See also:

• FRENCH
• FRENCH, DANIEL CHESTER (1850– )
• FRENCH, NICHOLAS (1604-1678)

Gaul under this rule consisted of seventeen provinces, divided between two dioceses, ten in the See also:

• DIOCESE (formed on Fr. diocese, in place of the Eng. form diocess—current until the 19th century—from Lat. dioecesis, med. Lat. variant diocesis, from Gr. Swucio•tc, " house-keeping," " administration," &miceas, " to keep house," " to govern ")

It is doubtful whether a similar See also:

• PROCESS

In the same way the Roman municipal organization, that of the curiae, survived for a considerable See also:

• TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
• TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
• TIME, STANDARD

At the same time the authority of the king gradually underwent a See also:

• CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

In order to rule the Gallo-Romans, the barbarians had had inevitably to ask the help of the Church, which was the repre- sentative of Roman civilization. Further, the Mero- Position vingian monarch and the Catholic Church had come s the Church. into See also:

• CLOSE
• CLOSE (from Lat. clausum, shut)
• CLOSE, MAXWELL HENRY (1822-1903)

Gradually, however, the precaria had become a concession made, in most cases, free and for life. As regards the material, when the Austrasian mayors of the palace (probably See also:

• CHARLES
• CHARLES (1270-1325)
• CHARLES (1421-1461)
• CHARLES (1525-1574)
• CHARLES (c. 1319-1364)
• CHARLES (Fr. Charles; Span. Carlos; Ital. Carlo; Ger. Karl; derived from O.H.G. Charal,latinized as Carolus, meaning originally " man ": cf. Mod.Ger., Kerl," fellow," A.S. ceorl, Mod. Eng. " churl ")
• CHARLES (KARL EITEL ZEPHYRIN LUDWIG; in Rum. CAROL)
• CHARLES [KARL ALEXANDER] (1712-1780)
• CHARLES, ELIZABETH (1828-1896)
• CHARLES, JACQUES ALEXANDRE CESAR (1746-1823)
• CHARLES, THOMAS (1755-1814)

The king granted as benefices not only lands, but public functions, such as those of count or dux, which thus became possessions, held, first for life, and later as hereditary properties. The See also:

• CAPITULARY (Med. Lat. capitularium)

The Church was loaded with honours and had added a fresh See also:

• PREROGATIVE

They also introduced a barbarous system of trial, that by See also:

• CORN (a common Teutonic word; cf. Lat. granum, seed, grain)
• CORN (fromm Lat. corms, horn)

The type is preserved far us in those collections of Formulae, of which See also:

• COMPLETE

Period of Anarchy and the Rise of Feudalism.—The loth and rrth centuries were a period of profound anarchy, during which feudalism was free to develop itself and to take definitive shape. At that time the French people may be said to have lived without laws, without even fixed customs and without government. The legislative power was no longer exercised, for the last Carolingian capitularies date from the year 884, and the first laws of the Capetian kings (if they may be called laws) do not appear till during the 12th century. During this period the old capitularies and leges See also:

• FELL
• FELL, JOHN (1625-1686)

The name See also:

• FIEF

This nobility, moreover, was not a See also:

• CASTE (through the Fr. from Span. and Port. casta, lineage, Lat. cast us, pure)

It appears that in this state of political disintegration each part of the country which had a homogeneous character tended to form itself into a higher unit. In this unit there arose a powerful lord, generally a See also:

• DUKE (corresponding to Fr. duc, Ital. duca, Ger. Herzog)

This custom was recognized at the See also:

• ACCESSION (from Lat. accedere, to go to, to approach)

The royal power. ecclesiastical or Christian courts (See also:

• TOURS

The final organization of feudalism resulted from the struggle for organization which was proceeding in each district where Final the more powerful lords compelled the others to do martian- them homage and become their vassals; the capitalis See also:

• LION
• LION (Lat, leo, leonis; Gr. Mew)

ject, the concession being embodied in a See also:

• CHARTER (Lat. charta, carta, from Gr. Xap-rns, originally for papyrus, material for writing, thence transferred to paper and from this material to the document, in O. Eng. boc, book)

