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The 'Charter of 1815', signed on April 22, 1815, was the French constitution prepared by Benjamin Constant at the request of Napoleon Bonaparte when he returned from exile on Elbe. This act took into account amendments to the Charter of 1814 which had previously liberalized the Constitution. It also served to amend that charter during the second return of Louis XVIII. It was very liberal in spirit, and gave the French people rights which had previously been unknown to them, such as the right to elect the mayor in communes of less than 5,000 in population. To diminish the effect of the changes and concessions from the new liberal spirit, Napoleon treated it as a mere continuation of the previous constitutions, and it therefore took the form of an ordinary legislative act "additional to the constitutions of the Empire".

Contents

Preparation

Principles

See also

References

Preparation

Napoleon, having returned from the Island of Elbe for the Hundred Days, was not able to re-establish the First Empire as it had been before his restoration. He asked the liberal Benjamin Constant to prepare a new Constitution. It was adopted by a plebiscite on June 1, 1815 by an immense majority of the five million voters, although a great many eligible voters abstained. It was promulgated in a ceremony at the Champ de Mars. The rapid fall of Napoleon prevented it from being fully applied.

Principles

The legislative power was to be exercised by the Emperor together with the Parliament, which was to be composed of two chambers: the Chamber of Peers composed of hereditary members appointed by the Emperor, and the Chamber of Deputies, composed of 629 citizens elected for 5 year terms by electoral colleges in the individual départments. The ministers were to be responsible to the Parliament for their actions. The liberalization dealt both with the guarantees of rights and the end of censorship. In the end, the two chambers held sessions for only one month, from June 3 to July 7, 1815.

See also

★ Charter of 1814

References

★ English Text of the Charter

★ Anderson, Frank Maloy. ''The constitutions and other select documents illustrative of the history of France, 1789-1901'' Minneapolis, H.W. Wilson, 1904.