ART. 33. In case of the dissolution of the legislative body, and until a new convocation, the senate, on the proposition of the president of the republic, shall provide by measures of urgency for all that is necessary for the progress of the government.

CHAP. V.-Of the Legislative Body.

ART. 34. The election has for its basis the number of the population.

ART. 35. There shall be one deputy to the legislative body for every 35,000 electors.

ART. 36. The deputies are to be elected by universal suffrage, without scrutin de liste.

ART. 37. They will not receive any payment.

ART. 38. They are named for six years.

ART. 39. The legislative body discusses and votes bills and

taxes.

ART. 40. Any amendment adopted by the committee charged to examine a bill shall be sent back without discussion to the council of state by the president of the legislative body. If the amendment is not adopted by the council of state, it cannot be submitted to the discussion of the legislative body.

ART. 41. The ordinary sessions of the legislative body last three months; its sittings are public; but, at the demand of five members, it may form itself into a secret committee.

ART. 42. The report of the sittings of the legislative body by the journals, or by any other means of publication, shall only consist in the reproduction of the minutes of the sitting, drawn up at its conclusion under the direction of the president of the legislative body.

ART. 43. The president and vice-presidents of the legislative body are named by the president of the republic for one year; they are to be chosen from among the deputies. The salary of the president of the legislative body will be fixed by a decree.

ART. 44. The ministers cannot be members of the legislative body.

ART. 45. The right of petition can only be exercised as regards the senate. No petition can be addressed to the legislative body.

ART. 46. The president of the republic convokes, adjourns, prorogues, and dissolves the legislative body. In the event of its being dissolved, the president of the republic must convoke a new one within a delay of six months.

CHAP. VI. Of the Council of State.

ART. 47. The number of councillors of state in ordinary service is from forty to fifty.

ART. 48. The councillors of state are named by the president of the republic, and may be dismissed by him.

ART. 49. The council of state is presided over by the president of the republic, and in his absence by the person whom he appoints as vice-president of the council of state.

ART. 50. The council of state is charged, under the direction of the president of the republic, to draw up bills and the regulations of public administration, and to solve the difficulties which may arise in administrative matters.

ART. 51. It supports, in the name of the government, the discussion of bills before the senate and the legislative body. The councillors of state charged to speak in the name of the government are to be named by the president of the republic.

ART. 52. The salary of each councillor of state is 25,000 francs.

ART. 53. The ministers have rank, sitting, and deliberative votes in the council of state.

CHAP. VII. Of the High Court of Justice.

ART. 54. A high court of justice shall try, without appeal, or without recourse to cassation, all persons who may be sent before it charged with crime, attentats, or conspiracies against the president of the republic, and against the internal and external safety of the state. It can only be formed in virtue of a decree of the president of the republic.

ART. 55. A senatus consultum will determine the organization of this high court.

CHAP. VIII.-General and Transitory Clauses.

ART. 56. The provisions of the codes, laws, and regulations, which are not contrary to the present constitution, remain in vigour until they shall have been legally revoked.

ART. 57. The municipal organization shall be determined by law. The mayors shall be named by the executive power, and may be chosen from those not belonging to the municipal council.

ART. 58. The present constitution will be in vigour from the day on which the great bodies of the state shall have been constituted. The decrees issued by the president of the republic, from the 2d December up to that period, shall have the force of law.

Given at the Palace of the Tuileries, this 14th day of
January, 1852.

Sealed with the great seal.

LOUIS NAPOLEON.

The reader must remember that all the decrees, which were issued after the coup d'état, and before its "ratification" by the people, were considered as ratified likewise; for instance, the still existing law by which the government transports members of secret political societies, without trial, and by authority of which many other persons deemed dangerous were transported to Cayenne. The same is to be said of the stringent law of the press, according to which every paper exists at the will of the government, with regulations which may become utterly ruinous for the editor and publisher. The minute regulations of the coats and trowsers of the senators and members of the legislative corps need not probably be mentioned here as organic laws; but on March 22d, 1852, appeared the following important decree:

Louis Napoleon, President of the French Republic :

Considering article 4 of the constitution, and seeing that at the moment when the senate and legislative body are about to enter on their first session, it is important to regulate their relations with the president of the republic and the council of state, and to establish, according to the constitution, the organic conditions of their works, decrees :-

THIRD DIVISION.-OF THE LEGISLATIVE BODY.

