Succession to the French throne
In 1791 the French National Assembly drew up a new, written Constitution to which the King gave his assent, and which governed France for the last year of the 18th century monarchy. For the first time it was necessary to define formally, as a matter of statutory constitutional law, the system of succession, and the titles, privileges and prerogatives of the Crown. In debating the succession to the Crown the contemporary understanding of the law of succession was publicly clarified. It rebutted the assertion by some that the claim by the Spanish line is a late construct, made to satisfy the ambitions of princes deprived of other claims. Indeed, it is evident that the issue of the rights of the Spanish line to the French crown remained an important constitutional issue.
1962 French presidential election referendum
The referendum was highly controversial. Part of the controversy concerned the constitutional processes for modifying the Constitution. According to article 89 of the Constitution of France, any constitutional reform must be first approved by both houses of Parliament: the National Assembly and the Senate. Then it is either approved by a referendum, or by a solemn joint session of both houses known as Congress. Instead, Charles de Gaulle used Article 11 of the Constitution, which allows the Prime Minister, then Georges Pompidou, to request the President to submit to a referendum a bill in certain areas of law, including "the organization of public powers". To summarize, supporters of de Gaulle and the referendum contended that Article 11 allowed bills to be passed on constitutional matters, while opponents considered that the existence of a special process in Article 89 precluded this.