The Council of the Republic (french: Conseil de la République) was the

upper house An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restric ...

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 ...

under the Fourth Republic, with the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

being the lower house. It was established by the Constitution of 1946, dissolved by the Constitution of 1958 and replaced with the Senate.

History

The constitution of the Fourth Republic, which came into force in 1946, stipulated that parliament was bicameral. The upper house was named the "Council of the Republic" (as opposed to the Senate of the Third Republic) and was granted greatly diminished powers.

Role

The council did not have the power to make laws, which was the responsibility of the

. The council was mainly consultative, and bills were only given a single reading at the council before being passed. However, it did share responsibility should the need arose to amend the constitution in matters regarding the election of the President of the Republic. A formal notice to the council was required to declare war. In 1954, the Constitution was amended to provided that all bills would be examined successively by the National Assembly and the Council of the Republic, essentially restoring full legislative powers to the latter.

Composition

Members of the Council were known as '"councillors" (''conseiller'') from 1946 to 1948, and then "senators" from 1948 onwards. The number of senators had to be between 250 and 320. Senators were elected by indirect universal suffrage: five-sixths were elected by

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

and departments; the other one-sixth were elected by the

, the lower house. They served six-year terms.

President

The President was the presiding officer of the council. Political Party:

References

Notes

{{Portal bar, France, Politics 20th century in France French Fourth Republic Government of France Historical legislatures in France