French Constitution of 1791

1791 Constitution.

The French Constitution of 1791, the first written constitution in French history, was promulgated by the National Constituent Assembly on September 3, 1791 and accepted by Louis XVI. It contained the reform of the State French, leaving France configured as a constitutional monarchy.

The Constitution establishes that sovereignty resides in the Nation and no longer in the king, who calls himself the "king of the French". It proclaims freedom of thought and of the press, and religious freedom. It abolishes the nobility and hereditary distinctions, the orders of chivalry, corporations and guilds, and establishes free access to trades and functions that until now were reserved for the nobility or inherited. The maintenance of places of worship becomes dependent on the State, which will pay the religious.

Guarantees the inviolability of private property. Create a public instruction service to provide citizens with free basic education. It also creates a public charity to take care of orphaned children and take care of people with disabilities.

Acceptance of the 1791 Constitution (unknown authorship, 18th century).

Proclamation of the Constitution in the market square of the Inocentes, September 14, 1791 (Museum of the French Revolution).

It establishes the division of executive, legislative and legal powers.

• The drafting of the laws was a National Legislative Assembly. He voted the laws, the taxes and declared war, with the approval of the king.
• The executive power remained in the hands of the monarchy, the king has the power to appoint and dismiss ministers.
• The judiciary was granted to independent courts.

The equality of citizens before taxes is declared, which will be proportional to the properties and income. The tax system was also modified: indirect taxes were eliminated and direct taxes were introduced, the amount of which depended on the wealth owned (whether land, urban property, or industrial or commercial businesses).^{[citation required ]}

The system for electing deputies to the Legislative Assembly was as follows: French men were classified (women were excluded from citizenship) as "active citizens" (those who paid direct taxes equivalent to 3 days of work, were over 25 years old and had resided for over a year in their region) and "passive citizens" (those who did not pay taxes). Only "active citizens" they chose the electors of their department. These voters were the ones who chose the provincial deputies for the assembly. In 1791, France had 4,298,360 active citizens who represented 61% of men and 15% of the total population. This type of election is called census (only the richest can vote) and indirect, since the Deputies are not voted for directly by all those who have the right to vote, but through their representatives.

Preamble

The preamble to the French constitution of 1791 was the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen:

Preamble

The representatives of the people constituted in the National Assembly, considering that the ignorance, oblivion or contempt of the rights of man are the only causes of public calamities and the corruption of the governments, have decided to present, in a solemn declaration, the natural, inalienable and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, constantly present to all members of the social body, will constantly remind them of their rights and duties; in order that the acts of the most effective

Accordingly, the National Assembly recognizes and declares, in the presence of the Supreme Being and under its auspices, the following rights of men and citizens:

Article first.- Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can only be based on common utility.

Article 2.- The purpose of any political association is to preserve the natural and imprescriptible rights of men. Such rights are freedom, property, security and resistance to oppression.

Article 3.- The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the Nation. No body, no individual, can exercise an authority that does not expressly emanate from it.

Article 4.- Freedom is to be able to do everything that does not harm another: therefore, the exercise of the natural rights of every man has no other limits than those that guarantee the other members of society the enjoyment of these same rights. Such limits can only be determined by law.

Article 5.- The law only has the right to prohibit acts harmful to society. Nothing that is not prohibited by law can be prevented, and no one can be constrained to do something that it does not order.

Article 6.- The law is the expression of the general will. All citizens have the right to contribute to their elaboration, either personally or through their representatives. It must be the same for all, whether it protects or sanctions. As all citizens are equal before it, all are equally admissible in all public dignity, office or employment, according to their abilities and without any other distinction than that of their virtues and talents.

Article 7.- No man may be charged, arrested or detained, as not in the cases determined by law and in accordance with the forms prescribed by law. Those who request, submit, execute or enforce arbitrary orders shall be punished; but every citizen summoned or apprehended under the law must obey immediately; he is guilty if he opposes resistance.

Article 8.- The law must only establish strict and evidently necessary penalties, and no one may be punished except by a law established and promulgated prior to the offence, and applied legally.

Article 9.- Since every man is presumed innocent as long as he is not found guilty, if it is deemed indispensable to stop him, any rigor that is not necessary to take hold of his person must be severely repressed by the law.

Article 10.- No one should be disturbed by their views, including religious ones, provided that their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law.

Article 11. The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the most precious rights of man; consequently, every citizen can freely speak, write and print, barring from responding to the abuse of this freedom in cases determined by law.

Article 12.- The guarantee of the rights of man and the citizen needs a public force; therefore, this force has been instituted for the benefit of all, and not for the particular benefit of those to whom it has been entrusted.

Article 13.- A common contribution is indispensable for the maintenance of the public force and for the costs of administration; it must be shared equally among citizens, proportionate to their capacity.

Article 14.- Citizens have the right to verify, by themselves or through their representatives, the need for public contribution, to accept it freely, to monitor its employment and to determine its pro rata, base, collection and duration.

Article 15.- Society has the right to seek accounts of its management to any pubic agent.

Article 16.- Any society in which the guarantee of rights is not established, or the separation of powers is determined, has no Constitution.

Article 17.- As the property is an inviolable and sacred right, no one can be deprived of it, except when the public necessity, legally proven, requires it in an obvious way, and on condition of just and prior compensation.

Chronology of the French constitutions