Part 171

2. Any Act passed by the Parliament of Canada before the passing of this Act for the purpose mentioned in this Act shall, if not disallowed by the Queen, be, and shall be deemed to have been, valid and effectual from the date at which it received the assent, in Her Majesty's name, of the Governor-General of Canada. It is hereby declared that any Act passed by the Parliament of Canada, whether before or after the passing of this Act, for the purpose mentioned in this Act, or in The British North America Act, 1871, has effect, notwithstanding anything in The British North America Act, 1867, and the number of Senators or the number of Members of the House of Commons specified in the last-mentioned Act is increased by the number of Senators or of Members, as the case may be, provided by any such Act of the Parliament of Canada for the representation of any provinces or territories of Canada.

3. This Act maybe cited as The British North America Act, 1886. This Act and The British North America Act, 1867, and The British North America Act, 1871, shall be construed together, and may be cited together as The British North America Acts, 1861 to 1886.

CONSTITUTION OF CANADA: End----------

CONSTITUTION OF (OR FOR) THE CAROLINAS (Locke's).

See NORTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1669-1693.

CONSTITUTION OF CHILE.

See CHILE: A. D. 1833-1884, and 1885-1891.

CONSTITUTION OF CLEISTHENES.

See ATHENS: B. C. 510-507.

CONSTITUTION OF COLOMBIA.

See COLOMBIAN STATES: A. D. 1830-1886, and 1885-1891.

CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1861 (FEBRUARY).

CONSTITUTION OF CONNECTICUT (1639—the Fundamental Agreement of New Haven).

See CONNECTICUT; A. D. 1636-1639, and 1639.

CONSTITUTION OF DENMARK.

See SCANDINAVIAN STATES (DENMARK-ICELAND): A. D. 1849-1874.

CONSTITUTION OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, or the United Netherlands.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1584-1585.

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CONSTITUTION OF ENGLAND.

"Our English Constitution was never made, in the sense in which the Constitutions of many other countries have been made. There never was any moment when Englishmen drew out their political system in the shape of a formal document, whether as the carrying out of any abstract political theories or as the imitation of the past or present system of any other nation. There are indeed certain great political documents, each of which forms a landmark in our political history. There is the Great Charter [see ENGLAND: A. D. 1215], the Petition of Rights [ENGLAND: A. D. 1625-1628, and 1628], the Bill of Rights [ENGLAND: A. D. 1689 (October)]. But not one of these gave itself out as the enactment of anything new. All claimed to set forth, with new strength, it might be, and with new clearness, those rights of Englishmen which were already old. … The life and soul of English law has ever been precedent; we have always held that whatever our fathers once did their sons have a right to do again."

_E. A. Freeman, The Growth of the English Constitution, chapter 2._

"It is, in the first place, necessary to have a clear understanding of what we mean when we talk about 'the English Constitution.' Few terms in our language have been more laxly employed. … Still, the term, 'the English Constitution' is susceptible of full and accurate explanation: though it may not be easy to set it lucidly forth, without first investigating the archaeology of our history, rather more deeply than may suit hasty talkers and superficial thinkers. … Some furious Jacobins, at the close of the last century, used to clamour that there was no such thing as the English Constitution, because it could not be produced in full written form, like that of the United States. … But an impartial and earnest investigator may still satisfy himself that England has a constitution, and that there is ample cause why she should cherish it. And by this it is meant that he will recognise and admire, in the history, the laws and the institutions of England, certain great leading principles, which have existed from the earliest period of our nationality down to the present time; expanding and adapting themselves to the progress of society and civilization, advancing and varying in development, but still essentially the same in substance and spirit. These great primeval and enduring principles are the principles of the English Constitution. And we are not obliged to learn them from imperfect evidences or precarious speculation; for they are imperishably recorded in the Great Charter, and in Charters and Statutes connected with and confirmatory of Magna Charta [see ENGLAND: A. D. 1215]. … These great primeval and enduring principles of our Constitution are as follows: The government of the country by an hereditary sovereign, ruling with limited powers, and bound to summon and consult a parliament of the whole realm, comprising hereditary peers and elective representatives of the commons. That without the sanction of parliament no tax of any kind can be imposed; and no law can be made, repealed, or altered. That no man be arbitrarily fined or imprisoned, that no man's property or liberties be impaired, and that no man be in any way punished, except after a lawful trial. Trial by jury. That justice shall not be sold or delayed. These great constitutional principles can all be proved, either by express terms or by fair implication, from Magna Carta, and its … supplement [the statute 'Confirmatio Cartarum ']. Their vigorous development was aided and attested in many subsequent statutes, especially in the Petition of Rights and the Bill of Rights. … Lord Chatham called these three 'The Bible of the English Constitution,' to which appeal is to be made on every grave political question."

