House of Commons (France)

The House of Commons is the name carried, in France, by:

of 1814 with 1848 under the Restoration and the Monarchy of July, the Lower House of the French Parliament elected with the Vote censitaire.
of 1875 with 1940 under the Third Republic, the legislative assembly elected with the Vote for all. This one, joined together in National Assembly in Versailles with the Senate, it proceeded to the election of the President of the Republic.

The House of Commons under the Restoration

Instituted by the constitutional Charter of June 4th, 1814 and replacing the legislative Body, which existed under the Empire, the House of Commons is made up of elected officials to the Suffrage censitaire. However the ministers can be selected among the latter. This practice will make it possible to constitute a parliamentary starter of mode in France of the Restoration and to sometimes give to the new mode a liberal character. It was charged to discuss the laws and more especially to vote the tax. According to the charter of 1814, the deputies, elected for five years, renewed themselves each year per fifth; they were to be 40 years old and to pay 1000 FR. of direct taxation.

The House of Commons under the Monarchy of July

This room is always elected by the vote censitaire according to the constitutional Charte of August 14th, 1830. The political life of the Monarchy of July is organized around cleavage with the progressist, House of Commons which separates the party from the “movement” and regarding the Charter of 1830 as a starting point, and that of “resistance”, conservative and who does not accept any additional installation. If the two opposing parties alternate initially with the capacity, this one is confiscated as from 1840 by Guizot and the conservatives. Since 1830, the deputies were elected for five consecutive years; it was enough to be 30 years old and to pay 500 FR. of contributions. The king convened each year the Room; he could extend it or dissolve it; but, in this last case, it was to convene of it a news in the three months space. The House of Commons took again in 1852 the name of legislative Body.

The House of Commons under the Third Republic

Mode of election

The House of Commons of IIIe République is generally elected with the poll of district, but the way of voting is several times modified.

In 1885, the election of the deputies is done with the majority list system within the framework of the department. The uninominal system is restored by the law of February 13rd, 1889.
the law of July 12th, 1919 establishes a list system to proportional with a very strong premium in the majority. The elections of November 1919 and 1924 proceed according to this system; but with the elections of 1928, the uninominal majority poll with two turns is restored.

Detailed explanations are available on the site of the National Assembly

Competences and role

She had the capacity to censure the government, but in practice the executive used only once against her the counterpart of this capacity, the dissolution of the Room. That led to a mode that many authors qualified Régime from assembly and either a parliamentary Régime.

Groups and characters - keys

This aims to list or define briefly the actors of the parliamentary life of the period.

Groups: Royalist S (Legitimist S and Orléaniste S), Liberal, Republican, Socialist S, Nationalist S
Perso:

Beginnings: Thiers, Gambetta, Georges Baker, Henri V

to come -->

Anecdote

The law professors constitutional a long time could say to their pupils: “Under the Fifth Republic, the House of Commons is only one subway station”. Indeed, the station House of Commons was famous National Assembly only in 1989.

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