Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/30

18 PRUSSIA [CONSTITUTION. constitution affirms the legal equality of all citizens in the eye of the law, provides for univei-sal military service, and guarantees the personal liberty of the subject, the security of property, immunity from domiciliary visits, the inviolability of letters, toleration of religious sects, freedom of the press, the right of association and public meetings, and liberty of migration. The monarchy is hereditary in the male line of the house of Hohenzollern, and follows the custom of primogeniture. The king alone exercises the executive power, but snares the legislative power with his parliament He appoints and discharges the ministers and other officials of the crown, summons and dissolves parliament, possesses the right of pardon and mitigation of punishment, declares war and concludes peace, and grants orders and titles. He is held to be irresponsible for his public actions, and his decrees require the countersign of a minister, -whose responsibility, however, is not very clearly denned. The national tradition and feeling lend the crown considerable power not formulated in the constitution, and the king is permitted to bring his personal influence to bear upon parliament in a way quite at variance with the English con- ception of a constitutional monarch. The annual civil list of the king of Prussia amounts to 600,000. The legislative assembly consists of two chambers, which are convoked annually at the same time but meet separately. The right of proposing new measures belongs equally to the king and each of the chambers, but the consent of all three estates is neces- sary before a measure can pass into law. The chambers have con- trol of the finances and possess the right of voting or refusing taxes. Financial questions are first discussed in the lower house, and the upper house can accept or reject the annual budget only en bloc. All measures are passed by an absolute majority, but those affect- ing the constitution must be submitted to a second vote after an interval of at least twenty-one days. Members may not be called to account for their parliamentary utterances except by the chamber in which they sit. No one may at the same time be a member of both chambers. The ministers of the crown have access to both chambers and may speak at any time, but they do not vote unless they are actually members. The general scheme of govern- ment, though constitutional, is not exactly " parliamentary " in the English sense of the word, as the ministers are independent of party and need not necessarily represent the opinions of the par- liamentary majority. The Herrenhaus, or house of peers, contains two classes of members, the hereditary and non-hereditary. The former consists of the adult princes of the house of Hohenzollern, the mediatized princes and counts of the old imperial nobility, anil the heads of the great territorial nobility. The non - hereditary members comprise life peers chosen by the king from the ranks of the rich landowners, manufacturers, and men of general eminence, and representatives "presented" for the king's approval by the landowners of the nine old provinces, by the larger towns, and by the universities. The Abgeordnetenhaus, or chamber of deputies, consists of 433 members, elected for periods of three years by indirect suffrage, exercised by all male citizens who have reached the age of twenty-five and have not forfeited their communal rights. The original electors are arranged in three classes, according to the rate of taxes paid by them, in such a way that the gross amount of taxation is equal in each class. The country is accordingly divided into electoral districts, with the electors grouped in three cate- gories, each of which selects a Wahlmann or electoral proxy, who exercises the direct suffrage. Members of the lower house must be thirty years old and in full possession of their civic rights. They receive a daily allowance (Diateri) during the sitting of the house. The king exercises his executive functions through an irrespons- ible Staatsrath, or privy council, revived in 1884 after thirty years of inactivity, and by a nominally responsible cabinet or council of ministers (Staats-Ministerium). The latter consists at present of the minister-president and of the ministers of foreign affairs, war, justice, finance, the interior, public worship and instruction, in- dustry and commerce, public works, agriculture, domains, and forests. Ministers conduct the affairs of their special departments independently, but meet in council for the discussion of general questions. They represent the executive in the houses of parlia- ment and introduce the measures proposed by the crown, but do not need to belong to either chamber. The affairs of the royal household and privy purse are entrusted to a special minister, who is not a member of the cabinet The Prussian governmental system is somewhat complicated by its relation to that of the empire. The king of Prussia is at the same time German emperor, and his prime minister is also the imperial chancellor. The ministries of war and foreign affairs practically coincide with those of the empire, and the customs-dues and the postal and telegraph service have also been transferred to the imperial Government. Prussia has only seventeen votes in the federal council, or less than a third of the total number, but its influence is practically assured by the fact that the small northern states almost invariably vote with it. To the reichstag Prussia sends more than half the members. The double parliamentary system works in