eral Republic of Germany on October 3, 1990, the Basic Law, which had always been provisional became the constitution of united Germany pursuant to Articled 4 of the Unification Treaty. The French constitution has been amended only a few times, the most important amendment being the approval on October 28, 1992 by a 58 percent vote in a popular referendum of the election of the President by universal suffrage.
In 1958, France was on the brink of civil war because of the internal controversy over the Algerian War. The Fourth Republic, which had undergone 26 changes of government since 1946 was on the verge of collapse. Giles says that the French had been "caught since the Revolution in a love hate relationship between freedom and authority."1 He says that the Constitution of 1946 had "proved to be disastrously unworkable."2 Under it, the political system "left the Assembly with sovereign power and the President of the Republic with severely limited authority."3 Germany was faced with a serious external threat, the Soviet Union, and sought to restore democracy after the collapse of the totalitarian dictatorship of the Third Reich.
Both constitutions were based on the protection of fundamental human rights. The Preamble to the French Constitution incorporated the Rights of Man (1789). Article 2 stated that the Republic "shall ensure the equality of all citizens before the law without distinction as to origi
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