The was a part of the French legislature during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

and beyond. It is also the generic French term used to refer to any

legislative body A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

History

The Constitution of the Year I foresaw the need for a ''corps législatif''. During the period of the

French Directory The Directory (also called Directorate, ) was the governing five-member committee in the French First Republic from 2 November 1795 until 9 November 1799, when it was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte in the Coup of 18 Brumaire and replaced b ...

, beginning in 1795, the ''Corps législatif'' referred to the bicameral legislature of the ''Conseil des Cinq-Cents'' (

Council of Five Hundred The Council of Five Hundred (''Conseil des Cinq-Cents''), or simply the Five Hundred, was the lower house of the legislature of France under the Constitution of the Year III. It existed during the period commonly known (from the name of the ...

) and the ''Conseil des Anciens'' ( Council of Ancients). Later, under Napoleon's

Consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth co ...

, the Constitution of the Year VIII (1799) set up a ''Corps législatif'' as the law-making body of the three-part government apparatus (alongside the Tribunat and the

Sénat Conservateur The (from French: "Conservative Senate") was an advisory body established in France during the Consulate following the French Revolution. It was established in 1799 under the Constitution of the Year VIII following the Napoleon Bonaparte-le ...

). This body replaced the Conseil des Cinq-Cents, established by the

Constitution of the Year III The Constitution of the Year III (french: Constitution de l’an III) was the constitution of the French First Republic that established the Executive Directory. Adopted by the convention on 5 Fructidor Year III (22 August 1795) and approved ...

of the Directory period as the lower house of the French legislature, but its role consisted solely of voting on laws deliberated before the Tribunat. The

Constitution of the Year X The Constitution of the Year X (french: Constitution de l'an X) was a national constitution of France adopted during the Year X (10) on 16 Thermidor (4 August) of the French Revolutionary Calendar (1802 in the Gregorian calendar). It amended th ...

continued the corps' existence, but Napoleon grew more impatient with its slow deliberations and stripped it of much of its power in 1804. It was finally abolished by

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

on 4 June 1814, to be replaced by the

Chambre des députés Chamber of Deputies (french: Chambre des députés) was a parliamentary body in France in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: * 1814–1848 during the Bourbon Restoration and the July Monarchy, the Chamber of Deputies was the lower house o ...

(though a Chambre des représentants was briefly set up during 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 ...

). When

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A neph ...

gained power, he re-constituted the Corps as France's lower chamber through the Constitution of 1852, with members elected by direct universal suffrage for terms of 6 years. The elections occurred in February 1852, June 1857, 31 May 1863 and May 1869. Faced with an omnipotent executive – ministers appointed by Napoleon III were only dependent on him – the elected corps législatif of the Second Empire shared its reduced legislative powers with the executive ''Conseil d'État'', made up of functionaries, and the ''

Sénat The Senate (french: Sénat, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. The French Senate is made up of 348 senators (''sénateurs'' ...

'', whose members were named for life. The name was finally changed to

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 ...

by the Third Republic.

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1795 establishments in France 1814 disestablishments in France Defunct lower houses 1795 events of the French Revolution 1796 events of the French Revolution 1797 events of the French Revolution 1798 events of the French Revolution 1799 events of the French Revolution 1800s in France First French Empire French Consulate Historical legislatures in France {{France-hist-stub

History

See also

External links