_E. S. Creasy, Rise and Progress of the English Constitution, chapter 1._

"The fact that our constitution has to be collected from statutes, from legal decisions, from observation of the course of conduct of the business of politics; that much of what is written is of a negative sort, stating what the Crown and its ministers cannot do; that there is no part of it which an omnipotent Parliament may not change at will; all this is a puzzle not only to foreign jurists who are prepared to say, with De Tocqueville, that the English constitution does not exist, but to ourselves who are prepared to maintain that it is a monument, if only we can find it, of political sagacity. Those who praise it call it flexible; those who criticise it unstable."

_Sir W. R. Anson, The Law and Custom of the Constitution, part 1, page 35._

ALSO IN: _William Stubbs, Constitutional History of England in its Origin and Development._

_H. Hallam, Constitutional History of England: Henry VII. to George II._

_T. E. May, Constitutional History of England, 1760-1860._

_R. Gneist, History of the English Constitution._

_E. Fischel, The English Constitution._

_W. Bagehot, The English Constitution._

_E. Boutmy, The English Constitution._

See, also, PARLIAMENT, THE ENGLISH, and CABINET, THE ENGLISH.

CONSTITUTION OF ENGLAND: End----------

CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE.

CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE: A. D. 1791. The Constitution accepted by Louis XVI.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1789-1791, and 1791 (JULY-SEPTEMBER).

CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (or the Year One). The Jacobin Constitution.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1793 (JUNE-OCTOBER).

CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE: A. D. 1795 (or the Year Three). The Constitution of the Directory.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1795 (JUNE-SEPTEMBER).

CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE: A. D. 1799. The Constitution of the Consulate.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1799 (NOVEMBER-DECEMBER).

CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE: A. D. 1814. The Constitution of the Restoration.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1814 (APRIL-JUNE).

CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE: A. D. 1848. The Constitution of the Second Republic.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1848 (APRIL-DECEMBER).

CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE: A. D. 1852.- The Constitution of the Second Empire.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1851-1852.

CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE: A. D. 1875-1889. The Constitution of the Third Republic.

The circumstances of the framing and adoption in 1875 of the Constitution of the Third Republic will be found narrated under FRANCE: A. D. 1871-1876.

The following is the text of the organic law of 1875, with the later amendatory and supplemental enactments, down to July 17, 1889, as translated and edited, with an historical introduction, by Mr. Charles F. A. Currier, and published in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, March, 1893. It is reproduced here with the kind permission of the President of the Academy, Professor Edmund J. James:

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CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE: 1875. Law on the Organization of the Public Powers. February 25.

ARTICLE 1. The legislative power is exercised by two assemblies: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The Chamber of Deputies is elected by universal suffrage, under the conditions determined by the electoral law.

[Footnote: See law of November 30, 1875, infra.]

The composition, the method of election, and the powers of the Senate shall be regulated by a special law.

[Footnote: See laws of February 24, and August 2, 1875, infra.]

ARTICLE 2. The President of the Republic is chosen by an absolute majority of votes of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies united in National Assembly. He is elected for seven years. He is re-eligible.

ARTICLE 3. The President of the Republic has the initiative of the laws, concurrently with the members of the two Chambers. He promulgates the laws when they have been voted by the two Chambers; he looks after and secures their execution. He has the right of pardon; amnesty can be granted by law only. He disposes of the armed force. He appoints to all civil and military positions. He presides over national festivals; envoys and ambassadors of foreign powers are accredited to him. Every act of the President of the Republic must be countersigned by a Minister.

ARTICLE 4. As vacancies occur on and after the promulgation of the present law, the President of the Republic appoints, in the Council of Ministers, the Councilors of State in ordinary service. The Councilors of State thus chosen may be dismissed only by decree rendered in the Council of Ministers. The Councilors of State chosen by virtue of the law of May 24, 1872, cannot, before the expiration of their powers, be dismissed except in the manner determined by that law. After the dissolution of the National Assembly, revocation may be pronounced only by resolution of the Senate.

ARTICLE 5. The President of the Republic may, with the advice of the Senate, dissolve the Chamber of Deputies before the legal expiration of its term. [In that case the electoral colleges are summoned for new elections within the space of three months.]

[Footnote: Amended by constitutional law of August 14, 1884, infra.]

ARTICLE 6. The Ministers are jointly and severally ('solidairement') responsible to the Chambers for the general policy of the government, and individually for their personal acts. The President of the Republic is responsible in case of high treason only.

[Footnote: See ARTICLE 12, law of July 16, 1875, infra.]

ARTICLE 7. In case of vacancy by death or for any other reason, the two Chambers assembled together proceed at once to the election of a new President. In the meantime the Council of Ministers is invested with the executive power.

