Page:British and Foreign State Papers, vol. 155 (1958).djvu/529

 Rh negligence, the right of recourse shall be reserved. In respect to the claim for damages and in respect to the right of recourse, appeal to the ordinary courts must not be excluded.

All federal and Land authorities shall render each other mutual legal and official assistance.

In the highest federal authorities civil servants (Beamte) from all Laender shall be employed in equitable ratio. Persons employed in the other federal offices shall normally be selected from the Land in which they are employed.

If a Land fails to fulfil its obligations towards the Federation under the Basic Law or any other federal law, the Federal Government may, with the approval of the Bundesrat, take the necessary measures to force the Land by way of federal compulsion to fulfil its duties.

In order to carry out federal compulsion, the Federal Government or its commissioner shall have the right to give orders to all Laender and their authorities.

The deputies of the German Bundestag shall be elected by the people in universal, free, equal, direct and secret elections. They shall be representatives of the whole people, not bound to orders and instructions and subject only to their conscience.

Any person who has reached the age of 21 years shall be eligible to vote, and any person who has reached the age of 25 shall be eligible for election.

Details shall be determined by a federal law.

The Bundestag shall be elected for a term of four years. Its electoral period shall end four years after its first assembly or with its dissolution. The new election shall take place in the last three months of the electoral period ; in the case of its dissolution, at the latest after 60 days.

The Bundestag shall meet not later than thirty days after the election, nevertheless not before the end of the electoral period of the previous Bundestag.