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The current Constitution of France was adopted on 4 October 1958. It is typically called the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, and replaced that of the Fourth Republic, dating from 1946. Charles de Gaulle was the main driving force in introducing the new constitution and inaugurating the Fifth Republic, while the text was drafted by Michel Debré. Since then, the constitution has been amended twenty-four times, through 2008.

Summary

The preamble of the constitution recalls the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen from 1789 and establishes France as a secular and democratic country, deriving its sovereignty from the people.

It provides for the election of the President and the Parliament, the selection of the Government, the powers of each and the relations between them. It ensures judicial authority and creates a High Court (a never-as-yet-convened court for trying the Government), a Constitutional Council, and an Economic and Social Council. It was designed to create a politically strong President.

It enables the ratification of international treaties and those associated with the European Union. It is unclear whether the wording, especially the reserves of reciprocity, is compatible with European Union law.

The Constitution also sets out methods for its own amendment: a referendum or a Parliamentary process with Presidential consent. The normal procedure of constitutional amendment is that the amendment must be adopted in identical terms by both houses of Parliament and then must be adopted by a simple majority in a referendum or by a three-fifths supermajority of the French Congress, a joint session of both houses of Parliament (article 89).

However, Charles de Gaulle bypassed the legislative procedure in 1962 by directly sending a constitutional amendment to referendum (article 11), which approved. That was highly controversial at the time, but the Constitutional Council ruled that since a referendum expressed the will of the sovereign people, the amendment had been adopted.

Impact on personal freedoms

Prior to 1971, though executive, administrative and judicial decisions had to comply with the general principles of law (jurisprudence derived from law and the practice of law in general), there were no such restrictions on legislation. It was assumed that unelected judges and other appointees should not be able to overrule laws voted for by the directly elected French parliament.

"Constitutional block"

In 1971, a landmark decision by the Constitutional Council (71-44DC) cited the preamble of the Constitution and its references to the principles laid in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen as a reason for rejecting a law that, according to the Council, violated one of these principles. Since then, it is assumed that the "constitutional block" includes not only the Constitution, but also the other texts referred to in its preamble:

• The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789
• The preamble of the Constitution of 1946 (which adds a number of "social rights", as well as the equality of males and females)
• The Charter for the Environment of 2004

Since then, the possibility of sending laws before the Council has been extended. In practice, the political opposition sends all controversial laws before it.

Principles

In the Constitution, are written the principles of the French Republic:

• Social welfare, which means that everybody must be able to access free public services and be helped when needed.
• Laïcité, which means that the churches are separated from the State and the freedom of religion is protected.
• Democracy, which means that the Parliament and the Government are elected by the people.
• Indivisibility, which means that the French people are united in a single sovereign country with one language, the French language, and all people are equal.

Amendments

The Constitution, in Article 89, has an amending formula. First, a constitutional bill must be approved by both houses of Parliament. Then, the bill must either be approved by the Congress, a special joint session of both houses, or submitted to a referendum.

In 1962, President Charles de Gaulle controversially submitted a bill to a referendum through another procedure defined at article 11 of the Constitution, which allows the President to hold a referendum without the consent of Parliament: see 1962 French presidential election referendum. That permitted the establishment of a popularly-elected presidency, which would otherwise have been vetoed by the Parliament.

Article 11 was used for constitutional changes for the second and final time in 1969, but the "No" prevailed, causing Charles de Gaulle to resign from the presidency.

On 21 July 2008, Parliament passed constitutional reforms championed by President Nicolas Sarkozy by a margin of two votes. The changes, when finalized, introduced a consecutive two-term limit for the presidency, gave Parliament a veto over some presidential appointments, ended government control over Parliament's committee system, allowed Parliament to set its own agenda, allowed the president to address Parliament in-session and ended the president's right of collective pardon. (See French constitutional law of 23 July 2008)

Past constitutions

France had numerous constitutions in its history:

