User:Glide08/Sandbox/French State

Title 1. Fundamental Principles

Article 1. The freedom and dignity of the human person are supreme values and intangible goods. Their preservation requires order and justice from the State and discipline from the citizens. To this end, the Constitution delimits the respective duties and rights of the public authorities and citizens by establishing a State whose authority is based on the adherence of the Nation.

Article 2. The State recognizes and guarantees as fundamental freedoms: freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, freedom to teach, freedom to come and go, freedom to express and publish one's thoughts, freedom of assembly, freedom of association. The exercise of these freedoms is regulated by the law before which all citizens are equal.

Article 3. No one may be charged, arrested or detained except in the cases determined by law and in the manner prescribed by it. No one may be punished except under a law established and promulgated prior to the offence and legally enforced.

Article 4. Acquired by work and maintained by family savings, property is an inviolable right, justified by the social function it confers on its holder; no one may be deprived of it except for reasons of public utility and subject to fair compensation.

Article 5. The State recognizes the rights of spiritual, family, professional and territorial communities in which man assumes a sense of social responsibility and finds support for the defence of his freedoms.

Article 6. Citizens freely appoint by suffrage their representatives to local and national assemblies, as well as to professional and corporate bodies. Except in elections of a professional nature, additional suffrage is given to the heads of large families on account of their responsibilities and duties.

Article 7. The national representation votes the laws, grants the tax, controls the expenses and associates the Nation to the management of the common good.

Article 8. The organization of the professions, under the control of the State, arbitrator and guarantor of the general interest, has the aim of making employers and employees in solidarity with their enterprise, to put an end to the antagonism of the classes and to suppress the proletarian condition. By ensuring representation at all levels of work, organized professions participate in the economic and social action of the State.

Article 9. The duties of citizens towards the State are obedience to the laws, equitable participation in public expenditure, the fulfilment of their civic obligations and even total sacrifice for the salvation of the Fatherland.

Article 10. The Head of State derives his powers from a Congress that brings together the elected representatives of the Nation and the delegates of its constituent territorial authorities. He personifies the Nation and is in charge of its destiny. As arbiter of the higher interests of the country, he ensures the functioning of the institutions by maintaining - if necessary, through the exercise of the right of dissolution - the continuous circuit of trust between the Government and the Nation.

Article 11. The maintenance of rights and freedoms and respect for the Constitution are guaranteed by a Supreme Court of Justice to which any citizen may appeal.

Article 12. The three functions of the State - governmental, legislative and judicial - are carried out by separate bodies.

Title 2. The Government Function

Article 13. The government function is exercised by the Head of State, Ministers and Secretaries of State.

Article 14. The Head of State shall bear the title of President of the Republic. He is elected for six years by the National Congress, before which he takes an oath of loyalty to the Constitution. He may be re-elected.

Article 15. 1° The President of the Republic appoints the Prime Minister and, on his proposal, the Ministers and Secretaries of State. He revokes them. He chairs the Council of Ministers. 2° The Head of State has the initiative of the laws as well as the members of the two assemblies. He alone can introduce amnesty bills. He promulgates laws when they have been passed by both chambers. He has them enforced. He communicates with the chambers through messages that are read in the gallery by a minister.

Article 16. 1° The President of the Republic shall appoint to all civilian and military posts for which no other method of appointment has been provided by law. 2° He has the right of pardon. 3° The envoys and ambassadors of foreign powers are accredited to him. 4° He negotiates and ratifies treaties. No assignment, exchange or addition of territory may take place except by virtue of a law. Peace and trade treaties, those which commit the State's finances and those relating to the status of persons and the property rights of the French abroad only become final after they have been voted by both chambers. 5° He has the armed forces at his disposal. 6° He may declare a state of siege. 7° He may declare war with the prior assent of both chambers. 8° Each act of the Head of State, except those appointing or dismissing the Prime Minister or ministers and secretaries of State, must be countersigned by the minister or ministers or secretaries of State who ensure its execution.

