| Charter of 1815 | |
|---|---|
 First page of the act | |
| Original title | (in French) Acte additionnel aux constitutions de l'Empire du 22 avril 1815 |
TheCharter of 1815, signed on 22 April 1815, was the Frenchconstitution prepared byBenjamin Constant at the request ofNapoleon I when he returned from exile onElba. Officially named theAdditional Act to the Constitutions of the Empire, the document extensively amended (in fact virtually replacing) the previous Napoleonic Constitutions (Constitution of the Year VIII,Constitution of the Year X andConstitution of the Year XII). The Additional Act reframed the Napoleonic constitution into something more along the lines of theBourbon Restoration'sCharter of 1814 ofLouis XVIII, while otherwise ignoring the Bourbon charter's existence. It was very liberal in spirit, and gave the French people rights which had previously been unknown to them, such as the right to elect themayor incommunes of less than 5,000 in population. Napoleon treated it as a mere continuation of the previous constitutions, and it therefore took the form of an ordinary legislative act "additional to the constitutions of the Empire".
Napoleon, having returned from the Island of Elba for theHundred Days, was not able to re-establish theFirst Empire as it had been before his restoration. He asked the liberalBenjamin Constant to prepare a new Constitution. It was adopted by aplebiscite on June 1, 1815 by an immense majority of the five million voters, although a great many eligible voters abstained. It was promulgated in theChamp de Mai ceremony at theChamp de Mars. The rapid fall of Napoleon prevented it from being fully applied.
The legislative power was to be exercised by the Emperor together with the Parliament, which was to be composed of two chambers: theChamber of Peers composed of hereditary members appointed by the Emperor, and theChamber of Representatives, composed of 629 citizens elected for 5 year terms by electoral colleges in the individualdepartments. The ministers were to be responsible to the Parliament for their actions. The liberalization dealt both with the guarantees of rights and the end of censorship. In the end, the two chambers held sessions for only one month, from June 3 to July 7, 1815.
