Charter of 1815

The Charter of 1815, officially the Additional Act to the Constitutions of the Empire, was a French constitutional document signed on 22 April 1815 by Napoleon after his return from exile on Elba, during the period known as the Hundred Days. It extensively amended, in effect virtually replacing, the earlier Napoleonic constitutions of 1799, 1802 and 1804, and it incorporated liberalizing principles similar to those of the Bourbon Restoration's Charter of 1814, including granting citizens the right to elect the mayor in communes with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants. It established a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral legislature made up of a Chamber of Peers and a Chamber of Representatives. Though approved by plebiscite on 1 June 1815 with overwhelming support, Napoleon's rapid military defeat prevented its full implementation, and the two chambers sat for barely a month, from 3 June to 7 July 1815.