The Chamber of Representatives (french: Chambre des représentants) was the popularly elected lower body of the

French Parliament The French Parliament (french: Parlement français) is the bicameral legislature of the French Republic, consisting of the Senate () and the National Assembly (). Each assembly conducts legislative sessions at separate locations in Paris ...

set up under the

Charter of 1815 The Charter of 1815, signed on April 22, 1815, was the French constitution prepared by Benjamin Constant at the request of Napoleon I when he returned from exile on Elba. More correctly known as the "Additional Act to the Constitutions of the Em ...

. The body had 629 members who were to serve five-year terms.The Act Additional April 22, 1815
/ref> The upper body was the Chamber of Peers.

History

Jean Denis, comte Lanjuinais served as president of this body while it existed. The Chamber of Representatives was short-lived. At the end of the

Hundred Days The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoratio ...

, with the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, the chamber issued

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

a demand for

abdication Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...

Emperor of the French Emperor of the French (French: ''Empereur des Français'') was the title of the monarch and supreme ruler of the First and the Second French Empires. Details A title and office used by the House of Bonaparte starting when Napoleon was procla ...

.France: Commission of Government: 1815
/ref> On 22 June 1815 the Chamber of Representatives elected three members ( Carnot, the

duc d'Otrante Duke of Otranto (french: Duc d'Otrante) is a hereditary title in the nobility of the First French Empire which was bestowed in 1809 by Emperor Napoleon I upon Joseph Fouché (1759-1820), a French statesman and Minister of Police. Fouché had been ...

, and the comte Grenier) of a five-member commission, the ''Commission de gouvernement'', to constitute a new government, and on 23 June 1815 the Chamber of Representatives named

Napoleon II , house = Bonaparte , father = Napoleon I, Emperor of the French , mother = Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma , birth_date = , birth_place = Tuileries Palace, Paris, French Empire ...

as Emperor. The allied powers of the

Seventh Coalition The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...

soon occupied Paris, and the chamber capitulated on 3 July. It soon became clear that the occupiers wished to again restore the Bourbon monarchy. On 8 July 1815, the chamber was kept from meeting by armed force, effectively ending it. With the restoration of the Bourbons, the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

was returned as the lower body of Parliament. The

reactionary In political science, a reactionary or a reactionist is a person who holds political views that favor a return to the '' status quo ante'', the previous political state of society, which that person believes possessed positive characteristics abs ...

Ultra-royalist The Ultra-royalists (french: ultraroyalistes, collectively Ultras) were a French political faction from 1815 to 1830 under the Bourbon Restoration. An Ultra was usually a member of the nobility of high society who strongly supported Roman Cathol ...

delegation that was seated in October 1815 was nicknamed the '' Chambre introuvable''.

Proposed 1873 Chamber of Representatives

During the first years of the

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940 ...

, France's Parliament was a unicameral National Assembly, elected in 1871, which also acted as a

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

. The initial constitution, drawn up by this Assembly on 20 May 1873, provided for the re-establishment of Chamber of Representatives, with a

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

serving as the upper house. However, the final

French Constitutional Laws of 1875 The Constitutional Laws of 1875 were the laws passed in France by the National Assembly between February and July 1875 which established the Third French Republic. The constitution laws could be roughly divided into three laws: * The Act of 24 ...

passed by it established the

as the lower house instead.

References

{{Reflist Hundred Days 1815 in France 1815 establishments in France 1815 disestablishments in France Historical legislatures in France