Article 17. The President of the Republic may dissolve the Chamber of Deputies with the assent of the Senate following the sending of a reasoned message. He may, at the request of the Prime Minister, and in the event of disagreement between the two assemblies or between the Government and one of the assemblies, or in the event of a vote of no confidence in the cabinet or a minister, pronounce dissolution without the advice of the Senate. Dissolution is automatic in the event that the Chamber of Deputies votes against three successive cabinets.

Article 18. 1° The Prime Minister, Ministers and Secretaries of State are responsible to the Head of State, individually within the framework of their own attributions, and collectively for the general policy of the Cabinet. 2° The ministers and secretaries of state may be summoned to the assemblies when they deem it necessary. They must be heard when they so request.

Article 19. 1° The Head of State is represented by a Governor in each of the provinces defined by the law establishing them. 2° He appoints and dismisses the Governor by countersigned decree of the Prime Minister. 3° The Governor is assisted by a Provincial Council.

Title 3. The legislative function

Article 20. 1° The French people appoint by vote their representatives in the legislative assemblies: the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. In the composition of both chambers, a place is reserved for elected representatives of french citizens abroad; in the composition of the Senate, a place is further reserved for elected representatives of professional and corporate institutions and the country's elites. 2° Whatever the origin of their mandate, the members of an assembly have the same duties, the same prerogatives, and the same rights. They are not bound by any commitment towards those who have appointed them, and they act, in the exercise of their functions, only according to their conscience and for the good of the State.

Suffrage

Article 21. 1° Voters at national assemblies are French citizens, regardless of gender, at least eighteen years of age, enjoying their civil and political rights. French citizens, regardless of gender, at least twenty-five years of age, enjoying their civil and political rights are eligible for the same assemblies. 2° The law sets the other conditions of the electorate and eligibility. 3° The vote is secret. No person may cast one more than one vote. 4° The above rules, relating to the electorate and eligibility, are applicable to elections to provincial, departmental and municipal councils. French citizens, regardless of gender, at least twenty-one years of age, enjoying their civil and political rights, are eligible for these councils.

The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies

Article 22. The Senate is composed of: 1° Two hundred and seventy members, elected by departmental colleges comprising departmental councillors and delegates from municipal councils; 2° Fifteen members, elected by the elected representatives of french citizens overseas from among themselves; 3° Thirty members, elected by the elected representatives of professional and corporate institutions from among themselves; 4° Not more than ten members, appointed by the Head of State from among the country's elites; 5° Former Presidents of the Republic at the end of their term of office. The members of the first three categories are elected or appointed for nine years and renewable by one-third every three years. Members of the fourth and fifth categories are senators for life. An organic law determines the conditions under which the delegates of the municipal councils are elected, the procedures for the election and appointment of senators, as well as the number of senators per department. Members of the Senate must be at least thirty years of age.

Article 23. 1° The Chamber of Deputies is composed of sixh hundred and thirty members, elected for four years by universal and direct suffrage, by proportional representation by list vote, by the d'Hondt formula, in a single round. Each department forms a single constituency and must have at least two deputies. 2° In the event of dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies, it shall be renewed within two months and the Chamber shall meet within ten days following the closure of the electoral operations.

Article 24. 1° Each assembly shall designate its bureau by secret ballot, for one year, under the conditions set out in its by-laws. 2° The assemblies must be convened each year in two sessions of a total duration of at least three months and not more than four months. Both assemblies may be convened in extraordinary session by the President of the Republic whenever he deems it necessary The first ordinary session opens automatically on the third Tuesday in April; the second, during which the draft budget is examined, on the first Tuesday in October. The session of one assembly begins and ends at the same time as that of the other. The Head of State may, by decree, adjourn the meetings for a maximum period of one month during a session. The sessions shall be closed by the Head of State. 3° The sittings of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies are public. Nevertheless, each chamber may form a secret committee at the request of a certain number of its members fixed by the rules.

