national assembly

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National Assemblies (in France). Although the États Généraux and the parlements were able to influence law-making and government to a certain extent under the ancien régime, parliamentary government only began with the Revolution. The name ‘Assemblée Nationale’ was taken by the Tiers État on 17 June 1789; for the successive Revolutionary assemblies, the Assemblée Constituante (1789-91), the Assemblée Législative (1791-2), the Convention Nationale (1792-5), and the Directoire (1795-9) see Revolution, I.

The Directoire first introduced a bicameral form of legislature, the two chambers being the Conseil des Cinq Cents and the Conseil des Anciens. Under the Consulate and the Empire [see Napoleon] there were various legislative bodies, the most important being the Sénat Conservateur, but they exercised little real power.

After the Restoration, the constitutional ‘Charte’ provided for two chambers, the Chambre des Députés and the Chambre des Pairs. Since then, with the partial exception of the Occupation period of 1940-4, when the assembly was adjourned but not formally dissolved, France has had an elected lower house (usually Chambre des Députés, but Corps Législatif under the Second Empire and Assemblée Nationale under the Fourth Republic) and an upper house, for the most part indirectly elected (usually Sénat, but Conseil de la République under the Fourth Republic). The relations of power between national assemblies and heads of state has varied considerably from regime to regime [see Republics].

[Peter France]

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