Page:The Constitutions and Other Select Documents Illustrative of the History of France, 1789-1907, Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged.pdf/103

Rh of another crown, and that he has previously taken the civic oath.

Women are excluded from the regency.

3. If a minor king has no kinsman uniting the qualifications above set forth, the regent of the kingdom shall be elected as provided in the following articles.

4. The legislative body cannot elect the regent.

5. The electors of each district shall meet at the headtown of the district, according to the proclamation which shall be made in the first week of the new reign by the legislative body, if it is assembled; and if it is separated, the minister of justice shall be required to issue this proclamation within the same week.

6. The electors in each district shall appoint, by individual ballot and majority of the votes, an eligible citizen domiciled within the district, to whom they shall give, by the minutes of the election, a special mandate limited to the single function of electing the citizen whom he shall judge, upon his soul and his conscience, the most worthy to be elected regent of the realm.

7. The mandatory citizens appointed by the districts shall be required to meet in the city where the legislative body is to hold its sitting, on the fortieth day at the latest from the accession of the minor king to the throne, and they shall form the electoral assembly which shall proceed to appointment of the regent.

8. The election of the regent shall be made by individual ballot and by majority of the votes.

9. The electoral assembly shall be able to occupy itself only with the election and shall separate as soon as the election shall be concluded; any other act which it may undertake to do is declared unconstitutional and void.

10. The electoral assembly shall cause the minutes of the election to be presented by its president to the legislative body, which, after having verified the regularity of the election, shall cause it to be published in all the kingdom by a proclamation.

11. The regent exercises, until the majority of the king, all the functions of royalty, and he is not personally responsible for acts of his administration.

12. The regent can begin the exercise of his functions only after having taken to the nation, in the presence of the legisl-