part in their jurisdiction, during the exercise of their
functions, and for six months which follow the cessation of their
functions by resignation, dismissal, change of residence, or in any
other manner, viz: (1) the first presidents, the presidents, and the
officers of public prosecution of the courts of appeal; (2) the
presidents, vice-presidents, examining judges, and officers of public
prosecution of the tribunals of first instance; (3) the prefect of
police, the prefects and sub-prefects, and the secretaries-general of
the prefectures; the governors, directors of the interior, and
secretaries-general of the colonies; (4) the engineers-in-chief (of
departments) and of arrondissement, the road trustees in chief and of
department; (5) the rectors and inspectors of academies; (6) inspectors
of primary schools; (7) archbishops, bishops, and vicars-general; (8)
officers of all grades in the army by land and sea; (9) the commissaries
of stores of divisions and the sub-commissaries; (10) the
paymasters-general and the receivers in the finance department; (11) the
directors of taxes, direct and indirect, of registry, of the domaines,
and of the post-office; (12) the conservators and inspectors of
forests.
Art. 22. A senator who is elected in several
departments shall make known his choice to the president of the Senate
within ten days after the declaration of the validity of these
elections. In default of choice within that time, the question is to be
decided by lot and in public session.
The vacancy shall be filled within one month and by the same electoral
body. It is the same in the case of an election which is declared
void.
Art. 23. If by death or resignation the number
of senators from a department is reduced one-half, the vacancies shall
be filled within three months, unless they occur within the twelve
months which precede the triennial renewal. At the time fixed for the
triennial renewal all vacancies which shall have occurred shall be
filled, whatever their number or date.
Art. 24. The election for the senators to be
chosen by the national assembly shall be held in public session,
balloting for a list of persons, by an absolute majority of those
voting, whatever the number of trials.
Art. 25. When there is occasion to provide for
replacing senators elected by virtue of article 7 of the law of February
24, 1875 (life Senators), the senate will proceed according to the forms
indicated in the preceding article.
Art. 26. The members of the Senate receive the
same compensation as those of the Chamber of Deputies (9,000 francs per
annum).
Art. 27. All the provisions of the electoral
law in relation to (1) unworththiness and incapacity; (2) misdemeanors,
prosecutions, and penalties; and (3) the formalities of elections, in so
far as they are not contrary to the provisions of the present law, are
applicable to the election of the Senate.
Organic law jugulating the election of
deputies.
Passed November 30, 1875.
Article 1. The deputies shall be elected by
electors inscribed (1) on the lists prepared in execution of the law of
July 7th, 1874 (which, among others, provides for the registration of
voters for municipal or local elections, and includes French citizens
twenty-one years of age living two years in the commune where they
vote); (2) on the complemental list, comprising those who have resided
in the commune for six months. Inscription on the complemental list
shall be made in conformity with the laws and regulations which now
govern the political electoral lists, by the commissions and according
to the forms established in articles 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the law of July
7, 1874. Petitions of appeal in relation to both lists shall be carried
directly before the civil chamber of the court of appeals.*
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Art. 2. No part shall he taken in any vote by
those in the military service of all grades, and all arms of the land
and sea forces when they are present with their corps at their posts or
in the exercise of their functions. Those who, at the time of the
election, are free as to residence, in non-activity, or in possession of
a regular furlough, may vote in the commune where they are regularly
inscribed on the lists. This last provision applies also to officers and
those assimilated to them (as army surgeons, paymasters, &c.) who
are unattached or on the reserved list.
Art. 3. During the continuance of the electoral
period (the twenty days preceding the election) the circulars and
professions of faith signed by the candidates, the placards and
manifestos signed by one or many electors, may, after being deposited at
the office of the prosecuting attorney of the republic be posted and
distributed without preliminary authorization.
The distribution of tickets is not subject to the formality of deposit at
the office of the prosecuting attorney.
Every agent of public or municipal authority is forbidden to distribute
tickets, professions of faith, and circulars of candidates. The
provisions of article 19 of the organic law of August 2, 1875, in regard
to the election of senators (punishing attempts at corruption of voters
by fine and imprisonment) shall be applicable to the election of
deputies.
