Constitutional Council Role

Extract

[...] Thus, Article 61 of the Constitution provides that the rules voted by each chamber as well as the amendments made are subject to the Constitutional Council. The aim was indeed to avoid the abuses - known under the previous regimes - preventing the assemblies from granting themselves functions that the Constitution does not entrust to them. In addition to examining the rules of the assemblies and controlling parliamentary elections, the Constitutional Council ensures that the delimitation of the law's domain is verified. [...]

[...] It was entrusted to the Constitutional Council to ensure the respect of the distribution between these areas. Three procedures were intended to ensure this sharing of competences. The first is that of Article 37-2 of the Constitution, which gives the Prime Minister the possibility of making provisions of a regulatory nature, appearing in error, in the law; a decree sufficient to bring the modifications to this text taken in legislative form. The second is that of Article 41, which allows the Executive to oppose an amendment or a bill proposal that excludes from the domain of the law, and in case of disagreement with the President of the Chamber, to refer to the Constitutional Council. [...]

[...] The Constitution wanted to avoid this configuration. The executive power, benefiting from several favorable measures, needed a 'guard dog' in charge of effective application of the rules. Long considered contrary to the constitutional tradition in France, the control of constitutionality constitutes an innovation in a country that is essentially legalistic, in a country where it was considered that no judicial body could contravene the law, expression of the general will. The Constitutional Council established in 1959, has summarized this metamorphosis by considering that the law 'is an expression of the general will in the respect of the Constitution'. [...]

[...] If it appears mainly as a judge of texts the Constitutional Council is also the regulator of institutions that prevents the drift of the parliamentary regime (II). A judge of texts The Constitutional Council is a judge of texts in the sense that it appears today as a judge of presidential elections and referendums and above all, as the body responsible for verifying the conformity of laws to the Constitution The control of the regularity of presidential elections and referendums The Constitutional Council performs various electoral missions. [...]

[...] The creation of a Constitutional Court is an innovation of the Ve Republic. The previous texts had indeed, until then, well ignored constitutional justice. The creation of the Constitutional Council established in 1959 is part of a movement that aims to establish a judicial guarantee of constitutional texts that developed in the aftermath of World War II. It is not enough to introduce several devices for rationalized parliamentarism for the functioning of institutions to be effective. The Constitution of the IVe Republic contained provisions that had the purpose of avoiding the mistakes of the IIIand Republic. [...]