[Footnote: See ARTICLES. 3 and 11, law of July 16, 1875, infra.]

ARTICLE 8. The Chambers shall have the right by separate resolutions, taken in each by an absolute majority of votes, either upon their own initiative or upon the request of the President of the Republic, to declare a revision of the Constitutional Laws necessary. After each of the two Chambers shall have come to this decision, they shall meet together in National Assembly to proceed with the revision. The acts effecting revision of the constitutional laws, in whole or in part, must be by an absolute majority of the members composing the National Assembly. [During the continuance, however, of the powers conferred by the law of November 20, 1873, upon Marshal de MacMahon, this revision can take place only upon the initiative of the President of the Republic.]

[Footnote: Amended by constitutional law of August 14, 1884, _infra_.]

[ARTICLE 9. The seat of the Executive Power and of the two Chambers is at Versailles.]

[Footnote: Repealed by constitutional law of June 21, 1879, _infra._]

CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE: 1875. Law on the Organization of the Senate. February 24.

[Footnote: By the constitutional law of August 14, 1884, it was provided that Articles 1 to 7 of this law should no longer have a constitutional character; and they were repealed by the law of December 9, 1884, _infra_.]

[ARTICLE 1. The Senate consists of three hundred members: Two hundred and twenty-five elected by the departments and colonies, and seventy-five elected by the National Assembly.]

[ARTICLE 2. The departments of the Seine and Nord elect each five senators. The following departments elect four senators each: Seine-Inférieure, Pas-dc-Calais, Gironde, Rhône, Finistère, Côtes-du-Nord. The following departments elect three senators each: Loire-Inférieure, Saône-et-Loire, Ille-et-Vilaine, Seine-et-Oise, Isère, Puy-de-Dôme, Somme, Bouches-du-Rhône, Aisne, Loire, Manche, Maine-et-Loire, Morbihan, Dordogne, Haute-Garonne, Charente-Inférieure, Calvados, Sarthe, Hérault, Basses-Pyrénées, Gard, Aveyron, Vendée, Orne, Oise, Vosges, Allier. All the other departments elect two senators each. The following elect one senator each: The Territory of Belfort, the three departments of Algeria, the four colonies: Martinique, Guadeloupe, Reunion and the French Indies.]

[ARTICLE 3. No one can be senator unless he is a French citizen, forty years of age at least, and enjoying civil and political rights.]

[ARTICLE 4. The senators of the departments and colonies are elected by an absolute majority and by 'scrutin de liste', by a college meeting at the capital of the department or colony and composed: (1) of the deputies; (2) of the general councilors; (3) of the arrondissement councilors; (4) of delegates elected, one by each municipal council, from among the voters of the commune. In the French Indies the members of the colonial council or of the local councils are substituted for the general councilors, arrondissement councilors and delegates from the municipal councils. They vote at the capital of each district.]

[ARTICLE 5. The senators chosen by the Assembly are elected by 'scrutin de liste' and by an absolute majority of votes.]

[ARTICLE 6. The senators of the departments and colonies are elected for nine years and renewable by thirds every three years. At the beginning of the first session the departments shall be divided into three series containing an equal number of senators each. It shall be determined by lot which series shall be renewed at the expiration of the first and second triennial periods.]

[ARTICLE 7. The senators elected by the Assembly are irremovable. Vacancies by death, by resignation, or for any other reason, shall, within the space of two months, be filled by the Senate itself.]

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ARTICLE 8. The Senate has, concurrently with the Chamber of Deputies, the initiative and passing of laws. Money bills, however, must first be introduced in, and passed by the Chamber of Deputies.

ARTICLE 9. The Senate may be constituted a Court of Justice to judge either the President of the Republic or the Ministers, and to take cognizance of attacks made upon the safety of the State.

ARTICLE 10. Elections to the Senate shall take place one month before the time fixed by the National Assembly for its own dissolution. The Senate shall organize and enter upon its duties the same day that the National Assembly is dissolved.

ARTICLE 11. The present law shall be promulgated only after the passage of the law on the public powers.

[Footnote: i. e., the law of February 25, 1875, _supra_.]

CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE; 1875. Law on the Relations of the Public Powers. July 16.

ARTICLE 1. The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies shall assemble each year the second Tuesday of January, unless convened earlier by the President of the Republic. The two Chambers continue in session at least five months each year. The sessions of each begin and end at the same time. [On the Sunday following the opening of the session, public prayers shall be addressed to God in the churches and temples, to invoke His aid in the labors of the Chambers.]

[Footnote: Repealed by law of August 14, 1884, _infra_.]

ARTICLE 2. The President of the Republic pronounces the closure of the session. He may convene the Chambers in extra session. He must convene them if, during the recess, an absolute majority of the members of each Chamber request it. The President may adjourn the Chambers. The adjournment, however, must not exceed one month, nor take place more than twice in the same session.

