Constitution of Year VIII

The Constitution of the Year VIII was a constitution that came into force in France on December 24, 1799 (4 of Nivoso of the year VIII, according to the French republican calendar). He established a form of government known as the Consulate. It was the consequence of the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire (November 9, 1799) that ended the Directory, the last stage of the French Revolution. It was prepared by a legislative committee. The constitution was tailored to the first consul, Napoleon Bonaparte, who was given powers similar to those of a dictator. As Michel Péronnet has pointed out, "the constitution of the year VIII is the result of Bonaparte's will to secure power."

It was approved in a plebiscite by the French people (3,011,077 yes votes against 1,562 no), which at the same time served to legitimize the coup d'état. It had 95 articles, and was the first constitution since the French Revolution of 1789 without a declaration of rights. It was succeeded by the Constitution of the Year X, which declared Napoleon first consul for life. Despite this, there would not be a return to the monarchy of the Old Regime, but rather the social changes introduced by the Revolution were consolidated.

Content

In the proclamation of the consuls that accompanied the text submitted to the plebiscite, the following was stated:

The constitution is based on the authentic principles of representative government, on the sacred rights of property, equality and freedom... The powers [the constitution] institutes will be strong and stable... Citizens, the Revolution is placed in the principles that began it: it has concluded...

Although it was approved in a plebiscite by the French people, the Constitution of the Year VIII abolished de facto the national sovereignty and universal suffrage that it had only reestablished in theory. The latter was replaced by "lists of trust", devised by Sieyès, which numbered between 600,000 and 800,000 citizens throughout the country, "the most honest to manage public affairs", of which only between 6,000 and 8,000 were " eligible for national public functions. The legislative power was also suppressed by being divided into three assemblies without legislative initiative, which corresponded exclusively to the first consul Napoleon Bonaparte, who had the Council of State - whose 29 members were appointed by him - to prepare the projects. These passed first to the Tribunate, made up of one hundred members, which was limited to giving its opinion for or against, and then to the Legislative Body, whose three hundred members voted for them "in secret scrutiny and without any discussion" - which is why its members They were called the mute―. Then the first consul decided whether he would promulgate the law or send it to the conservative Senate to determine its constitutionality. The members of the conservative Senate, initially 60 and later 80, initially appointed by the consuls, were renewed by co-option from lists proposed by the first consul. The conservative Senate in turn appointed the members of the Tribunate and the Legislative Body from among those registered on the national "trust list" and also had the power to modify the Constitution through a senate-consultation.

The executive power corresponded to the first consul Napoleon Bonaparte - since the other two consuls, Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès and Charles-François Lebrun, only had an advisory voice, and furthermore there was no council of ministers so Bonaparte decided. everything ultimately - and was not subject to the control of the Legislative Body. Likewise, the first consul could order the arrest of "the alleged authors or accomplices of a conspiracy against the security of the State," thus rendering the separation of powers a dead letter.

Michel Péronnet has pointed out that "the men of brumaire wish to avoid the electoral adventures [that had undermined the Directory regime] and, at the same time that they preserve power in the hands of the notables, ensure the duration and continuity of the executive. Sieyès tried to carry it out from the moment of the success of the coup d'état, but he ran into Bonaparte who confiscated brumaire for his benefit and had a constitution adopted in whose text "only Bonaparte" appeared.

The last two articles of the Constitution included the prohibition that émigrés "who had abandoned their homeland since July 14, 1789" could return to France and that national property sold " "whatever their origin" are acquired irrevocably by "the legitimate acquirer."

Institutions

• The Consulate is the governing body. It is usually composed of three consuls elected by the Senate for ten years and re-electable indefinitely. Article 39 legalizes the coup by stating that "the constitution appoints citizen Bonaparte first consul... second consul to citizen Cambacérès... third consul to citizen Lebrun." But the powers of the first consul are much greater than those of the other two—which have only one advisory power—and are not limited to the executive. As Michel Péronnet pointed out, the first consul (Bonaparte) "promulgates the laws discussed and voted by the assemblies [Tribunado and Legislative Corps]; has the initiative of the laws; the first consul project is drafted and structured by an office whose members are appointed by himself: the Council of State. The first consul appoints ministers, ambassadors, officials and judges, who nevertheless enjoy unmovability; the first consul decides only public expenses within the framework of a "annual budget law"; sets the percentage and title of currencies in circulation, directs armies and diplomacy, but must submit the declaration of war, peace negotiations and trade treaties to the approval of the legislative law."

• The Taxation is a legislative assembly consisting of one hundred members (tribes) and whose composition is renewed annually by fifths, appointed by the Senate on the national trust list. It has the capacity to discuss the laws that are submitted to it by the government, but not to amend or approve them and lacks legislative initiative. It regulates the bills together with the summaries of its discussions with the Legislative Corps.

• The Legislative body consists of three hundred members, including at least one from each department (article 31). He's in charge of voting the laws without arguing.

• The Conservative Senate is an assembly of eighty notables appointed by cooptation from a list proposed by the first consul. Designated senators are vitally responsible, and cannot perform any other public function. As Michel Péronnet pointed out, "it has important powers: to ensure the constitutionality of the laws and to appoint members of the legislative assemblies—tributed and legislative bodies—on the basis of the national trust list."

Chronology of the French constitutions