Art. 141 of the Constitution of the Year III (1795) provided each member of the Directoire exécutif (Executive Directory) with the right to preside at the meetings for three months. The Constitution, however, did not specify any rules for election of the president. La Revellière-Lépeaux wrote in his memoirs [3] that he proposed the rotation by order of age, but the Directory proceeded with the election of its first president (Reubell) by lot. There is no evidence of any later agreement for trimestrial rotation in order of age, but at least the original members succeeded to the presidency exactly in the order of age: Reubell (born on 8 Oct 1747), Le Tourneur (15 Mar 1751), Carnot (13 May 1753), La Revellière-Lépeaux (24 Aug 1753), Barras (30 Jun 1755). The post of president was rather ceremonial and did not impose any additional authority except for keeping the seals, making public speeches on national holidays and signing the documents issued by the Directory first. If a member of the Directory could not continue to preside at the meetngs, his colleague, who occupied the chair before him, acted as president until the vacancy was filled. Information source: [1][2]