The Dupuy project de loi on Freedom of Association before the Conseil d'état, 1899

On 23 January 1899, there occurred an event rare enough in the history of the Third Republic. The Dupuy Ministry invited the Conseil d’État - the nation’s third highest assembly, second only to the Chamber and the Senate - to participate in drafting a law on freedom of association.  Unlike today, when the Conseil d’Etat is regularly and indeed routinely consulted on such matters, such invitations were extended all too infrequently during this period, one in which the legislature had completely established its mastery over the executive.  In other words, the Deputies usually regarded such matters as falling within their own exclusive province.  Not only that, but the occasion for this request was a particularly poignant one for the Third Republic.  Although freedom of association was a longstanding Republican objective, many took the view that this freedom should not extend to the religious communities whose ideals were so patently at odds with the Republican ethos. 
 
There is an old adage about two things one should never witness being made: the law and sausages.  The Council’s experience in this instance gives ample credence to the former. The Conseil d’État began its deliberations by adopting Dupuy’s draft extending freedom of association to all.  However, as it further considered the issues, the Ministry was in a constant state of siege within the Chamber.  Its liberal sentiments diminished accordingly, and the Council itself ultimately approved a bill which finished up treated all associations like congregations.  However, the Council’s draft never saw the light of day, since no sooner had its deliberations ceased than the Dupuy Ministry fell. 
 
This episode is not without its degree of interest for the contemporary observer.  It highlights the different approaches to the drafting of legislation taken during the Third and the Fifth Republics, and serves to illustrate the relationship between the Government of the Third Republic, and one of its key advisers, the Conseil d’Etat.  The article’s approach follows a methodology which may be described as prosopographical in looking at the common characteristics of the group, thereby opening to disclosure the personal prejudices and opinions of those who comprised one of the essential organs of the Third Republic on one of the fundamental issues of the day.