some respects inconveniently, as the reichstag and Prussian landtag are often in session at the same time and many persons are members of both. Where imperial and Prussian legisla- tion come into conflict the latter must give way. For administrative purposes Prussia is divided into Provinzrn or provinces, Regierungsbezirke or governmental departments, Krcisc or circles, and Gemeinden or communes. The city of Berlin and the district of Hohenzollern are not included in any province, and the larger towns usually form at once a commune and a circle (Stadtkreis). Recent legislation has aimed at the encouragement of local government and the decentralization of administrative authority by admitting lay or popularly elected members to a share in the administration alongside of the Government officials. Certain branches of administration, such as the care of roads and the poor, have been handed over entirely to local authorities, while a share is allowed them in all. As a general result it may be stated that the Prussian administrative system intervenes between the strongly centralized government of France and the liberty of local govern- ment enjoyed in England. In the province the Government is represented by the Obcrprdsident, whose jurisdiction extends over all matters affecting more than one department. He is assisted by a council (Provinzialrath), consisting, besides himself as chair- man, of one member appointed by Government and five members elected by the provincial committee (Prminzialausschuss). The latter forms the permanent executive of the provincial diet (Pro- vinzial- Landtag), which consists of deputies elected by the kreiso or circles, and forms the chief provincial organ of local government. The regierungsbezirk is solely a Government division and is only indirectly represented in the scheme of local administration. The Government authorities are the Rcgicrungs-Prasident, who is at the head of the general internal administration of the department, and the Regierung, or Government board, which supervises ecclesi- astical and educational affairs and exercises the function of the state in regard to the direct taxes and the domains and forests. The departmental president is also assisted by a Eezirksrath or district council, consisting of one official member and four others selected from inhabitants of the department by the provincial com- mittee. The governmental official in the kreis (county, circle) is the Landrath, an office which existed in the Mark of Brandenburg as early as the 16th century. He is aided by the Kreissausschuss, or executive committee of the Kreistag (the diet of the circle), the members of which are elected by the rural and urban communes. The kreis is the smallest state division; the communes, divided into urban and rural, are left almost entirely to local government, though the chief officials must obtain the sanction of the central authority. In the rural communes the head magistrate, called a Schulze or Dorfrichtcr, is elected for six years and is assisted by assessors called Schoffcn. The regulations for the government of towns still rest in great measure on the liberal reforms effected by Stein at the beginning of the centuiy. The chief power rests in the hands of the Stadtrath, which consists of Stadtverordncten, or town deputies elected by the citizens for six years. The practical executive is entrusted to the magistracy (Magistral), which usually consists of a burgomaster, a deputy burgomaster (both paid officials), several unpaid members, and, where necessary, a few other paid members. The unpaid members hold office for six years; the paid members are elected for twelve years, and their election requires ratification from the state. The administrative system above de- scribed applies as yet in its full extent to about three-fourths of the frovinces only, but is to be extended to the others in due course, hough in some respects rather cumbrous in its machinery, the system is on the whole found to work well and with economy. In the seven eastern provinces, Westphalia, and part of the Rhenish province the common law of Prussia (Landrccht), codified in 1794, is in force, while the common law of the German empire, formed by an amalgamation of Roman, canon, and German law, prevails in the three new provinces and part of Pomerania. The Code Napoleon, however, still exists in the greater part of the Rhine district, and the commercial law has been consolidated in the German commercial code of 1861. A new penal code, promulgated in 1850, did away with the old patrimonial or seigniorial juris- diction, and the administration of justice is now wholly in the hands of Government. The courts of lowest instance are the Amts- gcrichte, in which sits a single judge, accompanied in penal cases by two Schoffcn or lay assessors (a kind of jurymen, who vote with the judge). Cases of more importance are decided by the Land- gerichte or county courts, in which the usual number of judges is three, while in important criminal cases a jury of twelve persons is generally empanelled. From the landgerichte appeals may be made to the Oberlandcsgcrichte or provincial courts. The oberlandesgericht at Berlin is named the Kammergcricht and forms the final instance for summary convictions in Prussia, while all other cases may be taken to the supreme imperial court at Leipsic. The judges (Richter) are appointed and paid by the state, and hold office for life. After finishing his university career the student of law who wishes to become a judge or to practise as qualified counsel (Rechtsan- walt, barrister and solicitor in one) passes a Government examina-