French Constitutional Charter of 1814
Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre, to all those to whom these presents come, greeting.
Divine Providence, in recalling us to our estates after a long absence, has laid upon us great obligations. Peace
was the first need of our subjects: we have employed ourselves thereto without relaxation; and that peace, so
necessary for France, as well as for the remainder of Europe, is signed. A constitutional charter was called for
by the actual condition of the kingdom; we promised it, and we now publish it. We have taken into
consideration that, although all authority in France resides in the person of the king, our predecessors have not
hesitated to alter the exercise thereof in accordance with the change of the times: that it was in this manner
that the communes owed their emancipation to Louis, the Fat, the confirmation and extension of their rights to
Saint Louis and Philip the Fair; that the judicial system was established and developed by the laws of Louis XI,
Henry II and Charles IX; and finally, that Louis XIV regulated almost all parts of the public administration by
various ordinances whose wisdom nothing has yet surpassed.
We are bound, by the example of the kings, our predecessors, to estimate the effects of the ever increasing
progress of enlightenment, the new relations which these advances have introduced into society, the direction
impressed upon opinions during the past half century, and the significant alterations which have resulted
therefrom: we have recognized that the wish of our subjects for a constitutional charter was the expression of a
real need….
While we have recognized that a free and monarchical constitution was necessary to meet the expectation of
enlightened Europe, We have also been constrained to remember that our first duty towards our subjects was
to preserve, in their own interest, the rights and prerogatives of our crown. We have hoped that, taught by
experience, they may be convinced that only the supreme authority can give to institutions which it establishes
the strength, permanence, and majesty with which it is itself invested; that thus, when the wisdom of the king
freely coincides with the wish of the people, a constitutional charter can be of long duration; but that, when
violence wrests concessions from the feebleness of the government, public liberty is not less in danger than the
throne itself. In a word, we have sought the principles of the constitutional charter in the French character and
in the enduring examples of past ages.
We have replaced [the chambers of the Third Estate with] the Chamber of Deputies.... In thus attempting to
renew the chain of the times, which disastrous errors have broken, we have banished from our recollection, as
we could wish it were possible to blot out from history, all the evils which have afflicted the fatherland during
our absence. Happy to find ourselves once more in the bosom of our great family…. [the] dearest wish of our
heart is that all Frenchmen should live as brothers, and that no bitter recollection should ever disturb the
security that must follow the solemn act which we grant them to-day.
Assured of our intentions, and strengthened by our conscience, we pledge ourselves, in the presence of the
assembly which hears us, to be faithful to this constitutional charter, reserving to ourselves to swear to
maintain it with a new solemnity, before the altars of Him who weighs in the same balance kings and nations.
For these reasons, We have voluntarily, and by the free exercise of our royal authority, accorded and do accord,
grant and concede to our subjects, as well for us as for our successors forever, the constitutional charter which
follows:
Public Law of the French
1. Frenchmen are equal before the law, whatever may be their titles and ranks.
2. They contribute without distinction, in proportion to their fortunes, towards the expenses of the state.
3. They are all equally admissible to civil and military employments.
4. Their personal liberty is likewise guaranteed; no one can be prosecuted nor arrested save in the cases
provided by law and in the form which it prescribes.
5. Every one may profess his religion with equal freedom, and shall obtain for his worship the same
protection.
6. Nevertheless, the catholic, apostolic and Roman religion is the religion of the state.
7. The ministers of the catholic, apostolic and Roman religion and those of the other Christian sects alone
receive stipends from the royal treasury.
8. Frenchmen have the right to publish and to have printed their opinions, while conforming with the
laws, which are necessary to restrain abuses of that liberty.
9. All property is inviolable, without any exception for that which is called national, the law making no
distinction between them.
…
Form of the Government of the King
13. The person of the king is inviolable and sacred. His ministers are responsible. To the king alone
belongs the executive power.
14. The king is the supreme head of the state...
15. The legislative power is exercised collectively by the king, the Chamber of Peers, and the Chamber of
the Deputies of the departments.
16. The king proposes the laws.
18. Every law shall be freely discussed and voted by the majority of each of the two chambers.
19. The chambers have the power to petition the king to propose a law upon any subject whatsoever and
to indicate what seems suitable for the law to contain.
22. The king alone sanctions and promulgates the laws.
Of the Chambers of Peers
24. The Chamber of Peers is an essential part of the legislative power.
25. It is convoked by the king at the same time as the Chamber of the Deputies of the departments. The
session of the one begins and ends at the same time as that of the other.
26. Every meeting of the Chamber of Peers which may be held outside of the time of the session of the
Chamber of Deputies, or which may not be ordered by the king, is unlawful and of no validity.
27. The appointment of peers of France belongs to the king. Their number is unlimited: he can at his
pleasure alter their dignities, appoint them for life, or make them, hereditary.
28. Peers have entrance to the chamber at twenty-five years and a deliberative voice only at thirty years.
30. Members of the royal family and princes of the blood are peers by right of their birth. They sit next to
the president; but they have no deliberative voice until twenty-five years of age.
32. All the deliberations of the Chamber of Peers are secret.
Of the Chamber of Deputies of the Departments
35. The Chamber of Deputies shall be composed of the deputies elected by electoral colleges, whose
organization shall be determined by law.
37. The deputies shall be elected for five years and in such a manner that the chamber may be renewed
each year by a fifth.
38. No deputy can be admitted to the chamber unless he is forty years of age and pays a direct tax of one
thousand francs.
39. The Chamber of Deputies receives all proposals in regard to taxes; only after these proposals have
been accepted can they be carried to the Chamber of Peers.
48. No tax can be imposed or collected, unless it has been consented to by the two chambers and
sanctioned by the king.
50. The king convokes the two chambers each year: he prorogues them, and can dissolve that of the
deputies of the departments; but, in that case, he must convoke a new one within the space of three
months.
Of the Judiciary
57. All justice emanates from the king. It is administered in his name by judges whom he appoints and
whom he invests.
58. The judges appointed by the king are irremovable.
64. Criminal trials shall be public, unless such publicity should be dangerous to order and morality; and in
that case, the tribunal shall declare it by a judicial order.
Special Rights Guaranteed by the State
71. The old nobility resume their titles. The new retain theirs. The king makes nobles at will, but he grants
to them only ranks and honors, without any exemption from the burdens and duties of society.
74. The king and his successors shall swear, at the solemnizing of their coronation, to observe faithfully
the present constitutional charter.
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