Article 25. 1° The assemblies pass laws. Their members may address oral or written questions and interpellations to ministers and secretaries of State. 2° The vote is personal. 3° Every motion involving confidence or mistrust in the cabinet or in a minister is, by law, the subject of a public vote. It may not be discussed until one clear day after the date on which it was filed.

Article 26. 1° Members of assemblies may table bills or amendments to bills and bills. Proposals or amendments involving the creation or increase of public expenditure, whatever the ways and means they provide for, can only be put into discussion if the government accepts their consideration. 2° Finance bills must first be presented to the Chamber of Deputies. 3° Each bill or proposed law shall be submitted to each assembly for examination by a committee specially appointed for this purpose. The committee may propose amendments. However, the assembly deliberates on the text of the draft or proposal before examining the amendments. The participation of government officials who are not members of the assembly in the work of a committee is prohibited.

Article 27. 1° In case of rejection or modification of a project or proposal, the Government may request a second deliberation which must take place within a maximum period of two months. 2° The laws must be promulgated within one month of their final adoption by the assemblies. It must intervene within three days for laws whose promulgation has been declared urgent by an express vote of either House, unless, within this period, the Head of State requests a new deliberation, which cannot be refused.

Article 28. No member of either Chamber may be sued or sought in connection with opinions expressed or votes cast by him in the exercise of his functions. No member of either Chamber may, during the session, be prosecuted in criminal or correctional matters or arrested without the authorization of the Supreme Court of Justice, except in cases of flagrante delicto. If the assembly concerned so requests, the preventive detention or prosecution of a member of either chamber, arrested or prosecuted during the intersessional period, shall be suspended during the following session and for its entire duration.

Article 29. The members of the assemblies receive an indemnity equal to the remuneration of the Councillors of State in ordinary service.

The National Assembly

Article 30. 1° The President of the Republic may, for the revision of the Constitution, convene the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies in a National Assembly, either on his own initiative or upon the request of the two chambers, expressed by a vote of two-thirds majority of the legal number of members of each chamber. 2° The two chambers may also meet in a National Assembly in pursuance of a resolution passed by one of them by a two-thirds majority of the legal number of members, to decide on the indictment of the Head of State, ministers or secretaries of State. 3° Any convocation of the National Assembly must specify the points on which it will deliberate. The Assembly is by no means the master of its agenda. Its decisions are taken by a two-thirds majority of the legal number of its members. 4° The bureau of the National Assembly shall be the bureau of the Senate.

Title 4. The national Congress

Article 31. 1° The National Congress is constituted by the members of the two assemblies, by the provincial councillors, and by the presidents of the departmental councils. 2° At least one month before the legal term of the powers of the President of the Republic, the National Congress shall be convened to proceed with the appointment of his successor. If it is not convened, this meeting shall take place automatically on the fifteenth day before the expiry of its powers. In the event of a vacancy due to death or any other cause, the National Congress shall automatically meet within three days to elect a new Head of State. Until the swearing-in, the powers of the President of the Republic shall be exercised by the Council of Ministers. If the Chamber of Deputies were to be dissolved when the vacancy occurred, the deputoes of the dissolved Chamber will be deemed to have remaimed in office. 3° The election shall be by secret ballot. In the first two rounds, the election requires an absolute majority of the legal number of Congress members. In the third round, a relative majority is sufficient. 4° The Bureau of the National Congress shall be the Bureau of the Senate.

Title 5. The judicial function

Article 32. Justice is done in the name of the French people. The judicial function is exercised by magistrates whose own statute guarantees their independence. The judges are irremovable. They are appointed by the President of the Republic. Their advancement is decided by the latter with the assent of a court presided over by the first president of the Court of Cassation and composed of magistrates elected by the Court of Cassation and the courts of appeal. Similar arrangements shall be made for the judges of the Court of Auditors.

The Supreme Court of Justice

Article 33. The safeguarding 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 the following powers: 1° It rules on appeals for unconstitutionality of the law; 2° It has exclusive jurisdiction to try the Head of State on indictment by the National Assembly; 3° It judges ministers or secretaries of State on indictment either by the President of the Republic or by the National Assembly; 4° It verifies electoral operations for the appointment of senators and deputies and rules on requests for waiver of immunity and requests for forfeiture concerning them.

