Les External Relations, “reserved Domain” of the Executive Power?

The external prerogatives of the executive power do not date back to the Constitution of the Fifth Republic: they are a legacy of the revolutionary era. Indeed, during the Revolution lawmakers tried not as much to confiscate as to control the military and diplomatic authority that have always prevailed, by right, upon the Executive. In light of this, the area of external relations represented a “reserved” domain, without actually being exclusive to the Executive. This article seeks to analyze how these external attributions, devolved to and exercised by the executive power, first contributed to feed chronic conflicts with the legislative power (between 1790 and 1793) and then inspired an un- precedented collaboration between the two powers (between 1793 and 1795), which produced the emergence of a “governmental function”.