Government

-head of state

-literally just appoints the Consuls

-selected by College of Conservators by

-the College holds one secret ballot each year, placed in secure, sealed urn, and oldest urn (of six) destroyed and replaced

-when a Grand Elector dies, the College selects an urn by vote w/o knowing its contents

-and then whoever has the most votes in urn (and is still living) becomes Grand Elector

-serves for 20 year terms

-may be recalled by College of Conservators, and if is becomes member of it

-executive power is vested in complex apparatus led by Consul

-Consul of the Interior is the effective head of government

-there is an additional Consul of the Exterior, subsidiary and essentially leads the military and that's it

-Each Consul appoints and dismisses their own Chamber of Political Justice, which:

-lays fixed penalties against ministers, state councillors, and high judges

-prevents negligence, corrects mistakes, and ensures rapid and regular administration

-Under the Consul of the Interior are the:

-Domestic Superintendency, with the Ministers for General Sub-Delegation, for General Instruction, for Public Property, and for National Insurance

-National Magistrature, with the Ministers for Civil and Rural Police, Tutelary Police, Judicial Prosecution, and Law Enforcement

-Superintendency of Finance, with the Ministers for Assessment and Collection of Taxes, and the Treasury

-Under the Consul of the Exterior is the:

-Superintendency of Foreign Affairs, with the Ministers for Foreign Affairs, the Army, the Navy, and the Colonies

-Each minister has their own agents and functionaries

-They have a Chamber of Ministerial Justice which operate under the same principles as the Chamber of Political Justice

-The legislature consists of a Council of State, the Tribunate, and the Legislative Body

-in effect law is decided sort of like an adversarial trial

-with Council of State and Tribunate opposing powers of a trial

-and the Legislative Body serving as the judge

-The Legislative Body is:

-elected in four-year terms staggered by each year in department by proportional representation

-with each department (or departments gathered together) assigned to one term

-ratifies laws proposed by either the Tribunate and Council of State silently

-each of which sends 3 members to discuss members in front of them

-during this period, the centerpiece of the entire legislative arrangement, Legislative Body is silent

-only talks during committees, including Committees of the Whole

-and this is where it investigates the functioning of the government and all

-552 members

-The Council of State is:

-appointed by the Consul of the Interior from the National Notables

-executes, drafts, and proposes laws

-makes regulations binding on functionaries

-often talks in closed sessions, and open sessions fairly commonly act like discussions with the people nowadays

-50 members

-appoints Court of Administration which

-adjudicates administrative grievances concerning the ministers, from subordinate officials or citizens

-The Tribunate is:

-selected from the remainder of the National Notables

-represents the opposition, the "people" against the "government"

-drafts and proposes laws

-opposes and debates the Council of State

-refers laws for constitutional review

-with 1-year limit and it may only call 1 law for review per year

-practically, this means government tries to pass as many laws as possible and tribunate only issues laws for review if it's sure College will annul (it rarely is) and with majority needing to be corralled tough

-leader of the leading opposition party is typically First Tribune, elected for that purpose

-50 members

-The conserving power consists of the College of Conservators, which:

-has 15-year terms

-due to deaths and all these terms are essentially random

-meets only once a year

-operates the Republican Guard

-appoints the Grand Elector, and removes if necessary

-annuls unconstitutional laws

-only if the Tribunate issues an official protest within 1 year

-puts up proposed constitutional ameliorations in plebiscites

-appoints member proposed by legislature

-100 members

-the College of Conservators appoints four permanent chambers to protect the people

-Chamber of Military Correspondence

-Chamber of Political Rights

-Chamber of Accounts

-Chamber of Censors

-has influence on power of the purse

-National Court

-consists of 1 judges per department nominated by government and legislative body, confirmed through College of Conservators

-a collection of Grand Judges practically speaking

-Grand Council of Revision

-50 judges

-annuls decisions of lower courts for

-non-observance in judicial forms

-variation of case law in the same court

-dissimilarity of case law in the various courts

-may also refer judgements to neighboring court

-Grand Council of Police

-6 judges

-find the perpetrators of crimes committed to deliver them to justice

-leads the Public Prosecutor's Office

-Political Tribunal

-49 judges

-judges offenses committed by officials of government, including by judges of common courts

-High Court

-5 judges

-meets only intermittently to deal with offences of high functionaries

-charges may only be laid by Legislative Body

-which appoints prosecutors from Grand Council of Police

-guilt determine by National Jury of 28 members

-consisting of 83 nominees chosen annually by National Notables

-The notables are elected by the people, prop. by department/communes

-25*(#dept) national notables, from whom consuls, ministers, and select servants selected

-250*(#dept) departmental notables, from whom prefect and select servants selected

-500*(#commune) communal notables, from whom mayor and select servants selected

-these are nominees for national offices

-every legislator, minister, other official must come out of these lists

-discluded notables are thence removed from the polls

-every three years, citizens elect the Notables - all three tiers

-elections are by open list proportional representation

-and parties of all different types by low petition can put their ballots in official rooms

-people cannot confirm or reject candidacy which means parties have virtually no control over departmental or communal notable lists

-with deaths, disqualified, etc. requiring bypolls

-every three years, citizens elect from the national notables 100 people as National Representatives

-nominations done by petition and payment of fee to authority

-parties assured of getting slates through

-but additional entities give their own slates, largely of party-nominated candidates of diff orders

-Representatives elect a Council of State of half of itself

-and Grand Elector appoints someone from Council of State as consul

-this means any Consul needs approval of majority of National Representative Council

-Every year, one third of Legislative Body members put up for election

-citizens from relevant departments elect from national notables (any) their legislators

-practically, this results in what is often called a perpetual election across France