Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Fox, George" to "France" / Volume 10, Slice 7

by Various

Bills may be proposed either by ministers (in the name of the president of the republic), or by private members, and may be initiated in either chamber, but money-bills must be submitted in the first place to the Chamber of Deputies. Every bill is first examined by a committee, a member of which is chosen to “report” on it to the chamber, after which it must go through two readings (délibérations), before it is presented to the other chamber. Either house may pass a vote of no confidence in the government, and in practice the government resigns in face of the passing of such a vote by the deputies, but not if it is passed by the Senate only. The chambers usually assemble in January each year, and the ordinary session lasts not less than five months; usually it continues till July. There is an extraordinary session from October till Christmas.

The president (see below, Law and Institutions) is elected for seven years, by a majority of votes, by the Senate and Chamber of Deputies sitting together as the National Assembly. Any French citizen may be chosen president, no fixed age being required. The only exception to this rule is that no member of a royal family which has once reigned in France can be elected. The president receives 1,200,000 francs (£48,000) a year, half as salary, half for travelling expenses and the charges incumbent upon the official representative of the country. Both the chambers are summoned by the president, who has the power of dissolving the Chamber of Deputies with the assent of the Senate. When a change of Government occurs the president chooses a prominent parliamentarian as premier and president of the council. This personage, who himself holds a portfolio, nominates the other ministers, his choice being subject to the ratification of the chief of the state. The ministerial council (conseil des ministres) is presided over by the president of the republic; less formal meetings (conseils de cabinet) under the presidency of the premier, or even of some other minister, are also held.

The ministers, whether members of parliament or not, have the right to sit in both chambers and can address the house whenever they choose, though a minister may only vote in the chamber of which he happens to be a member. There are twelve ministries[17] comprising those of justice; finance; war; the interior; marine; colonies; public instruction and fine arts; foreign affairs; commerce and industry; agriculture; public works; and labour and public thrift. Individual ministers are responsible for all acts done in connexion with their own departments, and the body of ministers collectively is responsible for the general policy of the government.

The council of state (conseil d’état) is the principal council of the head of the state and his ministers, who consult it on various legislative problems, more particularly on questions of administration. It is divided for despatch of business into four sections, each of which corresponds to a group of two or three ministerial departments, and is composed of (1) 32 councillors “en service ordinaire” (comprising a vice-president and sectional presidents), and 19 councillors “en service extraordinaire,” i.e. government officials who are deputed to watch the interests of the ministerial departments to which they belong, and in matters not concerned with those departments have a merely consultative position; (2) 32 maîtres des requêtes; (3) 40 auditors.

The presidency of the council of state belongs ex officio to the minister of justice.

The theory of “droit administratif” lays down the principle that an agent of the government cannot be prosecuted or sued for acts relating to his administrative functions before the ordinary tribunals. Consequently there is a special system of administrative jurisdiction for the trial of “le contentieux administratif” or disputes in which the administration is concerned. The council of state is the highest administrative tribunal, and includes a special “Section du contentieux” to deal with judicial work of this nature.

Local Government.—France is divided into 86 administrative departments (including Corsica) or 87 if the Territory of Belfort, a remnant of the Haut Rhin department, be included. These departments are subdivided into 362 arrondissements, 2911 cantons and 36,222 communes.

