Chamber of Deputies (Third French Republic)

Chamber of Deputies

Chambre des députés
French Third Republic
Type
Type
Term limits
4 years
History
Established8 March 1876
Disbanded31 May 1942
Preceded byNational Assembly (1871–1876)
Succeeded byProvisional Consultative Assembly of Algiers (1943–1944)
Leadership
President of the Chamber
Head of State
Structure
Seats520–618 (depending on legislature)
Political groups
Composition after the 1876 election:
Political groups
  •   Far-left: 20 seats
      Republican Union: 88 seats
      Republican Left: 138 seats
      Centre-left: 114 seats
      Others: 4 seats
      Constitutionalists and Orléanists: 43 seats
      Bonapartists: 97 seats
      Legitimists: 30 seats
Length of term
66 years, 2 months, 23 days
Constitution
Constitutional Laws of 1875
Footnotes
Voting system: Universal male suffrage and two-round majority voting (system modified several times).

Last election: 1936.
Upper house: Senate.

Government:
102 governments
  • Dufaure IV, Simon, De Broglie III, De Rochebouët, Dufaure V, Waddington, De Freycinet I, Ferry I, Gambatta, De Freycinet II, Duclerc, Fallières, Ferry II, Brisson I, De Freycinet III, Goblet, Rouvier I, Tirard I, Floquet, Tirard II, De Freycinet IV, Loubet, Ribot I, Ribot II, Dupuy I, Casimir-Perier, Dupuy II, Dupuy III, Ribot III, Bourgeois, Méline, Brisson II, Dupuy IV, Dupuy V, Waldeck-Rousseau, Combes, Rouvier II, Rouvier III, Sarrien, Clemenceau I, Briand I, Briand II, Monis, Caillaux, Poincaré I, Briand III, Briand IV, Barthou, Doumergue I, Ribot IV, Viviani I, Viviani II, Briand V, Briand VI, Ribot V, Painlevé I, Clemenceau II, Millerand I, Millerand II, Leygues, Briand VII, Poincaré II, Poincaré III, François-Marsal, Herriot I, Painlevé II, Painlevé III, Briand VIII, Briand IX, Briand X, Herriot II, Poincaré IV, Poincaré V, Briand XI, Tardieu I, Chautemps I, Tardieu II, Steeg, Laval I, Laval II, Laval III, Tardieu III, Herriot III, Paul-Boncour, Daladier I, Sarraut I, Chautemps II, Daladier II, Doumergue II, Flandin I, Bouisson, Laval IV, Sarraut II, Blum I, Chautemps III, Chautemps IV, Blum II, Daladier III, Daladier IV, Daladier V, Reynaud, Pétain
.
Sessions:
16 legislatures
.
31 December 1875: The National Assembly promulgates the Organic Law of Election and dissolves to form a new National Assembly under the Constitution.
20 February and 5 March 1876: Elections for the 1st legislature begin on 8 March.
13 March 1876: Jules Grévy elected president of the Chamber.
3 November 1879: Both parliamentary chambers transferred to Paris (Palais Bourbon and Palais du Luxembourg).
29 July 1939: Decree-law extends the legislature's term by 2 years until 31 May 1942.
1 September 1939: Start of World War II.
8 June 1940: German advance disrupts French front; debate begins on continuing the war.
10 June 1940: Government leaves Paris for Tours.
14 June 1940: Germans occupy Paris; Parliament moves to Bordeaux.
19 June 1940: Germans enter Vichy.
22 June 1940: Armistice.
1 July 1940: Government moves to Vichy and convenes Parliament on 2 July.
4 July 1940: 670 parliamentarians (deputies and senators)[1]convene in Vichy for the National Assembly.
8 July 1940: Grand Casino in Vichy converted into the Chamber of Deputies.
9 July 1940: Édouard Herriot presides over the final session of the Chamber of Deputies.
10 July 1940: At the Vichy Opera, the 16th legislature votes a constitutional law suspending the Constitution and granting full powers to Philippe Pétain (569 for, 80 against, 20 abstentions).
11 July 1940: The Chamber is prorogued and adjourned by Constitutional Act No. 3;[2] chambers adjourned sine die, ending the National Assembly de facto.
31 May 1942: Legal end of the National Assembly.
3 November 1943: Start of the Provisional Consultative Assembly of Algiers.

In France, from 1875 to 1940, under the Third Republic, the Chamber of Deputies was the name of the legislative assembly elected by universal suffrage. When convened together with the Senate at Versailles, forming the National Assembly, it elected the President of the Republic.[3]

Overview

Session incident between monarchists and republicans during the Chamber of Deputies meeting on 16 June 1877, held at Versailles until 1879, in the hall now used for the Congress (The Liberator of the Territory by Jules-Arsène Garnier)[4]
Identity medal for the Chamber of Deputies, 1910 session
Identity medal for the Chamber of Deputies, for Charles Bendist, Seine, 1910

The Chamber of Deputies was elected using a majority voting system for four-year terms, with the number of deputies ranging from 520 to over 600, depending on the legislature. There were 17 legislatures during this period. This era marked the establishment of republican parliamentary practices, characterized by lively debates led by prominent orators such as Léon Gambetta, Jules Ferry, Georges Clemenceau, and Jean Jaurès. Political parties and parliamentary groups were initially absent, with the first groups forming in the early 20th century. The diverse republican factions contributed to significant political fragmentation and recurring governmental instability.[5]

