ART. 3. No one shall be elected senator unless he is a Frenchman, not less than forty years of age, and in the enjoyment of his civil and political rights.

ART. 4. The senators of the departments and colonies are elected by an absolute majority, and when there is occasion, by balloting for a list.*

In an electoral college, assembled at the seat of the department, or of the colony, and composed of (1) the deputies, (2) the members of the general council (of the deparement), (3) the members of the council of the arrondissement, (4) delegates elected, one by each municipal council (of a commune), from among the electors of the com mune.t

In French India, the members of the colonial council or of the local councils are substituted for the councillors of the department, councillors of the arrondissement, and the delegates from the municipal councils, the vote at the seat of the colonial establishment.

ART. 5. The senators chosen by the assembly (life senators) are elected by balloting for a list and by an absolute majority of suffrages.

ART. 6. The senators from the departments and colonies are elected for nine years, and are renewable, one-third at a time, every three years. At the beginning of the first session, the departments shall be divided into three series, each containing an equal number of senators. The designation by lot, of the series which shall be renewed at the expiration of the first and of the second triennial period, will then be proceeded with."

ART. 7. The senators elected by the assembly are irremovable. In case of a vacancy, by death, resignation, or other cause, the senate will itself fill it within two months. I

ART. 8. The Senate has, concurrently with the Chamber of Deputies, the right of initiating and framing laws. Financial laws must, however, in the first place, be presented and adopted in the Chamber of Deputies.

ART. 9. The Senate may be constituted a court of justice to try either the President of the Republic or the ministers, or to take cognizance of crimes attempted against the safety of the state.

That is, when there is more than one senator to be elected by a department, the elector will vote a list or ticket containing as many names as there are senators to be elected. To appreciate the effects of this clause, it will be remembered that there are 36,826 communes in France, every one of which sends a delegate to the senatorial electoral college. They far outnumber all the other three classes of delegates, and in fact control the election of senators. The commune is the lowest political subdivision, and generally contains less than 1,000 inhabitants. France is divided into 87 departments, and these into 362 arrondissements, which are not far from our Congressional districts in population; these, again, are divided into 2,863 cantons, which are subdivided into 36,826

communes.

The councils of the arrondissement contain as many members, not less than 9, as there are cantons in the arrondissement. The councils of the departments, which are called "general councils," contain as many members, not exceeding 30, as there are cantons in the department. There are generally two deputies from each arrondissement. From these elements it will be seen that the electoral college which elects a senator is generally composed of eight or ten deputies, 25 to 35 general councillors of the department, as many more councillors of the arrondissement, and 400 or 500 delegates from communes. These electoral colleges have acted with dignity, moderation, and good sense, and Frenchmen are satisfied with the system generally, though some think that the electoral colleges are more conservative than the people, owing to the personal influences of the councillors, who are often large landed proprietors, over the delegates from the communes.

This provision has gradually developed some important political results. Among the 75 life senators, originally elected by the national assembly which framed the constitution, deaths occur from time to time.

These vacancies are filled by the vote of the whole senate, not only the 75 life senators, but the 225 chosen by the electoral colleges for nine years.

Of course the political party which has a majority of all the senators fills vacancies with senators belonging to it. In this way when a life senator belonging to the minority party dies he is replaced by one belonging to the majority party, which thus increases its own majority by two votes. For a time parties were almost exactly balanced in the Senate; by successive vacancies caused by death and replaced in this way, the Senate has become "conservative" and remains so, while the Chamber of Deputies, reflecting the popular sentiment of France, is in the hands of an immense Republican majority, which is steadily increasing.

Constitutional law in regard to the relations of the public powers to each other.

Passed by National Assembly July 16, 1875.

ARTICLE 1. The Senate and Chamber of Deputies meet every year on the second Tuesday of January, unless sooner called together by the President of the Republic. The two chambers shall be in session at least five months every year. The session of one commences and ends at the same time as that of the other.

On the Sunday following the reopening, public prayers shall be offered up to God in the churches to call down his aid upon the labors of the assembly.

ART. 2. The President of the Republic declares the closing of the session. He has the right to call the chambers together in extraordinary session. He shall call them together in the interval of the sessions, if it is demanded by an absolute majority of the members composing each chamber.

The President may adjourn the chambers. The adjournment, however, cannot exceed the term of one month, nor take place more than twice in the same session.

ART. 3. At least one month before the legal termination of the powers of the President of the Republic, the chambers shall meet together in National Assembly to proceed to the election of the new President. In default of being called together this meeting will take place of right on 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 will assemble immediately and of right.

