Founding texts

In the past two centuries, with every new format of government, France has had a founding text that describes its aspirations and principles. 

• The Constitution of 3 September 1791
• The Constitution of 24 June 1793
• The Constitution of 5 Fructidor, Year III (22 August 1795)
• The Constitution of 22 Frimaire, Year VIII (13 December 1799)
• The Senatus-Consulte of 16 Thermidor, Year X (4 August 1802)
• The Organic Senatus-Consulte of 28 Floréal, Year XII
• The Constitutional Charter of 4 June 1814
• The Additional Act to the Constitutions of 22 April 1815
• The Constitutional Charter of 14 August 1830
• The Constitution of 4 November 1848
• The Constitution of 14 January 1852 and its modifications
• The Constitutional Acts of 1875
• The Constitution of 27 October 1946

The fundamental text that governs our Fifth Republic is the Constitution of 1958, and its minor amendments over the years. Its preamble affirms its attachment to three texts: the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, the Preamble to the Constitution of 1946, and the Charter for the Environment, which was added to the body of constitutional law in 2004.

• The Constitution of 1958
• The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
• Preamble of the Constitution of 27 October 1946
• The Charter for the Environment