Le Chapelier Law 1791


The Le Chapelier Law was a piece of legislation passed by the National Assembly during the first phase of the French Revolution, banning guilds as the early version of trade unions, as well as compagnonnage and the right to strike, and proclaiming free enterprise as the norm. It was advocated and drafted by Isaac René Guy le Chapelier. Its promulgation enraged the sans-culottes, who called for an end to the National Constituent Assembly, which nonetheless continued through the second phase of the Revolution. The law was annulled on 25 May 1864, through the :fr:Loi Ollivier|loi Ollivier, which reinstated the right to associate and the right to strike.