History
The French Parliament, as a legislative body, should not confused with the various parlements of the Ancien Régime in France, which were courts of justice and tribunals with certain political functions varying from province to province and as to whether the local law was written and Roman, or customary common law.
The word "Parliament", in the modern meaning of the term, appeared in France in the 19th century, at the time of the constitutional monarchy of 1830–1848. It is never mentioned in any constitutional text until the Constitution of the 4th Republic in 1948. Before that time reference was made to "les Chambres" or to each assembly, whatever its name, but never to a generic term as in Britain. Its form – unicameral, bicameral, or multicameral – and its functions have taken different forms throughout the different political regimes and according to the various French constitutions:
| Date | Constitution | Upper chamber | Lower chamber | Other chamber | Joint sitting | Single chamber |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1791 | French Constitution of 1791 | Assemblée Nationale | ||||
| 1793 | French Constitution of 1793 | Corps législatif | ||||
| 1795–1799 | French Constitution of 1795 | Conseil des Anciens | Conseil des Cinq-Cents | |||
| 1799–1802 | Constitution of the Year VIII | Sénat | Corps législatif | Tribunat | ||
| 1802–1804 | Constitution of the Year X | Sénat | Corps législatif | Tribunat | ||
| 1804–1814 | Constitution of the Year XII | Sénat | Corps législatif | |||
| 1814–1815 | Charter of 1814 | Chamber of Peers | Chambre des députés des départements | |||
| 1815 | Additional Act to the Constitutions of the Empire | Chamber of Peers | Chamber of Representatives | |||
| 1830–1848 | Charter of 1830 | Chamber of Peers | Chamber of Deputies | |||
| 1848–1852 | French Constitution of 1848 | Assemblée Nationale | ||||
| 1852–1870 | French Constitution of 1852 | Sénat | Corps législatif | |||
| 1871–1875 | Assemblée Nationale | |||||
| 1875–1940 | French Constitutional Laws of 1875 | Sénat | Chamber of Deputies | Assemblée Nationale | ||
| 1940–1944 | French Constitutional Law of 1940 | |||||
| 1944–1946 | Provisional Government of the French Republic | Assemblée Nationale | ||||
| 1946–1958 | French Constitution of 1946 | Conseil de la République | Assemblée Nationale | Parliament | ||
| since 1958 | French Constitution of 1958 | Sénat | Assemblée Nationale | Parlement réuni en Congrès |
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—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)