Declaration of Saint-Ouen

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The Declaration of Saint-Ouen is a statement made by the future King Louis XVIII of France on 2 May 1814, which paved the way for the “First Restoration” of the House of Bourbon on the throne of France following its defeat in the Napoleonic Wars and Napoleon’s forced abdication and demise. It was issued in Saint-Ouen, north of Paris, shortly before his arrival in the capital.

Unlike Ferdinand VII of Spain, who repudiated a constitution in favor of absolutism upon his restoration in 1814, Louis limited himself to the revision of the Senate’s draft constitution while maintaining a claim to the recognition of unlimited monarchical sovereignty.^[1] The declaration also promised basic freedoms for the people as well as national representation and equality before the law.^[2]