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Chambres de Commerce: Their Legal Status and Political Significance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

E. Pendleton Herring
E. Pendleton Herring*
Affiliation:
Harvard University
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Extract

The public character of the chambers of commerce in France and in Europe generally is a commonplace. Their intimate relationship with the government is taken as a matter of course. This very complacency is significant acceptance of the close rapprochement of the political and economic hierarchies. These organizations of entrepreneurs in France function as the legally recognized representatives of definite interests. It is regarded as no novel idea that business men as such have public duties and governmental responsibilities that must be conducted in coöperation with the state. The chambre de commerce is the usual agency for carrying on these contacts; it is classified as a “personne civile” and an “établissement public.” It is provided for by statute, given specific powers, and entrusted with definite functions. It is representative of local business men holding a mandate from the Republic authorizing them to perform specified tasks of government and requiring them to offer advice upon commercial and industrial problems.

Regarded merely as agencies through which the government may secure a degree of perfunctory agreement from a selected number of employers and capitalists, the chambres de commerce would have little to offer. They are significant, rather, because of the fact that they provide a recognized means whereby discussion may be held upon questions by those who are directly affected by the outcome. Through such a consideration, the opportunity is offered to secure not only acquiescence but also understanding. The winning of consent is but one step in legislation.

Type
Foreign Governments and Politics
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , August 1931 , pp. 689 - 699
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1931

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References

1 Ducrocq, Th., Droit administratif, Personnes civiles autres que l'état (1905), p. 567Google Scholar.

2 A full collection of all the laws and ordinances on the subject is to be found in Annuaire des chambres de commerce et chambres consultatives des arts et manufactures, published by E. Baudelot, 41 Avenue Reille (xiv) Paris. The secondary reference material directly relating to chambers of commerce is scanty. The most satisfactory sources are the reports and proceedings of the chambers themselves. For a list of available reports, see Grandin, A., Bibliographie générale des sciences juridiques, politiques, économiques et sociales, Premier supplement (1926–1927), pp. 30–31Google Scholar. The following references are suggested: Guillaumot, G., Les Chambres de Commerce avant et depuis la loi du 9 avril, 1898 (Berger-Levrault, Paris, 1898)Google Scholar; Guilland, M. et Hamelet, M., Les Chambres de Commerce, leur passé et leur avenir, 1908Google Scholar; Fédération des industriels et commerçants (Larose et Tenin); Savare, L., Des Chambres de Commerce (Caen, 1904)Google Scholar; Lechevalier, G., Du rôle économique et financier des Chambres de Commerce dans les ports maritimes (Paris, 1906)Google Scholar; Compte rendu des travaux de la Chambre de Commerce de Paris (Librairies-Imprimeries réunies, Martinet, Directeur, rue Saint Benoit, 7, Paris); Vidaillan, De, Histoire des counseils du roi depuis l'origine de la Monarchie jusqu'à nos jours (1856)Google Scholar; Rollet, Henri, Les Chambres d'Agriculture (1926)Google Scholar; Parlement et l'Opinion, Du, rôle des Chambres de Commerce” (Mars, 1919); Journal des Chambres de Commerce françaises et étrangères, fondé en 1886; Messerschmitt, P., Les Chambres de Commerce allemandes, leurs organisations, leurs interventions dans la vie économique (Paris. 1926)Google Scholar; Dessauer, L., Die Neugestaltung des deutschen Handelskammernwesen (Leipzig, 1917)Google Scholar; Huber, F., Die Handelskammern (Stuttgart, 1906)Google Scholar; Lusinsky, Handelskammergesetz (Berlin, 1909)Google Scholar; Zorn, P., Die staatsrechtliche Stellung der Handelskammern (München)Google Scholar; Beres, Rudolf, “The Organization of the Professional Chambers in Poland,” Rev. Polish Law and Economics (1928), pp. 283–301Google Scholar.

3 Annuaire des Chambres de Commerce, pp. xvii-xviii.

4 The reports consulted were chiefly those of Paris, Amiens, d'Alger, Bordeaux, Mostaganem, Mazamet, Rouen, Nice, Du Mans, Roubaix, Nantes, Lyon, and Marseille.

5 Guillaumot, Georges, Les Chambres de Commerce avant et depuis la loi d'avril 1898 (1898)Google Scholar; Ferrand, Joseph, Césarisme et Démocratie, l'incompatibilité entre notre régime admimstratif et notre régime politique (1904)Google Scholar.

6 Bulletin Bimestriel de la Chambre de Commerce de Rouen, November-December, 1929, pp. 429 ffGoogle Scholar.

7 Chambre de Commerce de Bordeaux, Rapport du Président sur les travaux de la Chambre, p. 6.

8 Bulletin de la Chambre de Commerce de Marseille, Apr., 1929, pp. 389 ffGoogle Scholar.

9 Rapport sur les Travaux de la Chambre (Années 1926–1927), pp. 14–15Google Scholar.

10 Bulletin Mensuel de la Chambre de Commerce d'Amiens, Jan., 1929, p. 8Google Scholar.

11 Bulletin Bimestriel de la Chambre de Commerce de Rouen, May-June, 1929, pp. 210–211Google Scholar.

12 Compte Rendu des Travaux de la Chambre de Commerce de Lyon (1927), p. 353Google Scholar. Similar evidence is scattered throughout; see pp. 370, 378.

13 Bramhall, Edith, “The National Economic Council in France,” in this Review, August, 1926Google Scholar.

14 Paulte, C., Chambres consultatives. Conseil supérieur du Commerce et de l'Industrie (1886)Google Scholar.

15 Berthélemy, H., Traité élémentaire de Droit Administratif (Paris, 1926), p. 857Google Scholar.

16 Assemblée des Présidents des Chambres d'Agriculture de France. Séance des 19-20 Mars, 1929 (Grenoble, 1929).

17 See Pipkin, Charles W., Social Politics and Modern Democracies (N.Y., 1931), II, Chap. 3, for an excellent survey of such bodiesGoogle Scholar.

18 Bulletin Bimestriel de la Chambre de Commerce de Rouen, Nov.-Dec., 1929, p. 463Google Scholar.

19 Annuaire des Chambres de Commerce, p. xix.

20 Op. cit., p. 6.

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