Lawyers formed a significant portion of the Chamber's membership. In 1924, during the Cartel des gauches, the Chamber included 140 lawyers and nine law professors.[6] In 1936, under the Popular Front, there were 110 lawyers and eight law professors.[6]

A parliamentary indemnity was introduced during the Third Republic, building on a precedent set on 1 September 1789, when the Assembly voted for a daily allowance of 18 livres.[7] This ensured that citizens of modest means could serve as representatives. By 1 January 1938, the annual indemnity was 82,500 francs, rooted in the classical Athenian principle of misthophoria, which compensated citizens for time spent in the Ecclesia.[8]

Election system

The Chamber of Deputies was typically elected through a two-round majority system by arrondissement, with no candidate elimination between rounds. However, the voting system changed several times:[9]

  • The Law of 16 June 1885 introduced a majority list system by department, used only in the 1885 election.[10]
  • The Law of 13 February 1889 restored the two-round majority system, applied from the 1889 election.[11]
  • The Law of 12 July 1919 established a proportional list system with a strong majority bonus, modified by laws on 20 February 1920, 15 March 1921, and 8 April 1921, used in the 1919 and 1924 elections.[12]
  • The Law of 21 July 1927 reinstated the two-round majority system for the 1928 election.[13]

Of the 17 legislative elections under the Third Republic, 15 used a majority system, and two used a proportional system.[14]

Powers and role

The Chamber of Deputies could censure the government through procedures like interpellation, based on the principle of ministerial responsibility in the 1875 Constitution. This was central to the parliamentary regime. The executive could counter with the right of dissolution over the lower house. After the 1877 MacMahon crisis, the dissolution power fell into disuse, allowing the Chamber to dominate the executive, leading to frequent government collapses and a power imbalance later termed "French-style parliamentarism" or "assembly regime."[15]

Parliamentary groups and key figures

Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies

Is as follows:[17]

Dissolution

The final session of the Chamber of Deputies, presided over by Édouard Herriot, occurred on 9 July 1940. It was prorogued and adjourned by Philippe Pétain under Constitutional Act No. 3 on 11 July 1940.[17]

See also

References

  1. ^ Conan, Éric; Rousso, Henry (1996). Vichy, un passé qui ne passe pas [Vichy, a Past That Does Not Pass] (in French). Paris: Gallimard. p. 73. ISBN 978-2-07-032900-7
  2. ^ Maury, Jean-Pierre. "Constitutional Act No. 1 of 11 July 1940". Digithèque de matériaux juridiques et politiques, University of Perpignan. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  3. ^ Mayeur, Jean-Marie (1984). La Vie politique sous la Troisième République, 1870–1940 [Political Life under the Third Republic, 1870–1940] (in French). Paris: Seuil. p. 23. ISBN 978-2-02-006777-5.
  4. ^ Jobert, Barthélemy; Torrès, Pascal. "Thiers proclamé « Libérateur du Territoire », le 16 juin 1877" [Thiers proclaimed "Liberator of the Territory", 16 June 1877]. histoire-image.org (in French). Archived from the original on June 28, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2012.
  5. ^ a b Chastenet, Jacques (1954). Histoire de la Troisième République [History of the Third Republic] (in French). Vol. 2. Paris: Hachette. pp. 45–50. Archived from the original on March 14, 2019.
  6. ^ a b Guieu, Jean-Michel. "Les juristes au regard de l'historien. Le cas de l'engagement des professeurs de droit pour l'Union de l'Europe dans l'entre-deux-guerres" [Lawyers from the historian's perspective. The case of law professors' commitment to European Union between the wars] (PDF). Institut Pierre Renouvin (in French). Archived (PDF) from the original on November 29, 2006. Retrieved 7 April 2001.
  7. ^ Laurent, Émile (2013) [1882]. L'Indemnité législative en France et à l'étranger [The Legislative Indemnity in France and Abroad] (in French). Paris: A. Quentin. p. 5. ISBN 978-2011792419. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020.
  8. ^ Finer, Samuel Edward (1997). The History of Government from the Earliest Times. Vol. 2. Oxford University Press. p. 676. ISBN 978-0-19-820666-8.
  9. ^ Rudelle, Odile (1982). La République absolue: Aux origines de l'instabilité constitutionnelle de la France républicaine, 1870–1889 [The Absolute Republic: The Origins of Constitutional Instability in Republican France, 1870–1889] (in French). Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne. pp. 123–125. ISBN 978-2-85944-046-6.
  10. ^ Mayeur (1984, p. 87)
  11. ^ Mayeur (1984, p. 89)
  12. ^ Garrigues, Jean (1997). La République des hommes d'affaires, 1870–1900 [The Republic of Businessmen, 1870–1900] (in French). Paris: Aubier. p. 245. ISBN 978-2-7007-2278-9.
  13. ^ Garrigues (1997, p. 247)
  14. ^ Rudelle (1982, p. 126)
  15. ^ Chagnollaud, Dominique (1991). Le premier des ordres. Les hauts fonctionnaires XVIIIè-XXe siècle [The first of the orders. High-ranking officials from the 18th to the 20th century] (in French). Paris: Fayard. pp. 67–69. ISBN 978-2-213-02755-5.
  16. ^ Mayeur (1984, p. 55)
  17. ^ a b Shirer, William L. (1969). The Collapse of the Third Republic: An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-671-20337-5.
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