Constitution of the Year VIII

The Constitution of the Year VIII was France's constitution adopted on December 24, 1799 (13 Frimaire Year VIII in the French Republican calendar) and ratified by plebiscite in February 1800, following the coup of 18 Brumaire that brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power. It established the Consulate, concentrating executive authority in three Consuls while giving the First Consul, Napoleon, effective control of the state. Napoleon himself reportedly wanted the document to be short and obscure, and it was the first French constitution since 1789 to omit a Declaration of Rights. Its offices, Consul, Senator and Tribune, borrowed classical Roman titles to lend the new government an air of stability rather than democratic legitimacy, echoing the structure of Augustus's principate more than a republic. The constitution was repealed on August 4, 1802 by the Constitution of the Year X, which made Napoleon First Consul for Life, and the constitutional line it began was eventually replaced entirely by the Bourbon Charter of 1814.