• The Kingdom of France, under the Ancien Régime, was an absolute monarchy and lacked a formal constitution; the regime essentially relied on custom. That said, certain rules, the "fundamental laws of the Kingdom" (les lois fondamentales du Royaume), were outside the power of the monarch to change without further consent. These rules were mainly about the inheritance of the Crown, which required strict primogeniture unless the heir was not Catholic, and from the Treaty of Troyes onward was strictly agnatic (male-only) as well. The Parlement of Paris, a primarily judicial body with quasi-legislative functions that was tasked with applying the lois fondamentales, rarely brooked modification of the laws. For instance, Louis XIV tried by his will and testament to change the inheritance order, but the Parlement annulled it. On the other hand, the law was occasionally changed, as when the provisions of the Peace of Utrecht renouncing the claim of Louis XIV's grandson Philippe to inherit the throne of France were approved to allow him to inherit the throne of Spain.
• The Revolutionary Era saw a number of constitutions:
  • The Constitution of 1791, adopted 3 September 1791, established the Kingdom of the French, a constitutional monarchy, and the Legislative Assembly
  • The Girondin constitutional project in process of being adopted before the coup that led to the Montagnard faction being in control
  • The Constitution of 1793, ratified 24 June 1793, but never applied due to the suspension of all ordinary legality 10 October 1793 (under the French First Republic)
  • The Constitution of the Year III, adopted 22 August 1795, established the Directory
  • The Constitution of the Year VIII, adopted 24 December 1799, established the Consulate
  • The Constitution of the Year X, adopted 1 August 1802, established the Consulate for Life
  • The Constitution of the Year XII, adopted 18 May 1804, established the First French Empire
• Following the restoration of the Monarchy
  • The Charter of 1814, adopted 4 June 1814, established the Bourbon Restoration
  • The Charter of 1815, adopted 22 April 1815, was used during the Hundred Days
  • The Charter of 1830, adopted 14 August 1830, established the July Monarchy
• 19th century
  • The French Constitution of 1848, adopted 4 November 1848, established the French Second Republic
  • The French Constitution of 1852, adopted 14 January 1852, established the French Second Empire
  • The French Constitutional Laws of 1875 of the French Third Republic, 24 and 25 February, and 16 July 1875
• 20th Century
  • The French Constitutional Law of 1940, adopted 10 July 1940, established Vichy France
  • The French Constitutional Law of 1945, adopted 1945, organized the Provisional Government of the French Republic
  • The French Constitution of 1946, adopted 27 October 1946, established the French Fourth Republic
  • The French Constitution of 1958, adopted 4 October 1958, established the French Fifth Republic (the current Constitution in force)

See also

• Article 49 of the French Constitution
• Constitutionalism
• Constitutional economics
• French Community, which succeeded the French Union
• Government of France
• Politics of France
• De Gaulle's 1946 Bayeux speech, in which he outlined his vision of the constitution

Notes and references

1. "Les révisions constitutionnelles". Conseil Constitutionnel. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
2. see article 68 of the constitution
3. International treaties enter into domestic legal system by law which, according to the French Constitution (Article 55), has above-the-primary rank: Buonomo, Giampiero (2004). "Incompatibilità tra parlamento italiano ed europeo: le "contraddizioni" costituzionali e i paletti ai consiglieri regionali". Diritto&Giustizia edizione online.  – via Questia (subscription required)
4. (in French) Decision nr. 71-44 DC, granting constitutional authority to the preambles of 1789 and 1946
5. https://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/le-bloc-de-constitutionnalite/texte-integral-de-la-constitution-du-4-octobre-1958-en-vigueur | website = Conseil Constitutionnelle
6. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p674 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
7. "France backs constitution reform". BBC News. 21 July 2008. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
8. "Le testament de Louis XIV". www.histoire-image.org (in French). 10 September 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
9. "Le testament et les codicilles de Louis XIV". mediatheque-numerique.inp.fr. Retrieved 18 December 2018.

Further reading

• "Constitution". Journal Officiel de la République Française (in French): 9151–9173. 5 October 1958. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
• Ghevontian, Richard (1979). L'élaboration de la Constitution de la V République (Th. Etat). Aix-en-Provence.
• Oliva, Éric; Sandrine Giummarra (2011). Droit constitutionnel. Aide-mémoire (in French) (7 ed.). Paris: Sirey. ISBN 978-2-247-10965-4.
• Frédéric Monera, L'idée de République et la jurisprudence du Conseil constitutionnel – Paris : L.G.D.J., 2004 -.
• Martin A. Rogoff, "French Constitutional Law: Cases and Materials" – Durham, North Carolina: Carolina Academic Press, 2010.

External links

• "La Constitution". Légifrance (in French). Retrieved 14 May 2012.
• "Constitution of October 4, 1958". Assemblée nationale. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
• "Constitution of 4 October 1958". Conseil constitutionnel. Archived from the original on 27 September 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
• "Texte intégral de la Constitution du 4 octobre 1958 en vigueur". Conseil constitutionnel (in French). Retrieved 14 May 2012.
• "Constitutional council of the French Republic". Retrieved 14 May 2012.

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• Constitutions of France
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• Legal history of France
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