But the cour des pairs in this sense was not See also:

• SEPARATE

Saint Louis had striven to abolish trial by combat, and the Church had condemned other forms of ordeal, the purgatio vulgaris. In most parts of the country the feudal lords began to give place in the courts of law to the provosts (prevots) and baillis of the lords or of the crown, who were the judges, having as their councillors the avocats (See also:

• ADVOCATES, FACULTY OF

It became an established rule that a man had to be noble Nobles, in order to be made a knight, and even in order to See also:

• COMMONS

The criminal procedure of the feudal law. courts had been based on the right of See also:

• ACCUSATION (Lat. accusatio, accusare, to challenge to a causa, a suit or trial at law)

The College of the Twelve Peers of France had not its full See also:

• NUMBERS, BOOK OF
• NUMBERS, PARTITION OF

So far the king's See also:

• SOLE (Solea)

These imposts were increased, on the royal authority, by Louis XI. After his See also:

• DEATH

The army also was organized. On the one hand, the military service attached to the fiefs was transformed for the profit of the king, who alone had the right of making war: it became the arriere--See also:

• BAN

The courts of law continued to develop on the lines already laid down. The parlement; which had come to be a judicial See also:

• COMMITTEE (from commute, an Anglo-Fr. past participle of commettre, Lat. committere, to entrust; the modern Fr. equivalent comite is derived from the Eng.)

Their See also:

• DUTY (from " due," that which is owing, O. Fr. deu, dil, past participle of devoir; Lat. debere, debitum; cf. " debt ")

The most extreme form of intervention by the king was made by means of Mitres de cachet (q.v.), which ordered a subject to go without trial into a state See also:

• PRISON (derived through the Fr. from the Lat. prehensio, seizure)

The Pragmatic Sanction, however, was never recognized by the papacy, nor was it consistently and strictly applied by the royal power. The transformation of the civil and criminal law under the influence of Roman and canon law had become more- and more marked. The See also:

• PRODUCTION (Lat. productionem, from producere, to pro-duce)

This represented a See also:

• CRUCIAL (from Lat. crux, a cross)

The successful assertion of this claim would have made them at once independent of and necessary to the crown. During the minority of kings, they had possessed, in fact, special opportunities for asserting their pretensions, particularly when they had been called upon to intervene in the organization of the regency. It is on this account that at the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV. the parlement of Paris wished to take part in the government, and in 1648, in See also:

• CONCERT (through the French from Lat. con-, with, and certare, to strive)

But though his title could only be taken from him by condemnation on a capital See also:

• CHARGE
• CHARGE (through the Fr. from the Late Lat. carricare, to load in a carrus or wagon; cf. " cargo ")

Under Louis XIV. it took a definitely professional, administrative and technical character. The conseillers d brevet were all suppressed in 1673, and the peers of France ceased to be members of the council. The political council, or conseil d'en haut, had no ex: officio members, not even, the chancellor; the secretary of state for foreign affairs, however, necessarily had entry to it; it also included a small number of persons chosen by the king and bearing the title of ministers of state (ministres d'etat). The other important sections of the conseil du roi were the conseil des finances, organized after the fall of See also:

• FOUQUET (or FOUCQUET), NICOLAS (1615-168o)

In the closing years of the 17th century, the municipal officials ceased, even in principle, to be elective. Their functions ranked as offices which were, like royal offices, saleable and heritable. The pretext given by the edicts were the intrigues and disseri ions caused by the elections; the real cause was that the government wanted to sell these offices, which is proved by the fact that it frequently allowed towns to redeem them and tore-establish the elections. The sale of royal offices is one of the characteristic features of the ancien regime. It had begun See also:

• EARLY
• EARLY, JUBAL ANDERSON (1816-1894)

