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 CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT.

345

Pedro II.

Joan V..

Jose

Maria I. and Pedro III.

Maria I.

Joan Jose, Regent.

Joan VI.

Pedro IV.

A.D.

1683 1706 1750 1777 1786 1796 1816 1826

Maria II. Miguel I. Maria II., restored

A.D.

1826 1828 1834

V. House of Braganza-Coburg.

Pedro V 1853

Luis 1 1861

The average reign of the thirty-five sovereigns of Portugal, from the ascension of the House of Burgundy, amounted to twenty-two years.

Constitution and Government.

The fundamental law of the kingdom is the ' Carta de Lei ' granted by King Pedro TV., April 29, 1826, and altered by an additional act, dated July 5, 1852. The crown is hereditary in the female as well as male line ; but with preference of the male in case of equal birthright. The constitution recognises four powers in the State, the legislative, the executive, the judicial, and the 'moderating' authority, the last of which is vested in the Sovereign. There are two legislative Chambers, the ' Camara dos Pares,' or House of Peers, and the ' Camara dos Deputados,' or House of Commons, which are conjunctively called the Cortes Geraes. The peers, unlimited in number, but actually comprising 133, are named for life by the Sovereign, by whom also the president and vice- president of the first Chamber are nominated. The peerage was for- merly hereditary in certain families; but on May 27, 1864, the Cortes passed a law abolishing hereditary succession. The members of the second Chamber are chosen in direct election, by all citizens possessing a clear annual income of 133 milreis, or 22/. The deputies must have an income of at least 390 milreis, or 891. per annum ; but laAvyers, professors, physicians, or the graduates of any of the learned professions, need no property qualification. Continental Portugal is divided into thirty-seven electoral districts, returning 154 deputies, to which Madeira and the Azores add twenty-five. Each deputy has a remuneration of about 10s. a day during the session. The annual session lasts three months, and fresh elections must take place at the end of every four years. In case of dissolu- tion, a new Parliament must be called together within thirty days. The General Cortes meet and separate at specified periods, without the intervention of the Sovereign, and the latter has no veto on a law passed twice by both Houses. All laws relating to finance and general taxation must originate in the Chamber of Deputies.