This
article is discussing about the basic features of the Constitution of the fifth
Republic of France with constitutional provisions of other country such as United States, UK and India
The
Constitution of the fifth Republic of France as approved at the referendum held
on 28 September 1958 with the incorporation of subsequent amendments exhibits
the following distinctive fundamental features.
1.
POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY:
The
first distinguishing feature of the 1958 French Constitution is that, like the
American Constitution, it embodies the Principle of Popular sovereignty. This
is clearly manifested in Article 2 which lays down: “National sovereignty
resides in the people who exercise it through their representatives and by
means of referendum”. “Suffrage is always universal, equal and
secret”. The system of Government established and maintained under it is
based upon popular consent.
2.
A UNITARY STATE:
The
French Republic is a unitary state. According to the original Constitution it
will comprise Metropolitan France and Overseas departments only. The overseas
territories can choose for themselves whether to become completely independent and
separate, or to join with the Republic in forming a community of which the
President of the Republic is the head. The Metropolitan French is divided, for
local Government, into municipalities (called Communes), grouped into several departments
and regions. The powers and the very existence of various local governments
units depend upon the national Governments decrees.
3.
QUASI-SEPARATION OF POWERS:
The
governmental system is based on the partial separation powers. It stands “between
the British system, in which Parliament and Cabinet merge, and the American
which is based on an almost complete severance of Congress and the President.”
The Constitution has endowed the President of the Republic, who is selected separately
for 7 years by all qualified adult voters to appoint all ministers, including
the Prime Minister. But neither the President nor the ministers are members of
Parliament. The President also presides over the meetings of Cabinet. To this
extent, the French executive resembles the presidential or non-parliamentary
executive as it is found in the United States.
But
the French executive may also be described as a parliamentary one insofar as
the Council of Minister headed by the Prime Minister, like the British Cabinet,
is responsible to the National Assemble. The Prime Minister and his cabinet
members speak and sit in the Parliament and resign, when the National Assembly
adopts a motion of censure or when it disapproves of the Government program or
a general policy declaration.
Thus,
the French system represents, to quote Professor Wheare, “a curious hybrid
of parliamentary and presidential executives”.
4.
A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC:
An
equal important feature of the Constitution is that “France is a
Republic, indivisible, secular, democratic and social” (Article 2). The
President is elected for seven years by direct universal suffrage and he appoints
the Prime Minister and Government who are not allowed to elected members of the
French Parliament but are responsible to it. The French Parliament is elected
on a democratic basis. All citizens, irrespective of race, origin or religion
are equal before the law and capable of exercising their civil and political
rights. Article 2 proclaims that French Government is “Government of
the people, by the people and for the people.”
5.
A DUAL EXECUTIVE:
The
French executive is not single, as in the United States, but dual. It consists
of a President and a Government headed by the Prime Minister. The President,
elected by the people for seven years, appoints the Prime Minister and other Ministers
who, though not member of the Parliament, are responsible to it. The President
presides over the Council of Ministers, while “The Government determines
and conducts the policy of the nation” (Article 20) and “The
Prime Minister leads the action of the Government” (Article 21). Thus, the
Constitution creates dual executive.
6.
BILL OF RIGHTS:
Like
the American and Indian Constitution, the Constitution of the Fifth Republic of
France provides for some basic rights of the Frenchmen. A statement of such
rights is contained in the Preamble and Section 1 of the Constitution. The to
the Constitution begins:
“The
French people solemnly proclaim its attachment to the Rights of Man and to the
principles of national sovereignty as defined by the Declaration of 1789 and as
confirmed and completed by the preamble to the Constitution of 1946”
The
Rights of Man refers to the historic Declaration of the Rights of Man and of
the Citizen issued by the French Assembly in 1789, which asserted that the sovereignty
resides in the nation and not in the Monarch or anybody else, that there should
be no class distinction or privileges, and that all men were entitles to
personal freedom and to equality before the law.
By
including the following rights, the Constitution of 1946 completed and
confirmed the aforementioned Rights of Man:
i.
Right to equality for women;
ii.
Right to work;
iii.
Right to belong to trade unions;
iv.
Right to strike;
v.
Right to education;
vi.
Right to social welfare;
vii. Right
to racial equality;
viii. Right
to conditions necessary for family development.
The
Preamble to the Constitution of the Fifth Republic covers all these matters.
Article 2 of the new Constitution “guarantees equality before the law of
all citizens without distinction of birth, race or religion”. Article 3 lays down that all adult French
nationals, of either sex, are electors and are “capable of exercising
their civil and political rights”. Article 4 lays down that “political
rights and groups take part in the expression of suffrage” and thus
guarantees the right of forming political association.
The
basic rights are upheld by the courts in France, and by a Constitutional
Council which keeps watch over the constitutional validity of laws passed by
the Parliament.
7.
RIGID CONSTITUTION:
The
Constitution of the Fifth Republic is a rigid one for it may be amended only by
a special procedure. The initiative for amending the Constitution belongs both
to the President of the Republic on the proposal of the Prime Minister and to
the member of Parliament. But an amendment must be submitted to a referendum unless
it has been carried by a three-fifth’s majority in a joint sitting of both
Houses: The National Assembly and the Senate.
8.
CONSTITUTIONAL RECOGNITION OF POLITICAL PARTIES:
A
specific feature of the new Constitution is that, unlike the American Constitution
or Indian Constitution, it recognises the role of political parties. Article 4
of the Constitution states that political parties “shall be formed freely
and shall carry on their activities freely” but they “must
respect the principle of national sovereignty and democracy”.
Above
discussed features are the salient feature of the Constitution of Fifth Republic
of French.
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