In case the Chamber of Deputies shall have been dissolved, pursuant to article 5 of the law of February 25, 1875, at the time when the Presidency of the Republic becomes vacant, the electoral colleges shall be called together immediately and the Senate shall assemble of right.

ART. 4. Any meeting of one of the two chambers held outside of the time of the common session is illegal and absolutely null, except in the case contemplated by the preceding article, and that where the Senate sits as a court of justice, and in this last case it can only exercise judicial functions.

AR1. 5. The sittings of the senate and Chamber of Deputies are public. Nevertheless each chamber may resolve itself into secret committee, upon the request of a certain number of its members, fixed by the rules. It shall decide afterwards by an absolute majority whether the sitting shall be resumed in public on the same subject. ART. 6. The President of the Republic communicates with the chambers by messages, which are read at the tribune by a minister. The ministers have admission to the two chambers and must be heard when they ask it. They may be assisted by commissioners designated by decree of the President of the Republic, for the discussion of a special bill.

ART. 7. The President of the Republic promulgates the laws within the month which follows the transmission to the government of the law definitively adopted. He shall, within three days, promulgate laws, the promulgation of which shall have been declared urgent by an express vote of both chambers. The President of the Republic may, within the delay fixed for the promulgation, ask of the two chambers a new deliberation, in a message giving his reasons therefor, which cannot be refused.

ART. 8. The President of the Republic negotiates and ratifies treaties. He communicates them to the chambers as soon as the interest and safety of the state permit. Treaties of peace, of commerce, treaties which engage the finances of the state, those which relate to the personal condition and rights of property of French citizens in foreign countries, are not definitive until they have been voted by the two chambers. No cession, nor exchange, nor addition of territory can take place except in virtue of a law.

ART. 9. The President of the Republic cannot declare war without the previons assent of the two chambers.

ART. 10. Each chamber is the judge of the eligibility of its members and of the reg ularity of their election; it alone can accept their resignations.

ART. 11. The officers of each chamber are elected every year for the duration of the session, and for any extraordinary session which may take place before the ordinary session of the following year. When the two chambers meet in National Assembly their officers shall be composed of the president, vice-president, and secretaries of the Senate.

ART. 12. The President of the Republic can be impeached by the Chamber of Deputies only, and can be tried by the Senate only. The ministers may be impeached by the Chamber of Deputies for crimes committed in the exercise of their functions. In that case they are tried by the Senate.

The Senate may be constituted a court of justice by decree of the President of the Republic, rendered in cabinet council, to try any person arraigned for crime attempted against the safety of the state.

If proceedings have been commenced in the ordinary courts of justice, the decree for the convocation of the Senate may be issued up to the time when the case is or

dered to trial. The mode of procedure for the impeachment, the examination, and the judgment will be determined by a law.

ART. 13. No member of either chamber shall be prosecuted or called to account for opinions or votes given by him in the exercise of his functions.

ART. 14. No member of either chamber shall, during the continuance of the session, be prosecuted or arrested without the authorization of the chamber to which he belongs, or a charge of crime or misdemeanor, unless it be a case where he is taken in the act.

The imprisonment or prosecution of a member of either chamber is suspended during the session or during its whole continuance, if the chamber requires it.

Organic law in relation to the election of Senators.

Passed by the National Assembly August 2, 1875.

ARTICLE 1. A decree of the President of the Republic, issued at least six weeks in advance, fixes the day of elections for the Senate, and at the same time that of choosing the delegates from the municipal councils. There shall be an interval of not less than one month between the choice of delegates and the election of Senators.

ART. 2. Each municipal council elects one delegate. The election is held without debate, in secret ballot, by an absolute majority of suffrages. After two ballots a relative majority is sufficient, and in case of a tie, the oldest is elected.

It the mayor does not form part of the municipal council, he shall preside, but he shall take no part in the vote.

On the same day, and in the same manner, a substitute shall be elected to fill the place of the delegate in case he resigns or is prevented from serving. No one shall be chosen by the municipal councils who is a deputy member of the general council of the department, or member of the council of arrondissement. Any elector in the commune may be chosen, including the municipal councillors, without distinction. ART. 3. In communes where there is a municipal commission, the delegate and the substitute shall be chosen by the former council.*

ART. 4. If the delegate has not been present at the election, the mayor shall take care to notify him of it within twenty-four hours. He must send to the prefect, within five days, notice of his acceptance. In case he declines or is silent, the substi tute takes his place and is then entered on the list as the delegate from the commune. ART. 5. The report of the election of the delegate and of the substitute is transmitted immediately to the prefect; it mentions the acceptance or the refusal of the delegates and substitutes, as well as protests made by one or more members of the municipal council against the regularity of the election. A copy of this report is posted on the door of the mayor's office.