ARTICLE 3. One month at least before the legal expiration of the powers of the President of the Republic, the Chambers must be called together in National Assembly and proceed to the election of a new President. In default of a summons, this meeting shall take place, as of right, the fifteenth day before the expiration of those powers. In case of the death or resignation of the President of the Republic, the two Chambers shall reassemble immediately, as of right. In case the Chamber of Deputies, in consequence of Article 5 of the law of February 25, 1875, is dissolved at the time when the presidency of the Republic becomes vacant, the electoral colleges shall be convened at once, and the Senate shall reassemble as of right.

ARTICLE 4. Every meeting of either of the two Chambers which shall be held at a time other than the common session of both is illegal and void, except the case provided for in the preceding article, and that when the Senate meets as a court of justice; and in this last case, judicial duties alone shall be performed.

ARTICLE 5. The sittings of the Senate and of the Chamber of Deputies are public. Nevertheless each Chamber may meet in secret session, upon the request of a fixed number of its members, determined by the rules. It decides by absolute majority whether the sitting shall be resumed in public upon the same subject.

ARTICLE 6. The President of the Republic communicates with the Chambers by messages, which are read from the tribune by a Minister. The Ministers have entrance to both Chambers, and must be heard when they request it. They may be represented, for the discussion of a specific bill, by commissioners designated by decree of the President of the Republic.

ARTICLE 7. The President of the Republic promulgates the laws within the month following the transmission to the Government of the law finally passed. He must promulgate, within three days, laws whose promulgation shall have been declared urgent by an express vote in each Chamber. Within the time fixed for promulgation the President of the Republic may, by a message with reasons assigned, request of the two Chambers a new discussion, which cannot be refused.

ARTICLE 8. The President of the Republic negotiates and ratifies treaties. He communicates them to the Chambers as soon as the interests and safety of the State permit. Treaties of peace, and of commerce, treaties which involve the finances of the State, those relating to the persons and property of French citizens in foreign countries, shall become definitive only after having been voted by the two Chambers. No cession, no exchange, no annexation of territory shall take place except by virtue of a law.

ARTICLE 9. The President of the Republic cannot declare war except by the previous assent of the two Chambers.

ARTICLE 10. Each Chamber is the judge of the eligibility of its members, and of the legality of their election; it alone can receive their resignation.

ARTICLE 11. The bureau of each Chamber is elected each year for the entire session, and for every extra session which may be held before the ordinary session of the following year. When the two Chambers meet together as a National Assembly, their bureau consists of the President, Vice-Presidents and Secretaries of the Senate.

[Footnote: The bureau of the Senate consists of a president, four vice-presidents, six secretaries and three questors; the bureau of the Chamber of Deputies is the same, except that there are eight secretaries instead of six.]

ARTICLE 12. The President of the Republic may be impeached by the Chamber of Deputies only, and tried by the Senate only. The Ministers may be impeached by the Chamber of Deputies for offences committed in the performance of their duties. In this case they are tried by the Senate. The Senate may be constituted a court of Justice, by a decree of the President of the Republic, issued in the Council of Ministers, to try all persons accused of attempts upon the safety of the State. If procedure is begun by the ordinary courts, the decree convening the Senate may be issued any time before the granting of a discharge. A law shall determine the method of procedure for the accusation, trial and judgment.

[Footnote: Fixed by law of April 10, 1880.]

ARTICLE 13. No member of either Chamber shall be prosecuted or held responsible on account of any opinions expressed or votes cast by him in the performance of his duties.

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ARTICLE 14. No member of either Chamber shall, during the session, be prosecuted or arrested for any offence or misdemeanor, except on the authority of the Chamber of which he is a member, unless he be caught in the very act. The detention or prosecution of a member of either Chamber is suspended for the session, and for its [the Chamber's] entire term, if it demands it.

CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE: 1879. Law Revising Article 9 of the Constitutional Law of February 25, 1875, June 21.

Article 9 of the constitutional law of February 25, 1875, is repealed.

CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE: 1884. Law Partially Revising the Constitutional Laws, August 14.

ARTICLE 1. Paragraph 2 of Article 5 of the constitutional law of February 25, 1875, on the Organization of the Public Powers, is amended as follows: "In that case the electoral colleges meet for new elections within two months, and the Chamber within the ten days following the close of the elections."

ARTICLE 2. To Paragraph 3 of Article 8 of the same law of February 25, 1875, is added the following: "The Republican form of the Government cannot be made the subject of a proposed revision. Members of families that have reigned in France are ineligible to the presidency of the Republic."

ARTICLE 3. Articles 1 to 7 of the constitutional law of February 24, 1875, on the Organization of the Senate, shall no longer have a constitutional character.