Article 35. 1° The Supreme Court of Justice is composed of fifteen ordinary and six extraordinary service councillors. 2° Of the fifteen councillors in ordinary service, twelve are thus recruited: three councillors of State, three councillors at the Court of Cassation, three professors of the faculties of State law, three bâtonniers or former bâtonniers of the Bar Association at a court of appeal or members of the Bar Association at the Council of State and the Court of Cassation, chosen by the Supreme Court itself from the lists of candidates drawn up by the above bodies or orders and comprising three names for each seat to be filled. Three seats are, in addition, reserved for personalities who do not belong to the bodies or orders mentioned, but presented obligatorily by these bodies or orders is right, on each list, of two names for any vacancy in these three seats. The only conditions of presentation are the general conditions applicable to advisers in ordinary service, set out below in Article 36. The first members of the Supreme Court of Justice in ordinary service will be appointed by the Head of State on the same presentations. 3° The six councillors in extraordinary service are appointed annually by the Senate from among its members, at the beginning of the ordinary session, by an absolute majority. They sit on the Supreme Court of Justice when it is convened in the cases provided for in articles 34 (2) and (3) to try the Head of State and ministers or secretaries of State.

Article 36. 1° The ordinary service councillors elect from among themselves the President and the Vice-President of the Supreme Court of Justice. They are irremovable. They must be at least fifty years of age on the day of their appointment. They shall remain in office until the age of 75, unless they are disqualified or permanently unable to perform their duties. The Court itself has jurisdiction to examine and decide such exceptional cases. The duties of ordinary service advisers are incompatible with the office of senator or deputy and with the exercise of any profession. Regular duty advisors retain their salary for life, except in the event of forfeiture. This treatment is equal to that of ministers. 2° The Public Prosecutor's Office of the Supreme Court of Justice is composed of a public prosecutor and two public prosecutors, chosen by the Head of State at the beginning of each year from among the magistrates of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Court of Cassation or the Courts of Appeal. However, when the Court meets to rule on an indictment by the National Assembly, the latter appoints three members from among its members to support the accusation.

Article 37. 1° An appeal for unconstitutionality is admissible only if it is based on a violation of a provision of the Constitution. It is formed by way of exception. 2° The objection of unconstitutionality may be raised before any court, but only at first instance, either by the public prosecutor, or by the parties, or, ex officio, by the court before which the case is brought. 3° As soon as the objection of unconstitutionality has been raised, the main proceedings are suspended until the Supreme Court of Justice has ruled on the merits of the appeal. This judgment is binding on any court having jurisdiction in the case in which it was given.

Title 6. The municipal, departmental, and provincial councils

Article 38. 1° The municipal council is elected for four years by direct universal suffrage by proportional representation by list vote, by the d'Hondt formula. The municipality forms a single constituency. 2° The mayor and the deputies are elected by the municipal council in the municipalities whose population does not exceed ten thousand inhabitants. They are elected for four years by direct universal suffrage in municipalities where the population exceeds this figure. 3° The law provides the conditions under which municipal councils may be dissolved and temporarily replaced by special delegations. 4° It establishes the special municipal regime of Paris, Lyon and Marseille.

Article 39. The departmental council is elected for four years by direct universal suffrage, by proportional representation by list vote, by the d'Hondt formula. The department forms a single constituency.

Article 40. The provincial council is composed of: 1° members elected by direct universal suffrage, in a number equal to that of the deputies for the departments in the province; 2° ten members elected by the elected representatives of the professional and corporate organizations in the province from among themselves; 3° not more than four members appointed by the governor from among the elites of the province. First category members are elected by proportional representation by list vote, by the d'Hondt formula. Each department forms a single constituency. The members of the first two categories are elected for four years. Third category members are life members. The mandate of provincial councillor is incompatible with that of deputy or senator.