The French Constitution of the October 4th 1958 is the fifteenth Constitution of the history of the France. It organizes the operation of the Institution S of the Fifth Republic which is based on the Démocratie (“government of the people, by the people and for the people”).

It was adopted by Référendum the September 28th 1958 with a vast majority. It since was modified twenty-two times, either by the Parliament assembled in Congress, or directly by the people through the expression of the Référendum.

Its preamble returns to three other fundamental texts: the Declaration of the Human rights and the Citizen of August 26th, 1789, the Preamble to the Constitution of October 27th, 1946 and the Charter of the environment of 2004. These texts, as well as the Basic principles recognized by the laws of the Republic, form the Bloc of constitutionality.

The French Constitutional council checks a priori the conformity of the laws to the Constitution when it is seized by it. The ordinary judge can also apply it directly at the time of a litigation.

In short

It was written to leave the governmental instability and the crisis of the Guerre of Algeria and is marked by the return of an executive extremely. Its drafting was influenced jointly by Michel Debré, inspired by the British model and its strong Prime Minister, and by De Gaulle wanting to affirm the President of the Republic like guarantor of the institutions. The constitution of the fifth republic is very influenced by the principles stated by Charles de Gaulle at the time of her famous speech in Bayeux on June 16th, 1946…

History

The crisis of May 13rd, 1958 involved the return to the capacity of the General De Gaulle. June 1st, the Général de Gaulle is invested by the Parliament like President of the Council. It agrees to take again the capacity and " to assume the capacities of République" on the condition of being able to control by ordinance for one six months duration and to be able to modify the Constitution. The Parliament accepts its conditions, and adopts the constitutional law of June 3rd 1958, which authorizes the de Gaulle government to propose a modification of the Constitution and by subjecting this revision to basic conditions and form. The revision will have to thus be subjected to Référendum. This procedure remains discussed and free from certain reproaches, is not waited until it makes it possible the government of Charles de Gaulle to derogate from the procedure of constraining revision of the Constitution of IVe République.

Surrounded by Michel Debré but also of a procession of policies of another edges, the drafting of the Constitution will take all the summer.

Subjected to referendum on September 28th 1958, the constitution project of the Ve République is adopted by the voters by the vote for all. It is promulgated by Rene Coty on October 4th 1958.

One distinguishes three great stages in the formation from this new Constitution:

The first with the development of a preliminary draft of Constitution, which begins on July 29th. Two bodies take part in the preparation of this preliminary draft. The Committee of experts, made up of senior officials, and the formed Interdepartmental Committee of the De Gaulle general, Michel Debré, the President of the Council, and the Minister of Justice. These two committees, which thus will be at the origin of the formation of a new Constitution, will be based, with this intention, on various proposals posed by the Left as by the Line since 1920 and having like base the reinforcement of the Executive power compared to the Legislative power…

The second phase was the intervention of the Advisory committee formed by the Parliament to deliberate on this preliminary draft. The Advisory committee proposed some changes, which did not modify the general economy of the text, and of which some were retained.

Lastly, last stage, the modified preliminary draft was, as of on August 15th 1958, examined by the Council of State.

The text resulting from all these interventions will be, on September 28th 1958, adopted by the French voters, consulted by Référendum, with a majority of more than 80% of the voices.

Important provisions

The Constitution of 1958 contains primarily articles organizing the French institutions. One will thus refer to the corresponding articles for their missions, their attributions and the relationship between them.

The Basic rights, them, are recognized by reference with the texts of the Déclaration of the human rights and the citizen of 1789, the preamble of the Constitution of 1946, the Basic principles recognized by the laws of the Republic as well as the Charte of the environment of 2004.

  • the article 2 on the attributes of the Sovereignty.

  • the article 3 on the exercise of the Sovereignty by the People,
  • the article 4 on the role of the left and groupings political, and on the principle of Democracy.
  • the article 5 on the responsibilities for the President of the Republic as a guarantor of the Institution S.
  • the article 11 on the role of the President of the Republic in the procedure of referendum
  • the article 12 on the dissolution of the National Assembly
  • the article 14 on the responsibilities for the President for the Republic as a chief for the Diplomatie.
  • the article 15 on the responsibilities for the President of the Republic as a chief of the Armed S
  • the article 16 on the extraordinary capacities with the President with the Republic in the event of serious threat with the Republic.
  • Article 20 of the Constitution of the fifth French Republic on attributions of the government
  • the article 21 on the capacities of the Prime Minister
  • article 47 on the vote by the Parliament of the projects of Finance law under the conditions envisaged by a Organic law.
  • the article 49 on the political responsibility of the government before the Parliament.
  • the following article 72 and articles on the territorial collectivities.
  • the article 88 on the agreements which the Republic can conclude with States which wish to join it to develop their civilizations (Title XV Of the European Communities and the European Union introduces following the Traité of Maastricht in 1992)
  • the article 89 on the revision of the Constitution.

The revision of the Constitution

See also: Article 89 of the Constitution of 1958

The revision of the Constitution is done according to article 89 and is carried out in 3 specific phases: initiative, discussion and adoption, ratification. The constitutional law is then promulgated by the President of the Republic. Revisions were also taken on the base of article 11.

Principal revisions

See also: Constitutional revisions under the Fifth Republic

Random links:Carlo Maria Martini | Political parties Lebanese | Well Connected students | Jewels of the Princess | William Hallam Tuck