Assembly of the Republic

“ The Senate can also be called upon to judge any person accused of an attempt upon the safety of the state, who is then seized by a decree of the president of the Republic, drawn up in the council of ministers. Possible revision of the constitution is provided for very simply: it has to be proposed as a law, and for its acceptance a resolution passed by each chamber separately, by an absolute majority, is necessary. The revision is then carried out by the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies to form a National Assembly. ”

“ To me, however, our visit to the National Assembly, then in session, was the most interesting, with the exception of our interview with Monsieur Thiers, the president of the French republic, which I will describe presently. The National Assembly comprises seven hundred and fifty-eight deputies, elected by their respective districts in 1871, constituting only a provisional government. How long they may feel disposed to hold office, or the vacillating minds of the people to sustain them, the future will reveal. ”

“ The Constituent Assembly Everyone knows, because we have stated so many times, that one of our main political flags, now converted into a flag of the majority of the people, is the convocation of a constituent assembly that provides our country with a new constitution that allows change the face of our economic and social reality. ”

“ That is why the constituent work cannot and should not be in charge of these bodies. Instead, the Constituent Assembly will be elected by the people exclusively to dedicate itself to preparing, within a predetermined period, a draft Constitution, the product of political debate and pluralist agreement, which will be submitted to a referendum. ”

“ Constitutionally, the Grand National Assembly, as the highest voice of the people, is asserted to be the supreme organ of state power, and all other government bodies are theoretically subordinate to it. ”

“ The Assembly of the Republic may authorise the government to issue decree-laws on matters within its own sole powers, and shall specify the subject matter and scope of the authorisation and its duration, which may be extended. ”

“ Foreign trade In order to develop and diversify foreign trade relations and safeguard national independence,itshall be the duty of the state to: a. promote control of foreign trade transactions, in General principles Organisation of political power SECTION 1 Source and exercise of power ARTICLE 112 65
tion,the Assembly of the Republic,the Government and the Courts. 2. The formation,membership,powers and opera tion of the organs of supreme authority shall be governed by the Constitution. ”

“ We who remain free number a hundred and twenty Republican Representatives. Let us install ourselves in this hall. Let us install ourselves in the fulness and majesty of the Legislative Power. Henceforward we are the Assembly, the whole of the Assembly! Let us sit there, deliberate there, in our official sashes, in the midst of the People. Let us summon the Faubourg St. Antoine to its duty, let us shelter there the National Representation, let us shelter there the popular sovereignty. ”

“ The supreme power of the Federation is divided for its exercise into legislative, executive, and judicial. Two or more of these powers shall never be united in one person or corporation, nor the legislative power be deposited in one individual. Article 51. The legislative power of the nation is deposited in a general Congress, which shall be divided into two houses, one of Deputies and the other of Senators. [Footnote: The original form of this article was as follows: "The exercise of the supreme legislative power is vested in one assembly, which shall be denominated Congress of the Union."] ”

“ In the Republic of Hungary everyone may seek legal remedy, in accordance with the provisions of the law, to judicial, administrative or other official decisions, which infringe on his rights or justified interests. A law passed by a majority of two-thirds of the votes of the Members of Parliament present may impose restrictions on the right to legal remedy in the interest of, and in proportion with, adjudication of legal disputes within a reasonable period of time. ”

“ The National Assembly, considering that it has been summoned to determine the constitution of the kingdom, to effect the regeneration of public order, and to maintain the true principles of the monarchy; that nothing can prevent it from continuing its deliberations in whatever place it may be forced to establish itself, and lastly, that wherever its members meet together, there is the National Assembly. ”

“ Others laboured to have the supreme authority to consist of an Assembly chosen by the People, and a Council of State to be chosen by that Assembly, to be vested with executive power, and accountable to that which should next succeed, at which time the power of the said Council should determine. ”

“ And be it further enacted, That the legislative power shall be vested in a general assembly, which shall consist of the governor, a legislative council and a house of representatives. The general assembly shall have power to make laws in all cases, both civil and criminal, for the good government of the people of the said territory, not repugnant to or inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the United States ”

“ Grand National Assembly powers that devolve to the Council of State between assembly sessions, or in the event of exceptional circumstances that prevent the assembly from acting, include the authority to appoint and recall members of the Council of Ministers, members of the Supreme Court, and the prosecutor general. ”

