Fundamental laws of the Kingdom of France
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The Fundamental laws of the Kingdom of France were the unwritten body of imperative principles of public law enshrined in usage to which was subject the Kingdom of France, from its inception and until the French Revolution. Some of these principles were gradually formulated into a body of customs, initially called "Lois du Royaume" ("Laws of the Kingdom"), then, around 1575, "Lois fondamentales du Royaume" ("Fundamental laws of the Kingdom"), to distinguish them from the lois du Roi (laws of the King). This distinction introduced a hierarchy of norms into the law of France: on one hand, the lois du Roi (laws of the King), and on the other, the lois du Royaume (laws of the Kingdom), to which the former must imperatively submit. It was the constitutional role of the Parliament of Paris to ensure that this hierarchy was maintained and respected (this can be seen as the concept of a constitutional court, even though the judicial powers of the Parliament extended far beyond this), which caused many tensions in the 18th century between the king and his parliaments. At his coronation, the King of France undertook to submit to these fundamental laws and to maintain them.[a]
Never really codified, but for the most part represented by a certain number of regalias and ceremonials (such as those of the coronation and the lit de justice) and formulated in adages or maxims, the fundamental laws of the kingdom defined not only the extent and limits of the power of the King of France, and the rules for the succession to the French throne, but also the fundamental freedoms of the people and all the communities (territorial, religious, secular, etc.) that depended on them.[b]
The rules of the succession to the French throne
The crown is inalienable, which means:
- that it is no longer up to the king or a council to designate his successor, but that it is transmitted by the simple force of custom;
- that the king has no power to cede or pledge it to a foreign power, or even to abdicate.
The mode of designation of kings was originally election, as in general for all heirs in traditional societies. This system gave way in France to rules of succession which first allowed the sharing of the kingship among several heirs. This was the case with the Carolingians, especially after the Treaty of Verdun, concluded in 843 between the sons of Louis the Pious: Lothaire I, Louis the German, and Charles the Bald, who agreed to divide the Carolingian Empire. Later, the king designated his successor among his sons, and soon, the crown passed only to the eldest son, with an election that was gradually reduced to the participation in the coronation of the twelve peers of France (representatives of the twelve great fiefdoms of the crown) and a popular acclamation at the coronation. From Philip II onwards, the rule of heredity was established.
The advantage of this reduction of the election to a legal mechanism was to avoid infanticide and wars of succession between the different parties of the candidates, wars that were all the more ferocious because the royal wives and concubines were involved in them.[c]
Whatever the mode of accession to the throne, the kingship derived its authority from a certain form of continuity, summarized in France by the expression "Le roi est mort, vive le roi!" ("The king is dead, long live the king!"). There is no idea of rupture, the legitimacy coming from the sacredness of the function and the continuity being the sign of the permanence of the link. The function as such is immortal, since it is sacred, and the king is, in a certain way, found in his descendants, or his successors.
In case of vacancy of power (by exile, minority, or incapacity), the kingship is exercised by a regent, generally the queen, as guardian of her heir son, and failing that, a prince du sang (prince of the blood) elected by a regency council.
See also
Bibliography
- Guy Augé, Succession de France et règle de nationalité, Paris, D.U.C., 1979.
- Jean Barbey, Frédéric Bluche and Stéphane Rials, Lois fondamentales et succession de France, Paris, Diffusion Université Culture, 1984.
- Franck Bouscau, Les lois fondamentales du Royaume de France, La Gazette royale, No. 132, October 2011 (read online).
- Claire Saguez-Lovisi, Les lois fondamentales au XVIII siècle. Recherches sur la loi de dévolution de la couronne, Paris, PUF, 1984.
Related articles
Notes
- ^ These "fundamental laws" are "what all other laws must respect" (cf. Hans Kelsen's hierarchy of norms), thus as constitutional laws.
- ^ Declaration of the Parliament of all chambers assembled on the fundamental laws of the kingdom, of May 3, 1788: "Declares that France is a monarchy, governed by the king, according to the laws; That of these laws, several which are fundamental, embrace and consecrate: - The right of the reigning house to the Throne, from male to male, by order of primogeniture, to the exclusion of daughters and their descendants; - The right of the Nation to freely grant subsidies through the organ of the Estates General regularly convened and composed; - The customs and capitulations of the provinces; - The irremovability of magistrates; The right of the courts to verify in each province the wills of the king, and to order their registration only in so far as they are in conformity with the constitutional laws of the province, as well as with the fundamental laws of the state; - The right of every citizen never to be brought in any matter before any other judges than his natural judges, who are those appointed to him by law; - And the right, without which all others are useless, that of being arrested, by whatever order, only to be delivered without delay into the hands of the competent judges;"
- ^ Augustin Thierry, Récits des Temps mérovingiens, a fictionalized adaptation of Gregory of Tours's Histoire des Francs.
Sources
- Le Songe du vergier (1360), att. Charles Louvier
- Traité des ordres et dignités, by Charles Loyseau, 1613
- Histoire du droit public et ecclésiastique, by René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy d'Argenson, Germain Louis Chauvelin, 1735
- Plans des travaux littéraires ordonnés par SM pour la recherche et l'emploi des monuments de l'histoire et du droit public de la monarchie française, by Jacob-Nicolas Moreau, 1782, Imprimerie royale
- Cérémonial du sacre des rois de France, avec le texte en latin et en français, tel qu'il fut suivi au sacre de Louis XVI (1775), 1931, Éditions Charles Millon