DIRECTOIRE EXE'CUTIF was the name given to the executive power of the French republic by the constitution of the year 3 (1795), which constitution was framed by the moderate party in the National Convention, or Supreme Legis lature of France, after the overthrow of Robespierre and his associates. [Com MITTEE OF PUBLIC SAFETY.] By this constitution the legislative power was intrusted to two councils, one of five hundred members, and the other salted " des =clew." consisting of 250 members. • The election was graduated : every pri mary or communal assembly chose an elector, and the electors thus chosen assembled in their respective departments to choose the members for the legislature. Certain property qualifications were requi site for an elector. One-third of the councils was to be renewed every two years. The Council of Elders, so called because the members were required to be at least forty years of age, had the power of refusing its assent to any bill that was sent to it by the other council. The executive power was intrusted to five directors chosen by the Council of Elders out of a list of candidates presented by the Council of Five Hundred. One of the five directors was to be changed every year. The directors had the management of the military force, of the finances, and of the home and foreign departments ; and they appointed their ministers of state and other public func tionaries. They had large salaries, and a national palace, the Luxembourg, for their residence, and a guard.
The project of this constitution having been laid before the primary assemblies of the people, was approved by them. But by a subsequent law the Convention decreed that two-thirds of the new coun cils should be chosen out of its own members. This gave rise to much oppo sition, especially at Paris, where the sec tions, or district municipalities, rose against the Convention, but were put down by force by Barras and Bonaparte, on the 13th Vendemiaire (4th of October, 1795). After this the new councils were formed, two-thirds being taken out of the members of the Convention, and one-third by new elections from the departments. The councils then chose the five directors, who were Barras, La Reveilliere-Lepaux, Rewbell, Letourneur, and Carnot ; all of whom, having voted for the death of the king, were considered as bound to the republican cause. On the 25th of October the Convention, after proclaiming the beginning of the government of the laws, and the oblivion of the past, and changing the name of the Place de la Revolution into that of Place de la Concorde, closed its sittings, and the new government was installed. Upon Bonaparte's gaining the ascendancy, the constitution of the year 3 and the Directory were overthrown, after four years' existence. (Hiatoire du Di rectotre Esercutif, 2 vols. 8ve., Paris,
1802.) The law of the conscription was passed under the administration of the Directory. [CONSCRIPTION.] is a term used to denote a legal incapacity in a person to inherit lands or enjoy the possession of them, or to take that benefit which otherwise he might have done, or to confer or grant an estate or benefit on another. All persons who are disabled from taking an estate or benefit are incapable of granting or con ferring one by any act of their own, but many persons who are incapable of dis posing of property may take it either by inheritance or gift.
This legal disability may arise in four ways, which are expressed by the English law in the following terms : By the act of the ancestor ; by the act of the party him self; by the act of the law ; or by the act of God.
By the act of the ancestor, as where he is attainted of treason or murder, for by attainder his blood is corrupted, and his children are made incapable of inheriting. But by the stat. 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 106, § 10, this disability is now confined to the inheriting of lands of which the ancestor is possessed at the time of attainder : in all other cases a descent may be traced through him. [ATTAINDER.] By the act of the party himself, as where a person is himself attainted, out lawed, &c., or where, by subsequent deal ings with his estate, a person has disabled himself from performing a previous en gagement, as where a man covenants to grant a lease of lands to one, and, before he has done so, sells them to another.
By the act of law, as when a man, by the act of law, without any default of his own, is disabled, as an alien born.
By the act of God, as in cases of idiotcy, lunacy, &c. ; but this last is properly a disability to grant only, and not to take an estate or benefit, for an idiot or luna tic may take a benefit either by deed or will.
There are also other legal disabilities, as infancy, and coverture, or the state of a married woman 'WIFE] ; but these di* abilities are confined to the conferring of' interests, for infants and married women are capable of receiving gifts of land or other property.
Married women, acting under and in conformity to powers, since the 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 74, by deed executed under the provisions of that statute, may convey lands. Infants, lunatics, and idiots, being trustees, and having no beneficial interest in the property vested in them, are by various statutes enabled to do the neces sary legal acts as to such property under the direction of the Court of Chancery.
Particular disabilities also are created by some statutes; as, for instance, Roman by the 10 Geo. IV. c. 7 (the Emancipation Act), are disabled from presenting to a benefice ; and foreigners (although naturalized) cannot hold offices or take grants of land under the crown. (Cowel's Interp. ; Terms de la Ley.)