Article first of the Constitution of the fifth French Republic

The article first of the Constitution of 1958 is a text which fixes the framework of the French Republic.

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Legal consequences of this article

August 1st Since the constitutional law n°95-880 of August 4th, 1995, secularity does not raise any more article 2 of the Constitution, but of the article first, which is far from being without consequences. Indeed, it is then all the architecture of the Constitution and its reading which is some modified. According to G. Koubi, “the article first is not located in a particular title, it precedes the title first - By Sovereignty. It supervises the reading of the constitutional text. Consequently, all the institutions of the Republic must answer the characters of a laic State, to start with the President of the Republic, since it ensures by its arbitration, the regular operation of the public authorities. In the same way, with regard to the provisions of article 4 of the Constitution relating to the political parties, in the logic of secularity, it could be deduced about it that the political parties of religious order or primarily preaching values nun could not be recognized”.

Thus, “redistribution of the articles of the constitutional text led to a stressing of the objective inherent in the concept of secularity; it makes it possible to tie qualities of the Republic to the assertion of the principle of equality of the citizens in front of the law, to the prohibition of the discriminations based on the religion and to the respect of all the beliefs”. The French Republic is laic, indivisible epithets the “, democratic and social” presented in the article first debates do not cause that within the framework of their application: the concretization of the text of standards which is the Constitution then starts the discussion on the range of the “laic” adjective, which was often the fulcrum of societal debates. It is the subject of many interpretations, and certain authors think that this qualifier would indicate only one formal historical continuity of the Republic, it would not be an attribute.

However, by brackets, one can carry out a combined interpretation from the articles first and 89 of the Constitution allowing to see in secularity a consubstantial element with the “republican shape of the government which cannot be the subject of a revision. ” This formula was borrowed besides from the dynamics of IIIe République: indeed, article 2 of the law of the bearing August 14th, 1884 revision partial of the constitutional laws, had added to article 8 of the law of February 25th, 1875 relating to the organization of the public authorities this mention: “The republican shape of the government cannot be the subject of a proposal for a revision. ”. One can note in addition, that the Constitution of October 27th, 1946, confirmed already the republican ideology of the French political system, since its article 95 showed word for word the provisions of modified article 8 of the law of February 25th, 1875. The formulation of the Constitution of 1958 is more radical, the more so as the Constitutional council assigned limits with the constituent capacity. Consequently, to recognize with the Component the capacity to modify qualities of the Republic or to remove its laic character, would amount literally closing this chapter of the modern history of France. To modify the laic character of the Republic would consequently amount modifying the substance even Republic. Secularity is thus an initial component of the republican shape of the government. As G. Koubi underlines it besides, “this design is capital since these two articles and 89 compose the opening and the closure the Constitution”.

Moreover, one can affirm that all the normative production activity and all the audit processes are subjected to the comprehension of the principle of secularity. This principle is source of a legal provision constitutional, and it “determines the other principles, it them structure, frames them, transcends them”. Secularity is thus an attribute of the Right, and Republic, it is even a central support: there exists a symbiosis between the Republic and secularity, it is used as base with the Republic, and the Republic marries the features of secularity. The latter excludes consequently any religion from State, and the mention of the respect by the Republic of all the beliefs clarifies the direction given to this secularity: it is about the neutrality of the State, and not of a laicism of combat.

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