THE RESTORED MONARCHY The Restoration and the Monarchy of July, though separated by a revolution, form one period in the history of French institutions. It was a period of constitutional monarchy, with a parliamentary body consisting of two chambers, a system imitated from England. The revolution of 183o took place in defence of the charter granted by Louis XVIII. in 1814, which Charles X. had violated by the ordonnances of July. The two chambers then acquired the initiative in legislation, which had not been recognized as theirs under the Restoration, but from this time on belonged to them equally with the king. The sit tings of the house of peers were henceforth held in public ; but this chamber underwent another and more fundamental trans formation. The peers were nominated by the king, with no limit of numbers, and according to the charter of 1814 their appointment could be either for life or hereditary. Under Louis XVIII., during the Restoration they were always appointed under the latter condition, but under the July Monarchy their tenure of office was for life, and the king had to choose them from among 22 classes of notables fixed by law. The franchise for the election of the chamber of deputies had been limited by a system of money qualifications; but while, under the Restoration, it had been necessary, in order to be an elector, to pay 30o francs in direct taxation, this sum was reduced in 1831 to 200 francs, while in certain cases even a smaller amount sufficed. In order to be elected as a deputy it was necessary, according to the charter of 1814, to pay i,000 francs in direct taxation, and according to that of 183o, 500 francs. From 1817 onwards there was direct suffrage, the electors directly electing the deputies. The idea of those who had framed the charter of 1814 had been to give the chief influence to the great landed proprietors; in 183o the chief aim had been to give a preponderating influence to the middle and lower middle classes.
In another respect also the Restoration and the July Monarchy were at one, viz. in maintaining in principle the civil, legal and administrative institutions of the empire. The preface to the charter of 1814 sanctioned and guaranteed most of the legal rights won by the Revolution; even the alienation of national property was confirmed. Judicial and administrative organization, the sys tem of taxation, military organization, the relations of church and state, remained the same, and the university also continued to exist. The Government did, it is true, negotiate a new concordat with the papacy in 1817, but did not dare even to submit it to the chambers. The most important reform was that of the law con cerning recruiting for the army. The charter of 1814 had prom ised the abolition of conscription, in the form in which it had been created by the law of the year VI. The law of March io, 1818, established a new system. The contingent voted by the chambers for annual incorporation into the standing army was divided up among all the cantons ; and, in order to furnish it, lots were drawn among all the men of a certain class, that is to say, among the young Frenchmen who arrived at their majority that year. Those who were not chosen by lot were definitely set free from military service. The sending of substitutes, a custom which had been permitted by Napoleon, was recognized. This was the type of all the laws on recruiting in France up to 1867.
The Restoration produced a code, the Code forestier of 1827, for the regulation of forests (eaux et forets). In 1816 a law had abolished divorce, making marriage indissoluble, as it had been in the old law. But the best laws of this period were those on finance. Now, for the first time, was introduced the practice of drawing up regular budgets, voted before the year to which they applied, and divided since 1819 into the budget of expenditure and budget of receipts.
Together with other institutions of the empire, the Restora tion had preserved the exaggerated system of administrative cen tralization established in the year VIII. It was only relaxed under the July Monarchy. The municipal law of March 21, 1831, made the municipal councils elective, and extended widely the right of voting in the elections for them ; the maires and their assistants continued to be appointed by the Government, but had to be chosen from among the members of the municipal councils. The law of June 22, 1833, made the general councils of the departments also elective, and brought the adjonction des capacites into effect for their election. The powers of these bodies were enlarged in 1838, and they gained the right of electing their president. In 1833 was granted another liberty, that of primary education; but in spite of violent protestations, coming especially from the Cath olics, secondary and higher education continued to be a monopoly of the state. A law of June I1, 1842, established the great railway lines. In 1832 the Code Penal and Code d'Instruction Criminelle were revised, with the object of lightening penalties; the system of extenuating circumstances, as recognized by a jury, was ex tended to the judgment of all crimes. There was also a revision of Book III. of the Code de Commerce, treating of bankruptcy. Finally, from this period date the laws of May 3, 1841, on ex propriation for purposes of public utility, and of June 30, 1838, on the treatment of the insane. Judicial organization remained sub stantially unaltered.