Una Costituzione allo sbando: il crollo della Terza Repubblica

A Constitution in disarray. The collapse of the Third Republic

Abstract

The three Constitutional Laws of 1875 ceased to exist on 10 July 1940, when the two chambers, meeting as the National Assembly, granted Marshal Pétain full powers to enact a new Constitution. This event was not merely a consequence of France’s military defeat. It was a parliamentary suicide instigated by the supporters of a dictatorial State. The Third Republic revealed a lack of institutional safeguards against authoritarian pressures. The shortcomings of the Constitutional Laws and established practices were compounded by the entirely inadequate conduct of the presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, as well as that of the President of the Republic.

Keywords: Parliament; Constitutional Revision; Second World War; Republican tradition; Full Powers