“ To avoid these dangers, let a distinct assembly be constituted, as a mediator between the two extreme branches of the legislature, that which represents the people, and that which is vested with the executive power. ”

“ What we find in the leagues is a sort of compromise between the principle of a primary assembly and the principle of a representative chamber. In both leagues the nominal sovereign was a primary assembly, in which every individual citizen had the right to vote. ”

“ No organ of supreme authority, organ of an autonomous region or organ of local government shall delegate its powers to other organs except in the cases and in the conditions expressly laid down in the Constitution and by law. ARTICLE 115 Conformity of acts with the Constitution The validity of the laws and other acts of the state, the autonomous regions and local government shall depend on their conformity with the Constitution. ”

“ Now that the follies of Courts had obliged Government to saddle us with new taxes, and the opposition of our magistrates did present itself as an obstacle to the ministers, they have thought proper to call an Assembly of Notables, chosen by the king, but taken among the first people in each order, and to begin with granting them what is more wished for by the nation, an Assembly in each Province. ”

“ The Constituent Assembly affirms the Portuguese people's decision to defend their national independence, safeguard the fundamental rights of citizens, establish the basic principles of democracy, secure the primacy of the rule of law in a democratic state and open the way to a socialist society, respecting the will of the Portuguese people and keeping in view the building of a freer,more just and more fraternal country. ”

“ With us, when we elect popular representatives, we send them to a council in which each man individually is a subject, and submitted to a government complete in all its ordinary functions. With you the elective Assembly is the sovereign, and the sole sovereign; all the members are therefore integral parts of this sole sovereignty. But with us it is totally different. With us the representative, separated from the other parts, can have no action and no existence. The government is the point of reference of the several members and districts of our representation. ”

“ A motion of no-confidence in the Prime Minister may be initiated by a written petition, which includes the nomination for a candidate for the office of Prime Minister, by no less than one-fifth of the Members of Parliament. A motion of no-confidence in the Prime Minister is considered a motion of no-confidence in the Government as well. Should, on the basis of this motion, the majority of the Members of Parliament withdraw their confidence, then the candidate nominated for Prime Minister in the motion shall be considered to have been elected. ”

“ As the question concerning the power of the Assembly deeply concerns every man in the State, I shall make no apology for delivering my sentiments upon it. They are indeed only the sentiments of an obscure elector, but one who, he trusts, has rights that he as much values, though with less ability to defend them, as the proudest member of Assembly whatever. ”

“ The most natural substitute for an assembly of the whole, is a delegation of power, from the many, to a few of the most wise and virtuous. In the first place then establish rules for the choice of representatives: agree upon the number of persons who shall have the privilege of choosing one. As the representative assembly should be an exact portrait, in miniature, of the people at large, as it should think, feel, reason and act like them, great care should be taken in the formation of it, to prevent unfair, partial and corrupt elections. ”

“ Besides, a legislative assembly, which is sure to be separated again, and its members soon return to private life, will feel its own interests, as well as duties, bound up with those of the community at large. ”

“ It was proposed:—that the vote should be given to all citizens of both sexes over 21; that the National Assembly should be elected every four years; that there should be a bicameral form of Government, the Senate being quite small; that the President should be elected every seven years and that his powers should be considerable. ”

“ Our Constitution, like every other constitution which puts the authority to make laws and the duty of controlling the public expenditure into the hands of a popular assembly, practically sets that assembly to rule the affairs of the nation as supreme overlord. ”

“ The whole is applicable, we think, fully, even to “Congress” itself. Write “our General Legislature” in place of “Parliament,” “assembly” instead of “congress,” for “Bristol” read “Virginia,” and we see no difficulty whatever.
Our general legislature is not an assembly of ambassadors from different and hostile interests, which interests each must maintain as an agent, and advocate against the other agents and advocates; but our general legislature is a deliberative [Mr. B. has italicized deliberative] assembly of one nation, with one interest, that of the whole. ”

“ A single assembly thus constituted, without any counterpoise, balance, or equilibrium, is to have all authority, legislative, executive, and judicial, concentrated in it. It is to make a constitution and laws by its own will, execute those laws at its own pleasure, and adjudge all controversies that arise concerning the meaning and application of them, at its own discretion. ”