Memoirs To Illustrate The History Of My Time Part 22

Art. 9. The inheritance of the Peerage cannot henceforward be conferred until a Majorat of the net revenue of twenty thousand francs, at least, shall be attached to the Peerage.

_Dotation of the Peerage._

Art. 10. The Peerage will be endowed--1, With three millions five hundred thousand francs of rent, entered upon the great-book of the public debt, which sum will be unalienable, and exclusively applied to the formation of Majorats; 2, With eight hundred thousand francs of rent, equally entered and inalienable, to be applied to the expenses of the Chamber of Peers.

By means of this dotation, these expenses cease to be charged to the Budget of the State, and the domains, rents, and property of every kind, proceeding from the dotation of the former Senate, except the Palace of the Luxembourg and its dependencies, are reunited to the property of the State.

Art. 11. Three millions five hundred thousand francs of rent, intended for the formation of Majorats, are divided into fifty majorats of thirty thousand francs, and one hundred majorats of twenty thousand francs each, attached to the same number of peerages.

Art. 12. These Majorats will be conferred by the King exclusively upon lay Peers; they will be transmissible with the Peerage from male to male, in order of primogeniture, and in the real, direct, and legitimate line only.

Art. 13. A Peer cannot unite in his own person several of these Majorats.

Art. 14. Immediately on the endowment of a Majorat, and on the production of letters-patent, the t.i.tulary will be entered in the great-book of the public debt, for an unalienable revenue, according to the amount of his majorat.

Art. 15. In case of the extinction of the successors to any one of these Majorats, it reverts to the King's gift, who can confer it again, according to the above-named regulations.

Art. 16. The King can permit the t.i.tulary possessor of a Majorat to convert it into real property producing the same revenue, and which will be subject to the same reversion.

Art. 17. The dotation of the Peerage is inalienable, and cannot under any pretext whatever, be applied to any other purpose than that prescribed by the present law. This dotation remains charged, even to extinction, with the pensions at present enjoyed by the former Senators, as also with those which have been or may hereafter be granted to their widows.

_Of the Chamber of Deputies._

Art. 18. The Chamber of Deputies to Parliament is composed of four hundred and fifty-six members.

Art. 19. The Deputies to Parliament are elected for seven years.

Art. 20. The Chamber is renewed integrally, either in case of dissolution, or at the expiration of the time for which the Deputies are elected.

Art. 21. The President of the Chamber of Deputies is elected according to the ordinary forms for the entire duration of the Parliament.

Art. 22. The rates which must be paid by an elector, or one eligible for an elector, consist of the princ.i.p.al of the direct taxes without regard to the additional hundredths. To this effect, the taxes for doors and windows will be separated from the the princ.i.p.al and additional hundredths, in such manner that two-thirds of the entire tax may be entered as princ.i.p.al and the remaining third as additional hundredths.

For the future this plan will be permanent; the augmentations or diminutions of these two taxes will be made by the addition or reduction of the additional hundredths: the same rule will apply to the taxes on land, moveables, and other personal property, as soon as the princ.i.p.al of each is definitely settled. The tax on land and that on doors and windows will only be charged to the proprietor or temporary possessor, notwithstanding any contrary arrangement.

Art. 23. A son is liable for the taxes of his father, and a son-in-law whose wife is alive, or who has children by her, for the taxes of his father-in-law, in all cases where the father or father-in-law have transferred to them their respective rights.

The taxes of a widow, not re-married, are chargeable to whichever of her sons, or, in default of sons, to whichever of her sons-in-law, she may designate.

Art. 24. To const.i.tute the eligibility of an elector, these taxes must have been paid one year at least before the day of the election. The heir or legatee on the general t.i.tle, is considered responsible for the taxes payable by the parties from whom he derives.

Art. 25. Every elector and Deputy is bound to make affidavit, if required, that they pay really and personally, or that those whose rights they exercise pay really and personally, the rates required by the law; that they, or those whose rights they exercise, are the true and legitimate owners of the property on account of which the taxes are paid, or that they truly exercise the trade for the license of which the taxes are imposed.

This affidavit is received by the Chamber, for the Deputies, and at the electoral offices for the electors. It is signed by them, without prejudice to contradictory evidence.

Art. 26. Every Frenchman who has completed the age of thirty on the day of election, who is in the enjoyment of civil and political rights, and who pays a direct tax amounting to six hundred francs in princ.i.p.al, is eligible to the Chamber of Deputies.

