all
have come to this decision, they shall meet together in National
Assembly to proceed with the revision. The acts affecting revision of
the constitutional laws, in whole or in part, shall be passed by an
absolute majority of the members composing the National Assembly."[489]
The power of constitutional amendment is therefore vested absolutely
in the parliamentary chambers, under the requirement simply that (p. 328)
it be exercised in joint session. The only limitation that has been
imposed on parliamentary omnipotence in this direction is a clause
adopted in an amendment of August 13, 1884, to the effect that "the
republican form of government shall not be made the subject of a
proposed revision."[490] As in the British system, constituent and
legislative powers are lodged in the same body of men; and not merely
the powers of constitution-making, but the exclusive right to
pronounce upon the constitutionality or unconstitutionally of
legislation. The principal difference is that, whereas the British
Parliament exercises the sum total of its powers in an unvarying
manner, the French, when acting in its constituent capacity, follows a
specially designed procedure.

[Footnote 489: Art. 8. Dodd, Modern Constitutions,
I., 288.]

[Footnote 490: Art. 8. Dodd, Modern Constitutions,
I., 294.]

One other function the two chambers sitting conjointly possess, i.e.,
that of electing the President of the Republic. Under normal
conditions, the chambers are called together in National Assembly to
choose a President one month or more before the expiration of the
seven-year presidential term. In the event of vacancy by death, by
resignation, or by reason of any other unanticipated circumstance, the
meeting of the Assembly takes place forthwith, without summons.[491]
Election is by ballot, and by absolute majority of the members. All
meetings of the National Assembly are held, not in Paris, but in the
old royal palace at Versailles, which indeed was the sole seat of the
present republican government until 1879. No elective session may
exceed in length the five months allotted to an ordinary legislative
session.

[Footnote 491: Law of July 16, 1875, art. 3. Dodd,
Modern Constitutions, I., 291.]

*356. Legislation and Special Powers.*--The two chambers possess
concurrent powers in all that pertains to the initiation,