Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/864

 508 FRANCE

been maintained since. It is presided over by the Minister of Justice or (in his absence) by a vice-president, and is composed of Councillors, Masters of Requests (Maitres de Requetes), and Auditors, all appointed by the President of the Republic. Its duty is to give opinion upon such questions, chiefly those con- nected with administration, as may be submitted to it by the Government. It is judge in the last resort in administrative suits, and it prepares the rules for the public administration.

II. Local Government.

For administrative piu'poses France is divided into 86 departments, or 87 if the ' territory of Belfort ' (a remnant of the department of Haut-Rhin) be considered as a separate department. Since 1881 the three departments of Algeria are also treated, for most purposes, as part of France proper. The department has representatives of all the Ministries, and is placed under a Prefect, nominated by Government, and having wide and undefined functions. He is assisted by a Pre fecto rial Council, an administrative body, whose advice he may take without being bound to follow it. The Prefect is a representative of the Executive, and, as such, supervises the execution of the laws, issues police regulations, supplies information on matters which concern the depart- ment, nominates subordinate officials, and has under his control all officials of the State. There is a Sub-prefect in every arrondissement, except capitals of departments and the department of the Seine.

The unit of local government is the cominune, the si^e and population of which vary very much. There are 36,170 communes, and new ones cannot be created otherwise than by law. Most of them (31,610) have less than 1,500 inhabitants, and 18,054 have even less than 500 ; while 117 communes only have more than 20,000 inhabitants. The local affairs of the commune are under a Municipal Council, composed of from 10 to 36 members, elected by universal suffrage, and by the scrutin de liste for 4 years by Frenchmen after 21 years and 6 months' residence ; but each act of the Council must receive the approval of the Prefect, while many must jbe submitted to the Council General, or even to the President of the Republic, before becoming lawful. Even the Commune's quota of direct taxation is settled by persons {repartitcurs) chosen by the Prefect from among the lists of candidates drawn up by the Municipal Council.

Each Municipal Council elects a Mayor, who is both the representative of the commune and the agent of the central government. He is the head of the local police and, with his assistants, acts under the orders of the Prefect.

In Paris the Municipal Council is composed of 80 members ; each of the 20 arrondissements into which the city is subdivided has its own Mayor. The place of the Mayor of Paris is taken by the Prefect of the Seine, and, in part, by the Prefect of Police. Lyons has an elected Mayor, but the control of the police is vested in the Prefect of the department of the Rhone.

The next unit is the canton (2, 899 in France), which is composed of an average of 12 communes, although some of the largest communes are, on the contrary, divided into several cantons. It is a seat of a justice of the peace, hut is not an administrative unit.

The district, or arrondissement (362 in France), has an elected conseil d' arrondissement, with as many members as there are cantons, its chief function being to allot among the communes their respective parts in the direct taxes assigned to each an-ondisscment by the Council General. That body stands under the control of the Sub-prefect. A varying number of arrondissements form a department, which has its conseil giniral renewed by universal suffrage