Art. 27. The Deputies to Parliament are named partly by the electors of the department, and partly by the electors of the divisions into which each department is divided, in conformity with the table annexed to the present law.

The electors of each electoral divisions nominate directly the number of Deputies fixed by the same table.

This rule applies to the electors of each department.

Art. 28. All Frenchmen who have completed the age of thirty years, who exercise political and civil rights, who have their residence in the department, and who pay a direct tax of four hundred francs in princ.i.p.al, are electors for the department.

Art. 29. When the electors for the department are less than fifty in the department of Corsica, less than one hundred in the departments in the higher and lower Alps, of the Ardeche, of the Ariege, or the Correze, of the Creuse, of the Lozere, of the higher Marne, of the higher Pyrenees, of Vaucluse, of the Vosges; less than two hundred in the departments of the Ain, of the Ardennes, of the Aube, of the Aveyron, of the Central, of the Coasts of the North, of the Doubs, of the Drome, of the Jura, of the Landes, of the Lot, of the Meuse, of the lower Pyrenees, of the lower and upper Rhine, of the upper Saone; and less than three hundred in the other departments; these numbers are to be completed by calling on those who are next in the ratio of taxation.

Art. 30. All Frenchmen aged thirty years complete, who exercise political and civil rights, who dwell in the electoral division, and who pay a direct tax of two hundred francs in princ.i.p.al, are electors for the division.

Art. 31. The electors of departments exercise their rights as electors of division, each in the division in which he dwells. To this effect, the elections for the departments will not take place till after those for the division.

Art. 32. The Deputies to Parliament named by the electors of division ought to be domiciled in the department, or at least to be proprietors there for more than a year, of a property paying six hundred francs in princ.i.p.al, or to have exercised public functions there for three years at the least.

The Deputies nominated by the electors of departments may be selected from all who are eligible throughout the kingdom.

_Forms of Election._

Art. 33. At the hour and on the day fixed for the election, the Board will repair to the hall selected for its sittings. The Board is to be composed of a President appointed by the King, of the Mayor, of the senior Justice of the Peace, and of the two chief Munic.i.p.al Councillors of the head-towns in which the election is held. At Paris, the senior Mayor and Justice of the Peace of the electoral division, and two members of the general Council of the Department, taken according to the order of their appointment, are to co-operate with the President in the formation of the Board.

The duties of secretary will be fulfilled by the Mayor's secretary.

Art. 34. The votes are given publicly by the inscription which each elector makes himself, or dictates to a member of the Board, of the names of the candidates upon an open register. The elector inscribes the names of as many candidates as there are Deputies to elect.

Art. 35. In order that any eligible person may become a candidate, and that the register may be opened in his favour, it is necessary that he should have been proposed to the Board by twenty electors at least, who inscribe his name upon the register.

At Paris, no one can be proposed, at the same election, as a candidate in more than two electoral districts at the same time.

Art. 36. At the opening of each sitting, the President announces the names of the candidates proposed, and the number of votes that each has obtained. The same announcement is printed and posted in the town after every sitting.

Art. 37. The register for the first series of votes remains open for three days at least, and for six hours every day.

No Deputy can be elected by the first series of votes, except by an absolute majority of the electors of the district and department, who have voted during the three days.

Art. 38. The third day and the hour appointed for voting having expired, the register is declared closed; the votes are summed up; the total number and the number given to each candidate are published, and the candidates who have obtained an absolute majority are announced.

If all the Deputies have not been elected by the first scrutiny of votes, the result is published and posted immediately; and after an interval of three days, a second series of votes is taken during the following days, in the same manner and under the same formalities and delays. The candidates who obtain a relative majority at the second voting are elected.

Art. 39. Before closing the registers at each voting, the President demands publicly whether there is any appeal against the manner in which the votes have been inscribed. If objections are made, they are to be entered on the official report of the election, and the registers, closed and sealed, are forwarded to the Chamber of Deputies, who will decide.

If there are no appeals, the registers are destroyed on the instant, and the official report alone is forwarded to the Chamber.

The official report and registers are signed by all the members of the Board.

If there are grounds for a provisional decision, the Board has the power of p.r.o.nouncing it.

Art. 40. The President is invested with full power to maintain the freedom of the elections. The civil and military authorities are bound to obey his requisitions. The President maintains silence in the hall in which the election is held, and will not allow any individual to be present who is not an elector or a member of the Board.