to a preliminary oath of fidelity on the part of the candidate. But for various causes, which cannot be examined here, a series of measures was soon to be initiated which were gradually to The empire libéral. lead back again to political liberty, and definitively to found what has been called the empire libéral. One by one the different rules and proceedings of parliamentary government as it had existed in France regained their force. The first step was the decree of the 24th of November 1860, which re-established for each ordinary session the address voted by the chambers in response to the speech from the throne. In 1867 this movement took a more decisive form. It led to a new constitution, that of the 21st of May 1870, which was again ratified by popular suffrage. While maintaining the Empire and the imperial dynasty, it organized parliamentary government practically in the form in which it had operated under the July Monarchy, with two legislative chambers, the Senate and the Corps Législatif, the consent of both of which was necessary for legislation, and which, together with the emperor, had the initiative in this matter. The laws of the 11th of May 1868 and the 6th of June 1868 restored to a certain extent the liberty of the press and of holding meetings, though without abolishing offences of opinion, or again bringing press offences under the jurisdiction of a jury. Laws of the 22nd and 23rd of July 1870 gave the conseils généraux, whose powers had been somewhat widened, the right of electing their presidents, and provided that the maires and their colleagues should be chosen from among the members of the municipal councils.
The legislation of the Second Empire led to a considerable number of reforms. Its chief aim was the development of commerce, industry and agriculture, and generally the material prosperity of the country. The Empire, though restricting liberty in political matters, increased Economic and social reforms under the Second Empire. it in economic matters. Such were the decrees and laws of 1852 and 1853 relating to land-banks (établissements de crédit foncier) and that of 1857 on trade-marks, those of 1863 and 1867 on commercial companies, that of 1858 on general stores (magasins généraux) and warrants, that of 1856 on drainage, that of 1865 on the associations syndicales de propriétaires, that of 1866 on the mercantile marine. The law of the 14th of June 1865 introduced into France the institution, borrowed from England, of cheques. But of still greater importance for economic development than all these laws were the treaties concluded by the emperor with foreign powers, in order to introduce, as far as possible, free exchange Commercial treaties. of commodities; the chief of these, which was the model of all the others, was that concluded with Great Britain on the 23rd of January 1860. Moreover, the law of the 25th of May 1864 admitted for the first time the right of strikes and lock-outs among workmen or employers, annulling articles 414 and following of the Code Pénal, which had so far made them a penal offence, even when not accompanied by fraudulent practices, threats or violence, tending to hinder the liberty of labour. The superannuation fund (caisse des retraites pour la vieillesse), supported by voluntary payments from those participating in it, which had been created by the law of the 18th of June 1850, was reorganized and perfected, and a law of the 11th of July 1868 established, with the guarantee of the state, two funds for voluntary insurance, one in case of death, the other against accidents occurring in industrial or agricultural employment. A decree of 1863 established in principle the freedom of bakeries, and another in 1864 that of theatrical management.
Criminal law was the subject of important legislation. Two
codes were promulgated on special points, the codes of military
justice for the land forces (1857) and for the naval
forces (1858). But the common law was also largely
remodelled. A law of the 10th of June 1858, it is true,
Reforms in the criminal law.
created certain new crimes, with a view to protecting
the members of the imperial family, and that of the 17th of
July 1856 increased the powers and independence of the juges
d’instruction; but, on the other hand, useful improvements
were introduced by laws of 1856 and 1865, and notably with
regard to precautionary detention and provisional release with or
without bail. A law of the 20th of May 1863 organized a simple
and rapid procedure, copied from that followed in England
before the police courts, for summary jurisdiction. A law of
1868 permitted the revision of criminal trials after the death
of the condemned person. But the most far-reaching reforms
took place in 1854, namely, the abolition of the total loss of
civil rights which formerly accompanied condemnation to
imprisonment for life, and the law of the 30th of May on penal
servitude (travaux forcés) which substituted transportation to
the colonies for the system of continental convict prisons.
Finally, in 1863, there was a revision of the Code Pénal, which,
in the process of lightening penalties, made a certain number of
crimes into misdemeanours, and in consequence transferred
Civil legislation.
Taxation and army.
the judgment of them from the assize courts to the
correctional tribunals. In civil legislation may be
noted the law of the 23rd of March 1855 on hypothecs
(see Code Napoléon); that of the 22nd of July 1857,
which abolished seizure of the person (contrainte par corps) for
civil and commercial debts; and finally, the law of the 14th
of July 1866, on literary copyright. The system of taxation was
hardly modified at all, except for the establishment
of a tax on the income arising from investments
(shares and bonds of companies) in 1857, and the tax
on carriages (1862). On the 1st of February 1868
was promulgated an important military law, which, however,
passed the Corps Législatif with some difficulty. It asserted
the principle of universal compulsory military service, at least,
in time of war. It preserved, however, the system of drawing
lots to determine the annual contingent to be incorporated
into the standing army; the term of service was fixed at five
years, and it was still permissible to send a substitute. But
able-bodied men who were not included in the annual contingent
formed a reserve force called the garde nationale mobile, each
department organizing its own section. These gardes mobiles,
though they were not effectively organized or exercised under the
Empire, took part in the war of 1870–71.
The Third Republic.—The Third Republic had at first a provisional government, unanimously acclaimed by the people of Paris. It was accepted by France, exercised full powers, and sustained by no means ingloriously a desperate struggle against the enemy; a certain number of its décrets-lois are still in force. After the capitulation of Paris, a National Assembly was elected to treat with Germany. It was elected in accordance with the electoral law of 1849, which had been revived with a few modifications, and it met at Bordeaux to the number of 753 members on the 13th of February 1871. It was a sovereign assembly, since France had no longer a constitution, and for this very reason it claimed from the outset constituent powers; the Republican party at the time, however, contested this claim, the majority in the assembly being frankly monarchist, though divided as to the choice of a monarch. But for some time the National Assembly either could not or would not exercise this power, and up to 1875 affairs remained in a provisional state, legalized and regulated this time by the Assembly. This was an application, though unconscious, of a form of government which M. Grévy had proposed to the Constituent Assembly in 1848. There was a single assembly, with one man elected by it as head of the executive power (the first to be elected was M. Thiers, who received the title of president of the Republic in August 1871), who was responsible to the Assembly and governed with the help of ministers chosen by himself, who were also responsible to it. Thiers fell on the 24th of May 1873. His place was taken by Marshal MacMahon, on whom the Assembly later conferred, in November 1873, the position of president of the Republic for seven years, when the refusal of the comte de Chambord to accept the tricolour in place of the white flag of the Bourbons had made any attempt to restore the monarchy impossible. Henceforth the definitive adoption of the Republican form of government became inevitable, and the opinion of the country began to turn in this direction, as was shown by the elections of deputies which took place to fill up the gaps occurring in the Assembly. The Assembly, however, shrank from the inevitable
