Council of Ancients
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The Council of Ancients or Council of Elders (French: Conseil des Anciens) was the upper house of the Directory (French: Directoire), the legislature of France from August 22, 1795 until November 9, 1799, roughly the second half of the period generally referred to as the French Revolution. The Council of Ancients was the senior of the two halves of the republican legislative system, the Ancients were 250 members who could accept or reject laws put forward by the Council of Five Hundred (Conseil des Cinq-Cents). Each member had to be at least 40 and a third of them would be replaced annually. They had no power to draft laws, but any laws rejected could not be re-presented for at least a year.The Lower house was the Council of Five Hundred (Conseil des Cinq-Cents).
Besides functioning as a legislative body, the Council of Ancients selected the five Directors, who jointly held executive power, from a list provided by the Five Hundred.
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