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Chamber of Deputies (France)

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The Chamber of Deputies of France at the Palais Bourbon in 1841.
Floor plan of the conference hall of the Chamber of Deputies

Chamber of Deputies (French: Chambre des députés) was a parliamentary body in France in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries:[1]

During the Bourbon Restoration[edit]

Created by the Charter of 1814 and replacing the Corps législatif, which existed under the First French Empire, the Chamber of Deputies was composed of individuals elected by census suffrage. Its role was to discuss laws and, most importantly, to vote taxes. According to the Charter, deputies were elected for five years, with one-fifth renewed each year. Deputies needed to be 40 years old and to pay one thousand francs in direct contributions.

Government ministers could be chosen from among the deputies, and this resulted in giving the Restoration government a slight, albeit minor, parliamentary and liberal character.

During the Hundred Days (les cent jours) return of Napoleon I in 1815, under the terms of the Additional Act to the Constitutions of the Empire, the Chamber of Deputies was briefly replaced by a Chamber of Representatives (Chambre des représentants). This body was dissolved upon the entry of Coalition troops into Paris on 7 July.

For the period 1815–1816, the (then) Ultra-royalist chamber was referred to as the Chambre introuvable.

During the July Monarchy[edit]

Conference hall of the Chamber of Deputies 1843

The Chamber of Deputies was elected by census suffrage according to the Charter of 1830. The political life of the July Monarchy was defined by the split within the Chamber of Deputies between the progressive movement (considered the Charter as a starting point) and the conservative wing (who refused any further modifications). Although both parties traded power in the initial stages, by 1840 the conservative members around François Guizot had seized control.

From 1830, deputies were elected for five years. They needed to be 30 years old and to pay 500 francs in direct contributions.[1]

The king convoked the chamber every year, and he had the power to extend the parliamentary session or to dissolve the chamber, although in the latter case he was required to convoke a new chamber in three months time.

In 1852, the Chamber of Deputies retook the name Corps législatif.

Historical composition[edit]

Kingdom of France (1815–1848)[edit]

May 1815
40 510 80
August 1815
50 350
1816
20 10 136 92
1820
80 194 160
1824
17 413
1827
170 260
1830
274 282
1831
73 282 104
1834
75 50 320 15
1837
19 142 56 64 168 15
1839
240 199 20
1842
193 266
1846
168 290

French Third Republic (1870–1940)[edit]

  PUP
  PCF
  SFIO
  Far-Left / Radicals and Socialists / Radical Socialists
  SI / PRS
  Miscellaneous
  SE
  PDP
  FR
1871
38 112 72 20 214 182
1876
27 98 193 48 15 22 76 40 15 24
1877
27 73 147 66 3 111 38 56
1881
48 1 47 170 157 44 8 44 38
1885
60 40 200 83 65 63 73
1889
57 13 69 214 14 3 169 37
1893
67 41 99 242 30 27 61 14
1898
97 55 86 232 5 53 39 14
1902
43 104 129 62 127 89 35
1906
54 20 132 115 90 66 78 30
1910
75 24 261 1 66 30 131 7
1914
5 102 22 192 66 77 50 88
1919
68 26 86 107 21 29 183
1924
26 104 44 139 123 29 116
1928
11 102 60 125 180 24 100
1932
9 10 132 43 160 121 49 83
1936
6 72 149 44 115 82 42 100

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Encyclopedia Britannica". Britannica.com. Retrieved September 24, 2023.
  2. ^ "National Assembly". www2.assemblee-nationale.fr. Retrieved September 24, 2023.