18. The King alone sanctions and promulgates the laws. 19. The civil list is fixed for the entire duration of the reign by the first legislature assembled after the accession of the King.

Of the Chamber of Peers.

20. The Chamber of Peers is an essential part of the legislative power.

21. It is convoked by the King at the same time as the Chamber of Deputies. The session of the one begins and ends at the same time as that of the other.

22.

Every meeting of the Chamber of Peers which may be held outside of the time of the session of the Chamber of Deputies is unlawful and of no validity, except the single case in which it is assembled as a court of justice, and then it can exercise only judicial functions.

23. The appointment of peers of France belongs to the King. Their number is unlimited: he can at his pleasure alter their dignities, appoint them for life, or make them hereditary.

24. Peers have entrance to the Chamber at twenty-five years of age, and a deliberative voice only at thirty years.

25. The Chamber of Peers is presided over by the Chancellor of France, and, in his absence, by a peer appointed by the King.

26. The princes of the blood are peers by right of their birth: they sit directly behind the president.

27. The sittings of the Chamber of Peers are public, as are those of the Chamber of Deputies.

28. The Chamber of Peers has jurisdiction over crimes of high treason and the attacks against the security of the State, which shall be defined by law.

29. No peer can be arrested except by the authority of the Chamber, nor be tried except by it in a criminal matter.

Of the Chamber of Deputies.

30. The Chamber of Deputies shall be composed of the deputies elected by electoral colleges whose organization shall be determined by law.

31. The deputies are elected for five years.

32. No deputy can be admitted to the Chamber unless he

is thirty years of age and meets the other qualifications determined by the law.

33. If, however, there cannot be found in the department fifty persons of the required age who pay the amount of taxes determined by the law, their number shall be filled up from the largest tax-payers below this amount of tax, and these shall be elected together with the first.

34. No one is an elector, unless he is at least twenty-five years of age and meets the other conditions determined by the law.

35. The presidents of the electoral colleges are chosen by the electors.

36. At least one-half of the deputies shall be chosen from among the eligibles who have their political domicile in the department.

37. The president of the Chamber of Deputies is elected by it at the opening of each session.

38. The sittings of the Chamber are public; but the request of five members suffices for it to form itself into secret committee.

39. The Chamber divides itself into bureaux in order to discuss the propositions which have been presented to it by the King.

40. No tax can be imposed or collected, unless it has been consented to by the two Chambers and sanctioned by the King.

41. The land-tax is consented to only for one year. Indirect taxes can be established for several years.

42. The King convokes the two Chambers each year: he prorogues them and can dissolve that of the deputies; but in that case he must convoke a new one within the space of three months.

43. No bodily constraint can be exercised against a member of the Chamber during the session nor in the preceding or following six weeks.

44. No member of the Chamber, during the course of the session, can be prosecuted or arrested upon a criminal charge, unless he should be taken in the act, except after the Chamber has permitted his prosecution.

45. No petition can be made or presented to either of the Chambers except in writing: the law forbids the bringing of them in person to the bar.

Of the Ministers.

46. The ministers can be members of the Chamber of Peers or the Chamber of Deputies.

They have, besides, their entrance into either Chamber and must be heard when they demand it.

47. The Chamber of Deputies has the right to accuse the ministers and to arraign them before the Chamber of Peers, which alone has that of trying them.

Of the Judiciary.

48. All justice emanates from the King: it is administered in his name by judges whom he appoints and whom he invests. 49. The judges appointed by the King are irremovable. 50. The courts and regular tribunals actually existing are continued; none of them can be changed except by virtue of a law.

51. The existing commercial court is retained.

52. The justice of the peace, likewise, is retained. Justices of the peace, although appointed by the King, are not irremovable.

53. No one can be deprived of the jurisdiction of his natural judges.

54. In consequence, extraordinary commissions and tribunals cannot be created, under any title or under any denomination whatsoever.

55. Criminal trials shall be public unless such publicity would be dangerous to order and morality; and, in that case, the tribunal shall declare it by a judicial order.

56. The system of juries is retained. Changes which a longer experience may cause to be thought necessary can be made only by a law.

57. The penalty of confiscation of property is abolished and cannot be re-established.

58. The King has the right of pardon and that of commuting penalties.

59. The Civil Code and the laws actually existing which are not in conflict with the present Charter remain in force until legally abrogated.

Special Rights Guaranteed by the State.

60. Persons in active military service, retired officers and soldiers, pensioned widows, officers and soldiers, retain their ranks, honors and pensions.

61. The public debt is guaranteed. Every form of engagement made by the State with its creditors is inviolable.

62. The old nobility resume their titles, the new retain theirs. The King makes nobles at will; but he grants to them only ranks and honors, without any exemption from the burdens and duties of society.

63. The Legion of Honor is maintained. The King shall determine its internal regulations and its decoration.

64. The colonies are regulated by special laws.

65. The King and his successors shall swear, at their accession in the presence of the assembled Chambers, to observe faithfully the Constitutional Charter.

66. The present Charter and all the rights that it consecrates stand entrusted to the patriotism and the courage of the National Guards and of all French citizens.

67. France resumes its colors. For the future, no other cockade shall be worn than the tricolor cockade.

Special Provisions.

68. All the new appointments and creations of peers made during the reign of Charles X are declared null and void.

Article 23 of the Charter shall be submitted to a new examination in the session of 1831.

69. The following subjects shall be provided for successively by separate laws within the shortest possible space of time:

Ist. The use of the jury for political and press offences; 2d. The responsibility of the ministers and the other agents of the [executive] power;

3d. The re-election of deputies appointed to public functions with salaries;

4th. The annual vote of the quota of the army;

5th. The organization of the National Guards, with the participation of the National Guards in the choice of their officers;

6th. Provisions which assure in a legal manner the status of the officers of every grade in the army and navy;

7th. Departmental and municipal institutions founded upon an elective system;

8th. Public instruction and the liberty of teaching; 9th. Abolition of the double vote and fixing of the electoral and eligibility conditions.

70. All laws and ordinances, wherein they are contrary to the provisions adopted for the reform of the Charter, are forthwith and shall remain annulled and abrogated.

We command all our courts and tribunals, administrative bodies, and all others that they keep and maintain, cause to be kept, observed and maintained the present Constitutional Charter, and to make it more known to all, that they cause it to be published in all the municipalities of the kingdom and wherever there shall be need; and in order that this may be firm and stable forever, we have caused our seal to be aífixed thereto.

Done at the Palais Royal at Paris, the 14th day of the month of August, in the year 1830.

April 19, 1831. Duvergier, Lois, XXXI, 211-244.

Under the Bourbon Monarchy the tax-paying qualification for membership in the Chamber of Deputies was one thousand francs per annum and for the exercise of the suffrage three hundred francs. When the Constitutional Charter was revised there had been an informal understanding that these qualifications should shortly be revised. This law was enacted in fulfillment of that understanding and remained unchanged throughout the entire period of the July Monarchy. It raised the number of voters from about 94,000 to about 188,000. The population of France was approximately thirty millions. In connection with this measure notice should be taken of the laws of 1831 upon the Chamber of Peers, municipal government, and the organization of the National Guards. The four constitute a sort of supplement to the Constitution of 1830.

378.

REFERENCE.

Lavisse and Rambaud, Histoire Generale, X, 377

I.

TITLE I. OF ELECTORAL CAPACITIES.

Every Frenchman enjoying civil and political rights,