ART. 6. A table of the results of the election of delegates and substitutes is prepared by the prefect within eight eight days; this table is communicated to any one applying for it; it may be copied and published. Every elector may, in like manner, examine and copy, in the offices of the prefecture, the list, by communes, of the municipal councilors in the department, and, in the offices of the subprefectures, the list by communes of the municipal councillors of the arrondissement.

ART. 7. Every elector of the commune may, within three days, send directly to the prefect a protest against the regularity of the election. If the prefect is of opinion that the proceedings have been irregular, he has the right to demand that they be annulled.

ART. 8. Protests in relation to the election of delegates or substitutes are passed upon, reserving appeal to the council of state by the council of the prefecture, and in the colonies by the privy council.

The delegate whose election is annulled because he does not fulfill one of the conditions required by the law, or because of a defect of form, is replaced by the substitute.

In case the election of the delegate and that of the substitute are annulled, or in case both decline, or die after accepting, the municipal council will proceed to a new election on the day fixed by an order of the prefect.

ART. 9. Eight days, at the latest, before the election of Senators, the prefect, and in the colonies the director of the interior, shall prepare the list of the electors of the department in alphabetical order. This list is communicated to any one applying for it, and may be copied and published.

No elector can have more than one vote.

ART. 10. The deputies, the members of the general council, or of the corncils of the arrondissement, who have been proclaimed by the committee on returns, but whose

The government sometimes suspends the municipal council of a commune, and appoints in its place temporarily a commission.

powers have not been verified, shall be inscribed on the list of electors, and may take part in the vote.

ART. 11. In each of the three departments of Algiers, the electoral college is composed of, first, the deputies; second, the members of the general councils who are French citizens; third, delegates elected by the members of each municipal council who are French citizens, from among the electors of the commune who are French citizens.

ART. 12. The electoral college is presided over by the presiding judge of the civil tribunal of the chief town of the department or colony. He is assisted by the two oldest and the two youngest electors present at the opening of the session. The officers thus composed will choose a secretary among the electors.

If the president is prevented from serving, he is replaced by the vice-president, and in his absence by the oldest judge.

ART. 13. The officers will divide the electors, in alphabetical order, into voting seetions comprising at least one hundred electors; will name the president and scrutators of each section; will decide all difficulties and contests which may arise in the course of the election, due regard being had, however, to the decisions rendered by virtue of article 8 of the present law.

ART. 14. The first ballot commences at eight o'clock in the morning and closes at noon. The second commences at two and closes at four o'clock. The third, if there is occasion for it, commences at six and closes at eight. The results of the ballots are verified by the officers, and proclaimed the same day by the president of the electoral ⚫ollege.

ART. 15. No one is elected senator at either of the first two ballots, unless he receives, first, an absolute majority of the votes cast; second, a number of votes equal to one-fourth of the electors registered. At the third ballot a relative majority suffices, and in case of a tie the oldest is elected.

ART. 16. Electoral meetings for the nomination of senators may be held in conformity with the regulations laid down in the law of June 6, 1868, with the following modifications:

1. These meetings may be held from the day of the nomination of the delegates to the day of the vote, inclusively.

2. They must be preceded by a declaration made, not later than the evening before, by seven senatorial electors of the arrondissement, indicating the place, day, and hour of the meeting, and the names, professions, and residences of the candidates who will present themselves.

3. The municipal authorities will take care that no one enters the meeting unless he is a deputy, councillor general, councillor of the arrondissement, delegate or candidate. A delegate will prove his title by a certificate from the mayor of his commune; a candidate by a certificate from the functionary who shall have received the declaration mentioned in the preceding paragraph.

ART. 17. Delegates, who shall have taken part at all the ballots shall, if they apply for it, receive from the public funds, upon the presentation of their letters of convocation, endorsed by the president of the electoral college, allowance for mileage, which will be paid to them on the same base and in the same manner as that accorded to jurors by articles 33, 90 et seq., of the decree of June 18, 1811.

A regulation of the public administration will determine the mode of taxing and paying this compensation.*

ART. 18. Every delegate who, without legitimate cause, fails to take part in all the ballots, or who, being hindered therefrom, has not notified the substitute in proper time, shall be fined 50 francs by the civil tribunal of the chief town of the department, upon the application of the public prosecutor.

The same penalty may be applied to the substitute delegate, who, after having been apprised by letter, telegraphic dispatch, or notice delivered to him personally, in sufficent time fails to take part in the electoral proceedings.