Art. 4. The ballot shall only continue a single
day. The vote takes place at the chief town of the commune;
nevertheless, each commune may be divided by an order of the prefect
into as many sections as the local circumstances and the number of
electors require. The second ballot will continue to take place on the
second Sunday following the proclamation of the result of the first
ballot, in conformity with the provisions of article 65 of the law of
March 15, 1849, which provides that, if at the first ballot no candidate
receives a majority of the votes cast, a second election shall take
place on the second Sunday after the proclamation of the result, when a
relative majority or plurality shall elect.
Art. 5. The operations of the vote shall take
place in conformity with the provisions of the organic and regulating
decrees of February 2, 1852.*
The vote is secret.
The lists marginally noted of each section, signed by the presiding
officer and clerk of election, shall remain eight days deposited at the
office of the mayor (of the commune), where they shall be shown to any
elector requiring it.
Art. 6. Every elector above twenty-five years
of age is eligible, without regard to the amount of tax he pays.
Art. 7. No soldier or sailor forming part of
the active armies by land or sea, whatever be his grade or his
functions, can be elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies. This
provision applies to soldiers and sailors unattached, or in
non-activity, but it does not extend to officers placed on the second
section of the list of the general staff, nor to those who, while
maintained in the first section as having commanded in chief before the
enemy, have ceased to be actively employed, nor to officers who, having
acquired the right to be retired, are sent to or kept at their homes
awaiting the settlement of their pensions.
The decision by which the officer shall have been admitted to make good
his right to be retired will, in this case, become irrevocable.
The provision contained in the first paragraph of this article does not
apply to the reserve of the active army, nor to the territorial army
(militia).
Art. 8. The exercise of public functions for
which remuneration is paid from the funds of the State is incompatible
with the commission of deputy. Every functionary, therefore, who is
elected deputy will be replaced by another person in his functions if
within eight days following the verification of his powers he has not
given notice that he does not accept the commission of deputy.
From the foregoing provisions exception is made of the functions of
minister, under secretary of state, ambassador, minister
plenipotentiary, prefect of the Seine, prefect of police, first
president of the court of cassation (supreme court), first president of
the court of audits (comptes), first president of the court of appeals
of Paris, prosecuting attorney of the court of appeals, prosecuting
attorney of the court of audits, prosecuting attorney at the court of
appeals, archbishop and bishop, the presiding pastor of the consistory
in the consistorial circumscriptions of which the chief
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town counts two or more pastors, the grand
rabbi of the central consistory, and the grand rabbi of the consistory
of Paris.
Art. 9. The following are also excepted from
the provisions of Article 8: (1) the titular professors of chairs, which
are filled upon competition, or on presentation by the corps in which
the vacancy occurs; (2) persons who have been charged with a temporary
mission. Every mission which has lasted more than six months ceases to
be temporary, and is governed by article 8 above given.
Art. 10. The functionary preserves the rights
he has acquired to a retiring pension, and can, after the expiration of
his commission (as deputy) be returned to activity.
The civil functionary, who, having passed twenty-eight years in service
at the time of acceptance of his commission as deputy, shall show that
he is fifty years of age at the time of the cessation of that
commission, may make good his right to an exceptional pension of
retirement. This pension will be regulated in conformity with the third
paragraph of article 12 of the law of June 9, 1853 (which provides that
the pension shall be at the rate of the 60th or 50th, depending on the
case of the aggregate of the mean salary for each year of civil
service).
If the functionary is returned to activity after the cessation of his
commission, the provisions set forth in articles 3 (section 2) and 23 of
the law of June 9, 1853, are applicable to him (regulating his right to
a pension upon ultimate retirement).
In functions where the grade is distinct from the employment, the
functionary, by accepting the commission of deputy, renounces the
employment and only preserves the grade.
Art. 11. Every deputy appointed or promoted to
a salaried public function, by the act of accepting it ceases to belong
to the chamber; but he can be re-elected if the functions which he
fulfills is compatible with the commission of deputy.