The system of sale, however, triumphed in the end, and, in the case of judges, had, moreover, a favourable result, assuring to them that irremovability which Louis XI. had promised in vain; for, under this system, the king could not reasonably dismiss an official arbitrarily without refunding the fee which he had paid. On the other hand, it contributed to the development of the Prices, or dues paid by litigants to the judges. The system of sale, and with it irremovability, was extended to all official functions, even to financial posts. The process was completed by the recognition of the rights in the sale of offices as hereditary, i.e. the right of resigning the office on payment of a fee, either in favour of a competent descendant or of a third party, passed to the heirs of an official who had died without having exercised this right himself. It was established under Henry IV. in 1604 by the system called the Paulette, in return for the payment by the official of an annual fee (droit annuel) which was definitely fixed at a hundredth part of the price of the office. Thus these offices, though the royal nomination was still required as well as the professional qualifications required by the law, became heritable property in virtue of the finance attached to them. This led to the formation of a class of men who, though bound in many ways to the crown, were actually independent. Hence the tendency in the 18th century to create new and important functions under the form, not of offices, but of See also:

• SIMPLE

This last principle, introduced in the 14th century, had been laid down and defined by the See also:

• EDICT (Lat. edictum, from e, out, and dicere, to say, speak)

The king of France nominated the See also:

• CANDIDATE

The crown was heavily in See also:

• DEBT (Lat. debitum, a thing owed)

At last, under Louis XV. the edict of 1749, concernant les etablissements et acquisitions des gens de mainmorte, was completely effective in subordinating the acquisition of property by ecclesiastical establishments to the consent and control of the crown, rendering them incapable of acquiring real property by bequests. At the end of the 16th century a See also:

• WISE, HENRY ALEXANDER (1806-1876)
• WISE, ISAAC MAYER (1819-1900)

The parlements had regained their ancient rights in consequence of the parlement of Paris having, in 1715, set aside the will of Louis XIV. as being contrary to the fundamental laws of the kingdom, in that it laid down rules for the See also:

• COMPOSITION
• COMPOSITION (Lat. compositio, from componere, to put together)

At the same time the political See also:

• PHILOSOPHY (Gr. gthos, fond of, and vo4 (a, wisdom)

It was Turgot's purpose to organize provincial and other inferior assemblies, whose chief business was to be the See also:

• ASSESSMENT, (from Lat. assessare, to sit beside, to judge)

The gendarmerie or heavy cavalry was continuously increased in numbers. On the other hand, the francs archers fell into disuse after Louis XI.; and, after a fruitless See also:

• ATTEMPT (Lat. adtemptare, attentare, to try)

But their chief use was during war, when they were individually incorporated into various regiments to fill up the gaps. Under Louis XV., with the duc de See also:

• CHOISEUL, CESAR
• CHOISEUL, ETIENNE FRANCOIS

These two imposts had been established on the principle of equality, being designed to affect every subject in proportion to his income; but so strong was the system of privileges, thatas a matter of fact the chief burden fell upon the roturiers. The income of a roturier who was not exempt was thus subject in turn to three direct imposts: the taille, the capitation and the vingtiemes, and the apportioning or assessment of these was extremely arbitrary. In addition to indirect taxation strictly so called, which was very extensive in the 17th and 18th centuries, France under the ancien regime was subject to the traites, or customs, which were not only levied at the frontiers on foreign trade, but also included many internal custom-houses for trade between different provinces. Their origin was generally due to historical reasons; thus, among the provinces reputees etrangeres were those which in the 14th century had refused to pay the aids for the ransom of King John, also certain provinces which had refused to allow customs offices to be established on their foreign frontier. Colbert had tried to abolish these internal' duties, but had only succeeded to a limited extent. The indirect taxes, the traites and the revenues of the royal domain were farmed out by the crown. At first a separate contract had been made for each See also:

• IMPOST (through the O. Fr. from Lat. impositum, a thing laid upon another; the modern French is impot)

The number of parlements, of cours des aides and of cours des comptes increased; in the 17th century the name of conseil Courts of /See also:

• AWE, LOCH

The inquiry into the case was, it is true, conducted jointly by the royal and the ecclesiastical judge, but each of them pronounced his sentence independently. All cases concerning benefices came before the royal judges. Finally, the ofcialites had no longer as a rule any jurisdiction over laymen, even in the matter of marriage, except in questions of betrothals, and sometimes in cases of opposition to marriages. INSTITUTIONS) The parish priests, however, continued to enter declarations of baptisms, marriages and burials in registers kept according to the civil laws. The general customs of the pays coutumiers were almost all officially recorded in the 16th century, definite procedure for this purpose having been adopted at the end of the The "cuss 15th century. Drafts were prepared by the officials toms.' ~ of the royal courts in the chief town of the district in which the particular customs were valid, and were then submitted to the government. The king then appointed commissioners to visit the district and promulgate the customs on the spot. For the purpose of this publication the lords, lay and ecclesiastical, of the district, with representatives of the towns and of various bodies of the inhabitants, were summoned for a given day to the chief town. In this assembly each article was read, discussed and put to the vote. Those which were approved by the See also:

• MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

In the 16th century there had been a revival of the study of Roman law, thanks to the historical school, among the most illustrious representatives of which were Jacques See also:

• CUJAS (or. Cujacrus), JACQUES (or as he called himself, JACQUES DE CUJAS) (1520-1590)

The feudal regime, in spite of the survival of seigniorial courts and tolls, was no longer of any political importance; but it still furnished the common form of real property. The fief, although it still implied homage from the vassal, no longer involved any service on his part (excepting that of the arrierc-bon due to the919 king); but when a fief changed hands the lord still exacted his profits. Tenures held by roturiers, in' addition to some similar rights of transfer, were generally subject to periodical L qd and fixed contributions for the profit of the lord. This tenaure. system was still further complicated by tenures which were simply real and not feudal,. e.g. that by payment of ground rent, which were superadded to the others, and had become all the heavier since, in the 18th century, royal rights of transfer had been added to the feudal rights. The inhabitants of the country districts were longing for the liberation of real property. See also:

• SERFDOM (from Fr. serf, Lat. servus, a servant or slave)

In fact, estates. the royal favours were reserved for the nobility. Certain rules of civil and criminal procedure also distinguished nobles from roturiers. The acquisition of fiefs had ceased to bring nobility with it, but the latter was derived from three sources: birth, lettres d'anoblissement granted by the king and See also:

• APPOINTMENT, POWER OF

The principles which were then proclaimed are still, on most points, the See also:

• FOUNDATION (Lat. fundatio, from fundare, to found)

On almost all points of importance the two constitutions were similar. They were both preceded by a statement of principles, a " Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the See also:

• CITIZEN (a form corrupted in Eng., apparently by analogy with " denizen," from O. Fr. citeain, mod. Fr. citoyen)

Moreover, the two chambers, the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of Ancients, were appointed by the same electors, and almost the only difference between their members was that of age. The Revolution entirely abolished the ancien regime, and in the first instance whatever remained of feudalism. The Con-Aboptiop stituent Assembly, in the course of its immense work of tae of settlement, wished to draw distinctions, abolishing ""*t' , absolutely, without See also:

• INDEMNITY (through Fr. indemnite, Lat. indemnis, free from damage or loss; in-, negative, and damnum, loss)

The Assembly also proclaimed the liberty of labour and industry, and suppressed the corporations of artisans and workmen, the' jurandes and maitrises, as Turgot had done. But, in order to maintain this liberty of the individual, it forbade all associations between workers. or employers, fearing that such contracts would again lead to the formation of corporations similar to the old ones. It ever forbade and declared punishable, as being contrary to the declaration of the rights of man and the citizen, combinations or strikes, or an agreement between workmen or employers to refuse to work or to give work except on given conditions. Such, for a long time, was French legislation on this point.. The Constituent Assembly gave to France a new administrative . division, that into departments, districts, cantons and communes; and this division, which was intended to make the Adminisold provincial distinctions disappear, had to serve all tratiro purposes, the See also:

• DEPARTMENT (Fr. departement, from departir, to separate into parts)