ART. 19. Every attempt at corruption by the employment of the means set forth in Articles 177 et seq. of the penal code, to influence the vote of an elector, or to induce him to abstain from voting, shall be punished by imprisonment for from three months to two years and a fine of from 50 to 500 francs, or by one of these penalties only. Article 463 of the penal code is applicable to the penalties inflicted by the present

article.t

ART. 20. The functions of senator are incompatible with those of councillor of state, and maître des requêtes.

"The regulation herein contemplated was issued a few months later, December 26, 1875, and fixes the mileage of senatorial electors at 24 francs (50 cents) per myriametre (6) miles) going and returning.

By this article, 463, the penalty is slightly softened, if the jury find extenuating circumstances.

A maître des requêtes is a member of the council of state, next in rank to a councillor.

Prefect and sub-prefect (except prefect of Seine and prefect of police), law officers of the state in the courts of appeal and tribunals of first instance (except the prosecutor-general of the court of Paris), the treasurer-paymaster of the department, receiver of taxes of arrondissement, and functionary or employé in the central administrations

of the ministries.

ART. 21. The following-described persons cannot be elected (senators) by the department or by the colony comprised in whole or in part in their jurisdiction, during the exercise of their functions, and for six months which follow the cessation of their functions by resignation, dismissal, change of residence, or in any other manner, viz: (1) the first presidents, the presidents, and the officers of public prosecution of the courts of appeal; (2) the presidents, vice-presidents, examining judges, and officers of public prosecution of the tribunals of first instance; (3) the prefect of police, the prefects and sub-prefects, and the secretaries-general of the prefectures; the governors, directors of the interior, and secretaries-general of the colonies; (4) the engineers-in-chief (of departments) and of arrondissement, the road trustees in chief and of department; (5) the rectors and inspectors of academies; (6) inspectors of primary schools; (7) archbishops, bishops, and vicars-general; (8) officers of all grades in the army by land and sea; (9) the commissaries of stores of divisions and the sub-commissaries; (10) the paymasters-general and the receivers in the finance department; (11) the directors of taxes, direct and indirect, of registry, of the domaines, and of the post-office; (12) the conservators and inspectors of forests.

ART. 22. A senator who is elected in several departments shall make known his choice to the president of the Senate within ten days after the declaration of the validity of these elections. In default of choice within that time, the question is to be decided by lot and in public session.

The vacancy shall be filled within one month and by the same electoral body. It is the same in the case of an election which is declared void.

ART. 23. If by death or resignation the number of senators from a department is reduced one-half, the vacancies shall be filled within three months, unless they occur within the twelve months which precede the triennial renewal. At the time fixed for the triennial renewal all vacancies which shall have occurred shall be filled, whatever their number or date.

ART. 24. The election for the senators to be chosen by the national assembly shall be held in public session, balloting for a list of persons, by an absolute majority of those voting, whatever the number of trials.

ART. 25. When there is occasion to provide for replacing senators elected by virtue of article 7 of the law of February 24, 1875 (life Senators), the senate will proceed according to the forms indicated in the preceding article.

ART. 25. The members of the Senate receive the same compensation as those of the Chamber of Deputies (9,000 francs per annum).

ART. 27. All the provisions of the electoral law in relation to (1) unworththiness and incapacity; (2) misdemeanors, prosecutions, and penalties; and (3) the formalities of elections, in so far as they are not contrary to the provisions of the present law, are applicable to the election of the Senate.

Organic law regulating the election of deputies.

Passed November 30, 1875.

ARTICLE 1. The deputies shall be elected by electors inscribed (1) on the lists prepared in execution of the law of July 7th, 1374 (which, among others, provides for the registration of voters for municipal or local elections, and includes French citizens twenty-one years of age living two years in the commune where they vote); (2) on the complemental list, comprising those who have resided in the commune for six months. Inscription on the complemental list shall be made in conformity with the laws and regulations which now govern the political electoral lists, by the commissions and according to the forms established in articles 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the law of July 7, 1874. Petitions of appeal in relation to both lists shall be carried directly before the civil chamber of the court of appeals.*

* The reason for requiring two years' residence in those voting in municipal or local elections is to assure a real interest in the local affairs of the commune. Six months' residence of a citizen is deemed sufficient for those voting for deputies where the interest in view is that of all France. The practical difference is found to be less than was expected.

In 1874 there were only 362,097 more political than municipal electors. On the 31st March, of that year, at the political or general election there were 9,911,737 votes cast; on the 17th September, at the municipal elections for local officers, there were 9,549,640.