Deputies who are appointed ministers or under-secretaries of state are
not required to be re-elected.
Art. 12. The following functionaries cannot be
elected by an arrondissement or colony comprised, whole or in part, in
their jurisdiction during the exercise of their functions, and during
the six months which follow the cessation of their functions, by
resignation, removal, change of residence, or in any other manner: (1)
The first presidents, presidents, and prosecuting officers of courts of
appeal; (2) presidents, vice-presidents, titular judges, examining
judges, and prosecuting officers of courts of first instance; (3) the
prefect of police, prefects and secretaries, general of the prefectures,
the governors, directors of the interior, and secretaries general of the
colonies; (4) chief engineers (departmental) and those of
arrondissement, chief road surveyors and those of arrondissement; (5)
rectors and inspectors of academies; (6) inspectors of primary schools;
(7) archbishops, bishops, and vicars-general; (8) treasurers,
paymasters-general, and receivers of finances (of arrondissement);
directors of taxes, direct and indirect, of registration and of domains,
and of the post-office; (10) conservators and inspectors of forests.
Subprefects cannot be elected in any of the arrondissements of the
department where they are exercising their functions.
Art. 13. Every imperative instruction is null
and of no effect.
Art. 14. The members of the Chamber of Deputies
are elected by balloting for one individual only.
Every administrative arrondissement will name one deputy. Arrondissements
having a population exceeding one hundred thousand inhabitants shall
name one deputy more for every hundred thousand or fraction of a hundred
thousand inhabitants. Arrondissements, in these cases, will be divided
into circumscriptions, a table of which shall be established by a law
and may only be modified by a law (the apportionment law referred to was
passed soon after, on the 24th of December, 1875. There are 535
deputies).
Art. 15. The deputies are elected for four
years. The chamber is renewed as a whole (all the deputies being elected
at one time).
Art. 16. In case of a vacancy by death,
resignation, or otherwise, the election shall be held within three
months from the day when the vacancy occurs.
In case of option the vacancy shall be filled within one month.*
Art. 17. The deputies receive an indemnity.
This indemnity is regulated by articles 96 and 97 of the law of March
15, 1849, and by the provisions of the law of February 16, 1872.†
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Art. 18. No one is elected at the first ballot
unless he receives: (1) an absolute majority of all the votes cast; (2)
a number of suffrages equal to one-fourth of the electors registered. At
the second ballot, a relative majority is sufficient. In case of a tie
the eldest is elected.
Art. 19. Each department of Algiers elects one
deputy.
Art. 20. Electors in Algiers residing in a
locality which has not been erected into a commune shall be inscribed on
the electoral list of the nearest commune.
When there is occasion to establish electoral sections, either to group
mixed communes in each of which the number of electors would be
insufficient, or to unite the electors residing in localities not
erected into communes, the decrees to fix the seats (voting places) of
these sections shall be issued by the governor-general, on the report of
the prefect, or of the general commanding the division.
Art. 21. The four colonies (Martinique,
Guadaloupe, Réunion, and French India) to which senators have been
accorded by the law of February 24, 1875, in relation to the
organization of the senate, shall each elect a deputy.
Art. 22. Every violation of the prohibitive
provisions of article 3, paragraph 3, of the present law (prohibiting
functionaries from distributing tickets) shall be punished by a fine of
from 16 to 300 francs; but the police court of misdemeanors may apply
article 463 of the penal code.*
The provisions of article 6 of the law of July 7, 1874 (punishing
fraudulent registration of municipal voters), shall be applicable to
political electoral lists.
The decree of January 29, 1870, and the laws of April 10, and May 2,
1871, and February 18, 1873, are abrogated; also the 11th section of
article 15 of the organic decree of February 2, 1852, in so far as it
refers to the law of May 21, 1838, in regard to lotteries, reserving to
the tribunals to apply to the condemned article 42 of the penal
code.
The provisions of the laws and decrees in force and not repealed by the
present law, shall continue to be applied.
