Constitution of France

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.

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, Charles de Gaulle proposed that the President be elected by direct suffrage.[2] He bypassed the amendment procedure by directly sending a constitutional amendment to referendum (article 11). The Art. 11 procedure was envisioned as a procedure for proposing legislation, including changing the organization of constitutional institutions.[2] The 1962 referendum was approved by 62% of the vote but only 46% of registered voters.[3][2] The amendment permitted the establishment of a popularly-elected presidency, which would otherwise have been vetoed by the Parliament.[9]

The referendum was highly controversial at the time, but the Constitutional Council ruled that it can only review legislative acts for unconstitutionality, not executive acts; since the referendum was proposed by the executive, it was unreviewable.[3] Since a referendum expressed the will of the sovereign people, the Council ruled that the amendment had been adopted.[10] Some scholars had regarded the amendment as a post hoc manifestation of the constituent power, which is the inherent power of the people to bypass an existing constitution to adopt a new constitution.[3]

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.[9]

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).[11]

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.[12][13] 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
• Mid-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)

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

• "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^e République (Th. Etat). Aix-en-Provence.
• Jamot, Didier (2019). Annuaire des engagements internationaux ayant fait l'objet d'une loi d'autorisation sous la Ve République. Logiques juridiques (in French). Paris: L'Harmattan. ISBN 978-2-3431-6237-9.
• 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.

• "La Constitution". Légifrance (in French). Retrieved 14 May 2012.
• "Constitution of October 4, 1958" (PDF).
• "Texte intégral de la Constitution du 4 octobre 1958 en vigueur". Conseil constitutionnel (in French). Retrieved 14 May 2012.