The king could, it is true, annul the illegal acts of these bodies, but not dismiss their members; he could merely suspend them from exercising their functions, but the matter then went before the Legislative Assembly,., which could maintain or remit the suspension as it thought fit. The king had not a single See also:

• AGENT (from Lat. agere, to act)

In the See also:

• LOWER

But the system was really the same as that of the administrative organization. The king only appointed he commissaires du roi attached to the district courts, criminal tribunals and the court of cassation; but the appointment once made could not be revoked by him. These commissaries fulfilled one of the functions of the old ministere public, their duty being to demand the application of laws. The Convention did not change this general organization; but it suppressed the professional guarantees required in the case of candidates for a judgeship, so that hence-forth all citizens were eligible; and it also caused new elections to take place. Moreover, the Convention, either directly or by means of one of its committees, not infrequently removed and replaced judges without further election. The constitution of the year III. preserved this system, but introduced one consider-able modification. It suppressed the district courts, and in their place created in each department a civil tribunal consisting of twenty judges. The idea was a happy one, for it gave the courts more importance, and therefore more See also:

• WEIGHT

This was an institution which, with many successive modifications, and after various long periods of inactivity followed by a revival, lasted more than three-quarters of a century, and was not suppressed till 1891. For purposes of war the Convention, in addition to voluntary, enlistments and the resources furnished by the National See also:

• GUARDS, AND HOUSEHOLD TROOPS

The essential elements of the former were a sort of capitation-tax equivalent to three days' work, which was the distinctive and definite sign of a qualified citizen, and a tax on personal income, calculated according to the rent paid. The patentes were paid by traders, and were also based on the amount of rent. These taxes, though considerably modified later, are still essentially the basis of the French system of direct taxation. The Constituent Assembly had on principle repudiated the tax on the See also:

• GROSS

J. See also:

• ROUSSEAU, JACQUES (1633-1693)
• ROUSSEAU, JEAN BAPTISTE (1671-1741)
• ROUSSEAU, JEAN JACQUES (1712-1778)
• ROUSSEAU, PIERRE ETIENNE THEODORE (1812–1867); French painter of the Barbizon school, was born in Paris on the 15th of April 1812, of a bourgeois family which included one or two artists. At first he received a business training, but soon displayed aptitu

In 1991 the Constituent Assembly gave France her first penal code. It was inspired by humanitarian ideas, still admitting capital punishment, though accompanied by no See also:

• CRUELTY (through the O. Fr. crualte, mod. cruaute, from the Lat. crudelitas)

These documents consist of (1) the Constitution of the 22nd Frimairc of the year VIII., the work of Sieyes and See also:

• BONAPARTE

Thus he frequently declared war upon his own authority, in spite of the provisions to the contrary made by the constitution of the year VIII.; and similarly, under the form of deecrets, made what were really laws. They were afterwards called decrets-lois, and those that were not indissolubly associated with the political regime of the Empire, and survived it, were subsequently declared valid by the court of cassation, on the ground that they had not been submitted to the Senate as unconstitutional, as had been provided by the constitution of the year VIII. This period saw the rise of a whole new series of great organic laws. For administrative organization, the most important was that of the 28th Pluvi6se in the year VIII. It established as chief authority for each department a Admielrtrative prefect, and side by side with him a conseil general changes for deliberative purposes; for each See also:

• ARRONDISSEMENT (from arrondir, to make round)

The magistrates were in principle appointed for life, but under the Empire a See also:

• DEVICE

The state guaranteed the payment of salaries to bishops and cures; and the pope agreed to renounce all claims referring to the appropriation of the goods of the clergy made by the Constituent Assembly. Later on, a decree restored to the fabriques (vestries) such of their former possessions as had not been alienated, and the churches which had not been alienated were' restored for the purposes of worship. The law of the 18th Germinal in the year X., ratifying the Concordat, reasserted, under the name of articles arganiques du culte catholique, all the main principles contained in the old doctrine of the liberties of the Gallican Church. The Concordat did not include the restoration of the religious orders and congregations; Napoleon sanctioned by decrees only a few establishments of this kind. One important creation of the Empire was the university. The ancien regime had had its universities for purposes of in-77re'unt- struction and for the conferring of degrees; it had rersi#y. also, though without any definite organization, such secondary schools as the towns admitted within their walls, and the primary schools of the parishes. The Revolution suppressed the universities and the teaching congregations. The constitution of the year III. proclaimed the liberty ofinstruction and commanded that public schools, both elementary and secondary, should be established. Under the Directory there was in each department an ecole centrale, in which all branches of human knowledge were taught. Napoleon, developing ideas which had been started in_the second half of the 18th century, founded by laws and decrees of 1806, 1808 and 1811 the Universite de France, which provided and organized higher, secondary and primary See also:

• EDUCATION

These are the Civil Code of 1804, the Code de Procedure Civile of 18o6, The the Code de Commerce of 1807, the Code d'Instruction codes. Criminelle of 1809, and the Code Penal of 181o. These monumental works, in the elaboration of which the conseil d'etat took the chief part, contributed, to a greater or less extent, towards the fusion of the old law of France with the laws of the Revolution. It was in the case of the Code Civil that this task presented the greatest difficulty (see CooE NAPOLEON). The Code de Commerce was scarcely more than a revised and emended edition of the ordonnances of 1673 and 168r; while the Code de Procedure Civile borrowed its chief elements from the ordonnance of 1667. In the case of the Code d'Instruction Criminelle a distinctly new departure was made; the procedure introduced by the Revolution into courts where judgment was given remained public and oral, with full liberty of defence; the preliminary procedure, however, before the examining court (juge d'instruction or chambre des mises en accusation) was borrowed from the ordonnance of 1670; it was the procedure of the old law, without its cruelty, but secret and written, and generally not in the presence of both parties. The Code Penal maintained the principles of the Revolution, but increased the penalties. It substituted for the system of fixed penalties; in cases of temporary punishment, a maximum and a minimum, between the limits of which judges could assess the amount. Even in the case of misdemeanours, it admitted the system of extenuating circumstances, which allowed them still further to decrease and alter the penalty in so far as the offence was mitigated by such circumstances. (See further under NAPOLEON I.) The Restored Monarchy.—The Restoration and the Monarchy of See also:

• JULY

The revolution of 183o took place in defence of the charter which Charles X. had violated by the ordonnances of July, so that this charter was naturally preserved under the °` July Monarchy." It was merely revised by the Chamber of Deputies, which had been one of the See also:

• MOVERS, FRANZ KARL (18o6–1856)

This was a period of parliamentary government; that is, of government by a See also:

• CABINET

But the weak point in the July Monarchy was above all the question of the franchise. A powerful movement of opinion set in towards demanding an See also:

• EXTENSION (Lat. ex, out ; tendere, to stretch)

The contingent voted by the chambers for annual See also:

• INCORPORATION (from Lat. incorporare, to form into a body)

The powers of these bodies were enlarged in 1838, and they gained the right of electing their president. In 1833 was granted another liberty, that of primary education; but in spite of violent protestations, coming especially from the Catholics, secondary and higher education continued to be a monopoly of the state. Many organic laws were promulgated, one concerning the National Guard, which was reorganized in order to adapt it to the system of, citizen qualifications; one in 1832 011 the recruiting of. the army, fixing the period of service at seven years; and another in 1834 securing the status of officers. A law of the r 1 th of June 1842 established the great railway lines.. In 1832 the Code Penal and Code d'Instruction Criminelle were revised, with the object of lightening penalties; the system of extenuating circumstances, as recognized by a jury, was extended to the judgment of all crimes. There was also a re-See also:

• VISION (from Lat. videre, to see), or SIGHT

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 See also:

• JANUARY

It was especially impelled to these measures by the growing fear of See also:

• SOCIALISM

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 Legislatif, 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'etat; 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'etat 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 Legislatif. 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 loth of November, ratified by a plebiscite, re-established the imperial rank in favour of Napoleon III.; it also conferred on him certain new powers, especially with reference to the budget and foreign See also:

• TREATIES

The laws of the i rth of May 1868 and the 6th of June 1868 restored to a certain extent the liberty of the press and of holding meetings, though without abolishing offences of opinion, or again bringing press offences under the jurisdiction of a jury.. Laws of the 22nd and 23rd of July 187o gave the conseils generaux, whose powers had been somewhat widened, the right of electing their presidents, and provided that the moires and their colleagues should be chosen from among the members of the municipal councils. The legislation of the Second Empire led to a considerable number of reforms. Its chief aim was the development of commerce, industry and See also:

• AGRICULTURE
• AGRICULTURE (from Lat. ages, field, and colere, to cultivate)
• AGRICULTURE, BOARD OF

But the common law was also largely criminal remodelled. A law of the loth of June 1858, it is true, law. created certain new crimes, with a view to protecting the members of the imperial family, and that of the 17th of July 1356 increased the powers and independence of the juges d'instruction; but, on the other hand, useful improvements were introduced by laws of 1856 and 1865, and notably with regard to precautionary detention and provisional See also:

• RELEASE (O.Fr. reles, variant of relais, from relaisser, to release, let go, Lat. relaxare)

These gardcs mobiles, though they were not effectively organized or exercised under the Empire, took part in the war of 1870-71. The Third Republic.—The Third Republic had at first a provisional government, unanimously acclaimed by the people of Paris. It was accepted by France, exercised full powers, and sustained by no means ingloriously a desperate struggle against the enemy; a certain number of its decrets-lois are still in force. After the See also:

• CAPITULATION (Lat. capitulum, a little head or division; capitulare, to treat upon terms)

His place was taken by See also:

• MARSHAL (med. Lat. marescalcus, from O.H.Ger. marah, horse, and scalc, servant)

At the end of February were passed and promulgated two constitutional laws, that of the 25th of February 1875, on the organization of the public powers, and that of the 24th of February 1875, on the organization of the senate. In the middle of the year they were supplemented by a third, that of the 16th of July 1875, on the relations between the public powers. Thus was built up the actual constitution of France. It differs fundamentally, both in form and contents, from previous The constitutions. As to its form, instead of a single French methodical text divided into an uninterrupted series of constitu- articles, it consisted of three distinct laws. As to non. matter, it is obviously a work of an essentially practical nature, the result of compromise and reciprocal concessions. It does not lay down any theoretical principles, and its provisions, which were arrived at with difficulty, confine themselves strictly to what is necessary to ensure the proper operation of the governmental machinery. The result is a compromise between Republican principles and the rules of constitutional and parliamentary monarchy. On this account it has been accused, though unjustly, of being too monarchical. Its duration, by far the longest of any French constitution since 1791, is a sign of its value and vitality. It is in fact a product of history, and not of See also:

• IMAGINATION

The legislative power was given to two elective chambers, having equal powers, the vote of both of which is necessary for legislation, and both having the right of initiating and amending laws. The constitution assures them an ordinary session of five months, which opens by right on the second Tuesday in January. One house, the Chamber of Deputies, is elected by direct universal suffrage and is entirely renewed every four years; the other, the Senate, consists of 30o members, divided by the law of the 27th of February 1875 into two categories; 75 of the senators were elected for life and irremovable, and the first of them were elected by the National Assembly, but afterwards it was the Senate itself which held elections to fill up vacancies. The 225 remaining senators were elected by the departments and by certain colonies, among which they were apportioned in proportion to the population; they are elected for nine years, a third of the house being renewed every three years. The electoral college in each department which nominated them included the deputies, the members of the general council of the department and of the councils of the arrondissements, and one delegate elected by each municipal council, whatever the importance of the commune. This was practically a system of election in two and, partly, three degrees, but with this distinguishing feature, that the electors of the second degree had not been chosen purely with a view to this election, but chiefly for the exercise of other functions. The most important elements in this electoral college were the delegates from the municipal councils, and by giving one delegate to each, to Paris just as to the smallest commune in France, the National Assembly intended to counterbalance the power of numbers, which governed the elections for the Chamber of Deputies, and, at the same time, to give a preponderance to the country districts. The 75 irremovable senators were another precaution against the danger from violent waves of public opinion. The executive power was entrusted to a president, elected for seven years (as Marshal MacMahon had been in 1873), by the Chamber and the Senate, combined into a single body under the name of National Assembly. He is always eligible for re-election, and is irresponsible except in case of high See also:

• TREASON (Fr. trahison, Lat. traditio)

But these powers he can only exercise through the See also:

• MEDIUM

This took place in the same year; the 75 senators for life were suppressed for the future by a process of extinction, and their seats divided among the most populous departments. Further, in the electoral college which elects the senators, there was allotted to the municipal councils a number of delegates proportionate to the number of members of the councils, which depends on the importance of the commune. The law of the 14th of August 1884 also modified the constitution in another important respect. The law of the 25th of February 1875 had admitted the possibility not only of a partial, but even of a total revision, which could affect and even change the form of the state. The law of the 14th of August 1884, however, declared that no proposition for a revision could be accepted which aimed at changing the republican form of government. The composition of the Chamber of Deputies was not fixed by the constitution, and consequently admitted more easily of variation. Since 1871 the mode of election has oscillated between the scrutin de See also:

• LISLE, ALICE (c. 1614-1685)

In the first place, the useful but rather secondary role assigned to the president of the Republic has by no means satisfied all those who have occupied this high office. Two presidents have resigned on the ground that their powers were insufficient. Another, even after re-election, had to withdraw in See also:

• FACE (from Lat. fades, derived either from facere, to make, or from a root fa-, meaning " appear "; cf. Gr. cbatvstv)

It is difficult of application, for the reason that the president must obtain the preliminary consent of the Senate before exercising it; more-over, this valuable right has been discredited by its abuse by Marshal MacMahon in the See also:

• CAMPAIGN

Religious congregations, on the contrary, which are not authorized by a law, are forbidden by this law. The This was not a new principle, but the traditional rule religious in France both before and after the Revolution, congreaa• except that under certain governments authorization Lions. by decree had sufficed. As a matter of fact the unauthorized congregations had been tolerated for a long time, although on various occasions, and especially in 1881, their partial dissolution had been proclaimed by decrees. The law of 1901 dissolved them all, and made it an offence to belong to such a See also:

• CONGREGATION (Lat. congregatio, a gathering together, from cum, with, grex, gregis, a flock, herd)

Finally, a law of the loth of July 1896 dealing with higher education and the faculties of the state reorganized the universities, which form distinct bodies, enjoying a fairly wide autonomy. A law of the t9th of December 1905, abrogating that of the 18th Germinal in the year X., which had sanctioned the Concordat, proclaimed the separa- &para• than of the church from the state. It is based on the tiers of principle of the secular state (Nat laigrie) which recog- church nizes no form of religion, though respecting the right and state. of every citizen to worship according to his beliefs, and it aimed at organizing associations of citizens, the object of Which was to collect the funds and acquire the property necessary for the See also:

• MAINTENANCE (Fr. maintenance, from maintenir, to maintain, support, Lat. manu tenere, to hold in the hand)

The other law is the municipal law of the 5th of See also:

• APRIL

This was a compromise between two opposing principles; the democratic principle of equality, being the stronger, was bound to triumph. The law of the 21st of March 1905 reduced the term of service in the active army to two years, but made it equal for all, admitting of no exemption, but only certain facilities as to the age at which it had to be accomplished. In 1883 the judicial personnel was reorganized and reduced in number. With the exception of a few modifications the main lines of "judicial organization remained the same. andte In 1879 the conseil d'etat was also reorganized. The taxation. whole fabric of administrative jurisdiction was carefully organized, and almost entirely separated from the active administration. The system of taxation has remained essentially unaltered; we may See also:

• NOTICE

As to private law, both civil and commercial, we could enumerate between 1871 and 1906 more than a hundred laws which have modified it, "sometimes profoundly, and have for the most part done very useful work without attracting much See also:

• ATTENTION (from Lat. ad-tendo, await, expect; the condition of being " stretched " or " tense ")