Departments.	Capital Towns.	Ancient Provinces.[18]
Ain	Bourg	Bourgogne (Bresse, Bugey, Valromey, Dombes).
Aisne	Laon	Île-de-France; Picardie.
Allier	Moulins	Bourbonnais.
Alpes-Maritimes	Nice
Ardèche	Privas	Languedoc (Vivarais).
Ardennes	Mézières	Champagne.
Ariège	Foix	Foix; Gascogne (Cousérans).
Aube	Troyes	Champagne; Bourgogne.
Aude	Carcassonne	Languedoc.
Aveyron	Rodez	Guienne (Rouergue).
Basses-Alpes	Digne	Provence.
Basses-Pyrénées	Pau	Béarn; Gascogne (Basse-Navarre, Soule, Labourd).
Belfort, Territoire de	Belfort	Alsace.
Bouches-du-Rhône	Marseilles	Provence.
Calvados	Caen	Normandie (Bessin, Bocage).
Cantal	Aurillac	Auvergne.
Charente	Angoulême	Angoumois; Saintonge.
Charente-Inférieure	La Rochelle	Aunis; Saintonge.
Cher	Bourges	Berry; Bourbonnais.
Corrèze	Tulle	Limousin.
Côte-d’Or	Dijon	Bourgogne (Dijonnais, Auxois).
Côtes-du-Nord	St Brieuc	Bretagne.
Creuse	Guéret	Marche.
Deux-Sèvres	Niort	Poitou.
Dordogne	Périgueux	Guienne (Périgord).
Doubs	Besançon	Franche-Comté; Montbéliard.
Drôme	Valence	Dauphiné.
Eure	Évreux	Normandie; Perche.
Eure-et-Loir	Chartres	Orléanais; Normandie.
Finistère	Quimper	Bretagne.
Gard	Nîmes	Languedoc.
Gers	Auch	Gascogne (Astarac, Armagnac).
Gironde	Bordeaux	Guienne (Bordelais, Bazadais).
Haute-Garonne	Toulouse	Languedoc; Gascogne (Comminges).
Haute-Loire	Le Puy	Languedoc (Velay); Auvergne; Lyonnais.
Haute-Marne	Chaumont	Champagne (Bassigny, Vallage).
Hautes-Alpes	Gap	Dauphiné.
Haute-Saône	Vesoul	Franche-Comté.
Haute-Savoie	Annecy
Hautes-Pyrénées	Tarbes	Gascogne.
Haute-Vienne	Limoges	Limousin; Marche.
Hérault	Montpellier	Languedoc.
Ille-et-Vilaine	Rennes	Bretagne.
Indre	Châteauroux	Berry.
Indre-et-Loire	Tours	Touraine.
Isère	Grenoble	Dauphiné.
Jura	Lons-le-Saunier	Franche-Comté.
Landes	Mont-de-Marsan	Gascogne (Landes, Chalosse).
Loire	St-Étienne	Lyonnais.
Loire-Inférieure	Nantes	Bretagne.
Loiret	Orléans	Orléanais (Orléanais proper, Gâtinais, Dunois).
Loir-et-Cher	Blois	Orléanais.
Lot	Cahors	Guienne (Quercy).
Lot-et-Garonne	Agen	Guienne; Gascogne.
Lozère	Mende	Languedoc (Gévaudan).
Maine-et-Loire	Angers	Anjou.
Manche	St-Lô	Normandie (Cotentin).
Marne	Châlons-sur-Marne	Champagne.
Mayenne	Laval	Maine; Anjou.
Meurthe-et-Moselle	Nancy	Lorraine; Trois-Évêchés.
Meuse	Bar-le-Duc	Lorraine (Barrois, Verdunois).
Morbihan	Vannes	Bretagne.
Nièvre	Nevers	Nivernais; Orléanais.
Nord	Lille	Flandre; Hainaut.
Oise	Beauvais	Île-de-France.
Orne	Alençon	Normandie; Perche.
Pas-de-Calais	Arras	Artois; Picardie.
Puy-de-Dôme	Clermont-Ferrand	Auvergne.
Pyrénées-Orientales	Perpignan	Roussillon; Languedoc.
Rhône	Lyon	Lyonnais; Beaujolais.
Saône-et-Loire	Mâcon	Bourgogne.
Sarthe	Le Mans	Maine; Anjou.
Savoie	Chambéry
Seine	Paris	Île-de-France.
Seine-et-Marne	Melun	Île-de-France; Champagne.
Seine-et-Oise	Versailles	Île-de-France.
Seine-Inférieure	Rouen	Normandie.
Somme	Amiens	Picardie.
Tarn	Albi	Languedoc (Albigeois).
Tarn-et-Garonne	Montauban	Guienne; Gascogne; Languedoc.
Var	Draguignan	Provence.
Vaucluse	Avignon	Comtat; Venaissin; Provence; Principauté d’Orange.
Vendée	La Roche-sur-Yon	Poitou.
Vienne	Poitiers	Poitou; Touraine.
Vosges	Épinal	Lorraine.
Yonne	Auxerre	Bourgogne; Champagne.
Corse (Corsica)	Ajaccio	Corse.

Before 1790 France was divided into thirty-three great and seven small military governments, often called provinces, which are, however, to be distinguished from the provinces formed under the feudal system. The great governments were: Alsace, Saintonge and Angournois, Anjou, Artois, Aunis, Auvergne, Béarn and Navarre, Berry, Bourbonnais; Bourgogne (Burgundy), Bretagne (Brittany), Champagne, Dauphiné, Flandre, Foix, Franche-Comté, Guienne and Gascogne (Gascony), Île-de-France, Languedoc, Limousin, Lorraine, Lyonnais, Maine, Marche, Nivernais, Normandie, Orléanais, Picardie, Poitou, Provence, Roussillon, Touraine and Corse. The eight small governments were: Paris, Boulogne and Boulonnais, Le Havre, Sedan, Toulois, Pays Messin and Verdunois and Saumurois.

At the head of each department is a prefect, a political official nominated by the minister of the interior and appointed by the president, who acts as general agent of the government and representative of the central authority. To aid him the prefect has a general secretary and an advisory body (conseil de préfecture), the members of which are appointed by the president, which has jurisdiction in certain classes of disputes arising out of administration and must, in certain cases, be consulted, though the prefect is not compelled to follow its advice. The prefect supervises the execution of the laws; has wide authority in regard to policing, public hygiene and relief of pauper children; has the nomination of various subordinate officials; and is in correspondence with the subordinate functionaries in his department, to whom he transmits the orders and instructions of the government. Although the management of local affairs is in the hands of the prefect his power with regard to these is checked by a deliberative body known as the general council (conseil général). This council, which consists for the most part of business and professional men, is elected by universal suffrage, each canton in the department contributing one member. The general council controls the departmental administration of the prefect, and its decisions on points of local government are usually final. It assigns its quota of taxes (contingent) to each arrondissement, authorizes the sale, purchase or exchange of departmental property, superintends the management thereof, authorizes the construction of new roads, railways or canals, and advises on matters of local interest. Political questions are rigorously excluded from its deliberations. The general council, when not sitting, is represented by a permanent delegation (commission départementale).