<P> By this means the Estates General furnished the material for numerous ordonnances, though the king did not always adopt the propositions contained in the cahiers, and often modified them in forming them into an ordonnance . These latter were the ordonnances de reforme (reforming ordinances), treating of the most varied subjects, according to the demands of the cahiers . They were not, however, for the most part very well observed . The last of the type was the grande ordonnance of 1629 (Code Michau), drawn up in accordance with the cahiers of 1614 and with the observations of various assemblies of notables that followed them . </P> <P> The peculiar power of the Estates General was recognized, but was of a kind that could not often be exercised . It was, essentially, a constituent power . The ancient public law of France contained a number of rules called "the fundamental laws of the realm" (lois fondamentales du royaume), though most of them were purely customary . Chief among these were rules that determined the succession to the Crown and rules forbidding alienation of the domain of the Crown . The king, supreme though his power might be, could not abrogate, modify or infringe them . But it was admitted that he might do so by the consent of the Estates General . The Estates could give the king a dispensation from a fundamental law in a given instance; they could even, in agreement with the king, make new fundamental laws . The Estates of Blois of 1576 and 1588 offer entirely convincing precedents in this respect . It was universally recognized that in the event of the line of Hugh Capet becoming extinct, it would be the function of the States - General to elect a new king . </P> <P> The Estates General of 1614 proved the last for over a century and a half . A new convocation had indeed been announced to take place on the majority of Louis XIII, and letters were even issued in view of the elections, but this ended in nothing . Absolute monarchy progressively became definitely established, and appeared incompatible with the institution of the Estates General . Liberal minds, however, in the entourage of Louis, duc de Bourgogne, who were preparing a new plan of government in view of his expected accession to the French throne in succession to Louis XIV, thought of reviving the institution . It figures in the projects of Saint - Simon and Fénelon though the latter would have preferred to begin with an assembly of non-elected notables . But though St Simon stood high in the favor of the regent Orléans, the death of Louis XIV did not see a summoning of the Estates . </P> <P> At the time of the revolution, the First Estate comprised 10,000 Catholic clergy and owned 5--10% of the lands in France--the highest per capita of any estate . All property of the First Estate was tax exempt . The Second Estate comprised the nobility, which consisted of 400,000 people at the time, including women and children . Since the death of Louis XIV in 1715, the nobles had enjoyed a resurgence in power . They had almost a monopoly over distinguished government service, higher church offices, army parliaments, and most other public and semipublic honors by the time of the revolution . Like the First Estate, they were not taxed by the principle of feudal precedent . The Third Estate comprised about 25 million people: the bourgeoisie, the peasants, and everyone else in France . Unlike the First and Second Estates, the Third Estate were compelled to pay taxes, but the bourgeoisie found one way or another to be exempt from them . The heavy burden of the French government therefore fell upon the poorest in French society--the peasantry, the working poor, and the farmers . There was much resentment from the Third Estate towards its superiors . </P>

Where did the king called together legislative bodies