CHAP. I.-Meeting of the Legislative Body, formation and organization of the Bureaus, and verification of the powers.

ART. 41. The legislative body is to meet on the day named by the decree of convocation.

ART. 42. At the opening of the first sitting the president of the legislative body, assisted by the four youngest members present,

who will fill the functions of secretaries during the session, will proceed to form the assembly into seven bureaus, drawn by lot.

ART. 43. These seven bureaus, named for the whole of the session, will each be presided over by the oldest member, the youngest performing the office of secretary.

ART. 44. They will immediately proceed to the examination of the minutes of the election of the members distributed by the president of the legislative body, appointing one or several of their members to bring up a report thereof in a public sitting.

ART. 45. The assembly examines these reports; if the election be declared valid, the member when present immediately takes the oath prescribed by article 14 of the constitution; if absent, at his first appearance, after which the president of the legislative body pronounces his admission, and the deputy, who has not taken the oath within fifteen days of his election, is considered as dismissed. In case of absence the oath may be taken by writing, and in this case must be addressed by the deputy to the president of the legislative body, within the delay above mentioned.

ART. 46. After the verification of the returns, and without waiting for the decision on contested or adjourned elections, the president of the legislative body shall make known to the president of the republic that the legislative body is constituted.

CHAP. II.—Presentation, Discussion, and Vote of Bills.

ART. 47. Bills presented by the president of the republic are to be presented and read to the legislative body by councillors of state appointed for that purpose, or transmitted, by order of the president of the republic, by the minister of state to the president of the legislative body, who causes them to be read at the public sitting. These bills will be printed, distributed, and placed on the order of the day of the bureaus, which will discuss them and name by ballot, and by a simple majority, a committee of seven members to report on them.

ART. 48. Any amendment arising from the initiative of one or more members, must be handed to the president, and be by him transmitted to the committee. No amendment can, however, be received after the report shall have been presented at the public sitting.

ART. 49. The authors of the amendment have a right to be heard before the committee.

LL

ART. 50. If the amendment is adopted by the committee, it transmits the tenor of it to the president of the legislative body, who sends it to the council of state, and the report of the committee is suspended, until the council of state has pronounced its opinion on it.

ART. 51. If the opinion of the council of state, transmitted to the committee through the president of the legislative body, is favourable, or a new wording proposed by the council of state be adopted by the committee, the text of the bill to be discussed in public sitting shall be modified conformably to the new wording adopted. If the opinion, on the contrary, is unfavourable, or if the new wording proposed by the council of state is not adopted by the committee, the amendment will be considered as not having been offered.

ART. 52. The report of the committee on the bill examined by it shall be read in a public sitting, and printed and distributed at least twenty-four hours before the discussion.

ART. 53. At the sitting fixed by the order of the day, the discussion shall open on the ensemble of the bill, and afterwards on the different articles or chapters, if it be a law on finance. There is never any occasion to deliberate on the question of deciding if the discussion of the articles is to be passed to, as they are successively put to the vote by the president. The vote takes place by assis et lévé, and if the result is doubtful, a ballot is proceeded to.

ART. 54. If any article is rejected, it is sent back to the committee for examination. Each deputy then, in the form specified in articles 48 and 49 of the present decree, presents such amendments as he pleases. Should the committee be of opinion that a new proposition ought to be made, it transmits the tenor of it to the president of the legislative body, who forwards it to the council of state. The matter is then proceeded on in conformity with articles 51, 52, and 53 of the present decree, and the public vote which then takes place is definitive.

ART. 55. After the vote on the articles, a public vote on the ensemble of the bill takes place by the absolute majority. The presence of the majority of the deputies is necessary to make the vote valid. Should less than that number be present, the vote must be recommenced. Bills of local interest are voted by assis et lévé, unless the ballot be called for by ten members at least.

ART. 56. The legislative body assigns no reason for its decisions,