[3][non-primary source needed] Charles de Gaulle was the main driving force in introducing the new constitution and inaugurating the Fifth Republic, while the text was drafted by Michel Debré.

[4] The preamble of the constitution recalls the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen from 1789 and establishes France as a secular and democratic country, deriving its sovereignty from the people.

[6] Charles de Gaulle, the first president of the Fifth Republic, was instrumental in the adoption of the new constitution, as he was called back from retirement and narrowly avoided a coup resulting from the Algerian War.

This is weaker than the constitutions of the Third or Fourth republics, where the government could not be installed until the parliament had received the pledge from the prime minister.

[12] The unique aspect in the Fifth Republic is in Article 21 [fr], where the prime minister has power to make legislation.

While in effect, Parliament is blocked from issuing statutes in that area, and the government is permitted to draw up ordonnances that normally would be beyond their remit.

[13] Although Article 1 of the Third Republic's Constitutional Act of 25 February 1874[clarify][better source needed] explicitly forbade the parliament to delegate its responsibility, within five years this was ignored and had occurred several times.

In 1939, in the run-up to the Second World War, Parliament gave the government power to enact decrees to protect the country.

This practice became entrenched after the war, despite the fact that Article 13 of the 1946 Constitution of the newly founded Fourth Republic expressly forbade it.

[a] Part of the reason for this, was a lot of squabbling among numerous small political parties in the parliament, who were unable to agree on anything and were ineffective in passing legislation.

Charles de Gaulle, a private citizen at the time, conceived that the way out was to have a more powerful executive and a weaker parliament; when he was finally invited to form a new government in 1958 and write a constitution, his ideas were incorporated into the Constitution of the Fifth Republic, including the legislative power-sharing defined in Articles 21 and 38.

[citation needed] The Constitution also sets out methods for its own amendment: either a referendum (article 11) or a parliamentary process with presidential consent.

It was assumed that unelected judges and other appointees should not be able to overrule laws voted for by the directly elected French parliament.

[17] This followed a broader trend during post-war Europe to establish specialized judiciary tribunals to serve as a bulwark against unconstitutional legislative activities.

[19] Following de Gaulle’s resignation in 1969, the Council entertained greater judicial power and discretion upon adjudicating in the consequential political crisis.

Prior to the 1971 Freedom of Association Decision, the Council could only verify laws under the explicit textual stipulation of the 1958 Constitution.

[7] Article 11 was used for constitutional changes for the second and final time in 1969, but the "No" prevailed, causing Charles de Gaulle to resign from the presidency.

[24] On 21 July 2008, Parliament passed constitutional reforms championed by President Nicolas Sarkozy by a margin of two votes.