extended to the judgment of all crimes. There was also a revision of Book III. of the Code de Commerce, treating of bankruptcy. Finally, from this period date the laws of the 3rd of May 1841, on expropriation for purposes of public utility, and of the 30th of June 1838, on the treatment of the insane, which is still in force. Judicial organization remained as it was, but the amount of the sum up to which civil tribunals of the first instance could judge without appeal was raised from 1000 francs to 1500, and the competency of the juges de paix was widened.
The Second Republic and the Second Empire.—From the point of view of constitutional law, the Second Republic and the Second Empire were each in a certain sense a return to the past. The former revived the tradition of the Assemblies of the Revolution; the latter was obviously and avowedly an imitation of the Consulate and the First Empire.
The provisional government set up by the revolution of the 24th of February 1848 proclaimed universal suffrage, and by this means was elected a Constituent Assembly, which sat till May 1849, and, after first organizing various forms of another provisional government, passed the Republican constitution of 1848. Republican constitution of the 4th of November 1848. This constitution, which was preceded by a preface recalling the Declarations of Rights of the Revolution, gave the legislative power to a single permanent assembly, elected by direct universal suffrage, and entirely renewed every three years. The executive authority, with very extensive powers, was given to a president of the Republic, also elected by the universal and direct suffrage of the French citizens. The constitution was not very clear upon the point of whether it adopted parliamentary government in the strict sense, or whether the president, who was declared responsible, was free to choose his ministers and to retain or dismiss them at his own pleasure. This gave rise to an almost permanent dispute between the president, who claimed to have his own political opinions and to direct the government, and the Assembly, which wished to carry on the traditions of cabinet government and to make the ministers fully responsible to itself. Consequently, in January 1851, a solemn debate was held, which ended in the affirmation of the responsibility of ministers to the Assembly. On the other hand, the president, though very properly given great power by the constitution, was not immediately eligible for re-election on giving up his office. Now Louis Napoleon, who was elected president on the 10th of December 1848 by a huge majority, wished to be re-elected. Various propositions were submitted to the Assembly in July 1851 with a view to modifying the constitution; but they could not succeed, as the number of votes demanded by the constitution for the convocation of a Constituent Assembly was not reached. Moreover, the Legislative Assembly elected in May 1849 was very different from the Constituent Assembly of 1848. The latter was animated by that spirit of harmony and, in the main, of adhesion to the Republic which had followed on the February Revolution. The new assembly, on the contrary, was composed for the most part of representatives of the old parties, and had monarchist aspirations. By the unfortunate law of the 31st of May 1850 it even tried by a subterfuge to restrict the universal suffrage guaranteed by the constitution. It suspended the right of holding meetings, but, on the whole, respected the liberty of the press. It was especially impelled to these measures by the growing fear of socialism. The result was the coup d’état of the 2nd of December 1851. A detail of some constitutional importance is to be noticed in this period. The conseil d’état, which had remained under the Restoration and the July Monarchy an administrative council and the supreme arbiter in administrative trials, acquired new importance under the Second Republic. The ordinary conseillers d’état (en service ordinaire) were elected by the Legislative Assembly, and consultation with the conseil d’état was often insisted on by the constitution or by law. This was the means of obtaining a certain modifying power as a substitute for the second chamber, which had not met with popular approval. During its short existence the Second Republic produced many important laws. It abolished the penalty of death for political crimes, and suppressed negro slavery in the colonies. The election of conseillers généraux was thrown open to universal suffrage, and the municipal councils were allowed to elect the maires and their colleagues. The law of the 15th of March 1850 established the liberty of secondary education, but it conferred certain privileges on the Catholic clergy, a clear sign of the spirit of social conservatism which was the leading motive for its enactment. Certain humanitarian laws were passed, applying to the working classes.
With the coup d’état of the 2nd of December 1851 began a new
era of constitutional plebiscites and disguised absolutism.
The proclamations of Napoleon on the 2nd of December
contained a criticism of parliamentary government,
and formulated the wish to restore to France the
Constitution of
Jan. 14, 1852.
constitutional institutions of the Consulate and the
Empire, just as she had preserved their civil, administrative
and military institutions. Napoleon asked the people for the
powers necessary to draw up a constitution on these principles;
the plebiscite issued in a vast majority of votes in his favour,
and the constitution of the 14th of January 1852 was the result.
It bore a strong resemblance to the constitution of the First
Empire after 1807. The executive power was conferred on
Louis Napoleon for ten years, with the title of president of the
Republic and very extended powers. Two assemblies were
created. The conservative Senate, composed of ex officio members
(cardinals, marshals of France and admirals) and life members
appointed by the head of the state, was charged with the task
of seeing that the laws were constitutional, of opposing the
promulgation of unconstitutional laws, and of receiving the
petitions of citizens; it had also the duty of providing everything
not already provided but necessary for the proper working of
the constitution. The second assembly was the Corps Législatif,
elected by direct universal suffrage for six years, which passed
the laws, the government having the initiative in legislation.
This body was not altogether a corps des muets, as in the year
VIII., but its powers were very limited; thus the general session
assured to it by the constitution was only for three months,
and it could only discuss and put to the vote amendments
approved by the conseil d’état; the ministers did not in any way
come into contact with it and could not be members of it, being
responsible only to the head of the state, and only the Senate
having the right of accusing them before a high court of justice.
The conseil d’état was composed in the same way and had the
same authority as it had possessed from the year VIII. to 1814;
and it was the members of it who supported projected laws
before the Corps Législatif. To this was added a Draconian
press legislation; not only were press offences, many of which
were mere expressions of opinion, judged not by a jury but by
the correctional tribunals; but further, political papers could
not be founded without an authorization, and were subject to
a regular administrative discipline; they could be warned,
suspended or suppressed without a trial, by a simple act of
the administration. The constitution of January 1852 was
still Republican in name, though less so than that of the year
VIII. The period corresponding with the Consulate was also
shorter in the case of Louis Napoleon. The year 1852 had
not come to an end before a senatus consulte, that of the
10th of November, ratified by a plebiscite, re-established
the imperial rank in favour of Napoleon III.; it also
Restoration of
the Empire.
conferred on him certain new powers, especially with
reference to the budget and foreign treaties; thus
various cracks, which experience had revealed in the
original structure of the Empire, were filled up. This
period was called that of the empire autoritaire. Further features
of it were the free appointment of the maires by the emperor,
the oath of fidelity to him imposed on all officials, and the legal
organization of official candidatures for the elections. Two
measures marked the highest point reached by this system:
the loi de sureté générale of the 27th of February 1858, which
allowed the government to intern in France or Algeria, or to
exile certain French citizens, without a trial. The other was
the senatus consulte of the 17th of February 1858, which made
the validity of candidatures for the Corps Législatif subject
