Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/1098

 976. ITALY

The civil list bxs been settled at 16,050,000 lire.^ From this amoiuil the children of the late Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, receive jointly allow- ance of 400,000 lire; Prince Tommaso, Duke of Genoa, an allowance ol ■100,000 lire ; and Queen Margherita, an allowance of 1,000,000 lire.

The greater part of the private domains of the reigning family were given up to the State in 1848.

Constitution and Government.

The present Constitution of Italy is an expansion of the ' Statute fondamentale del Regno,' granted on March 4, 1848, by King Charles Albert to his Sardinian subjects. According to this charter, the executive power of the State belongs exclusively to the Sovereign, and is exercised by him through responsible ministers ; while the legislative authority rests conjointly in the King and Parliament, the latter consisting of two Chambers — an upper one, the Senate, and a lower one, called the ' Camera de' Deputati.' The Senate is composed of the princes of the royal house who are twenty-one years of age (with the right to vote when twenty-five years of age), and of an unlimited number of members, above forty years old, who are nominated by the King for life ; a condition ■ of the nomination being that the person should either fill a high office, or have acquired fame in science, literature, or any other pursuit tending to the benefit of the nation, or, finally, should pay taxes to the annual amount of 3,000 lire, or 1201. In 1912 there were* 369 senators exclusive of six members of the royal family. The electoral law of June 30, 1912, made the suffrage almost universal for men, only denying the franchise to those younger than 30 who have neither performed their military service nor learnt to read and write. The number of deputies is 508, or 1 to every 71,000 of the population (census 1911). In 1911 the number of enrolled electors was 3,227,183 (9 per 100 inhabitants Avithout distinction of sex or age) exclusive of the electors temporarily disfranchised on account oV military service. For electoral purposes the whole of the Kingdom is divided into 508 electoral colleges or districts, and these again into several sections. No deputy can be returned to Parliament unless he has obtained a number of votes greater than one-tenth of the total number of inscribed electors, and than half the votes given. A deputy must be thirty years old, and have the requisites demanded by the electoral law. Incapable of being elected are all salaried Government ofiicials, as well as all persons ordained for the priesthood and filling clerical charges, or receiving pay from the State. Officers in the army and navy, ministers, under-secretaries of State, and various other classes of functionaries high in office, may be elected, but their number must never be more than forty, not including the ministers and the under-secretaries of State. Deputies are to receive 240Z. annually, of which 160^. will be direct pay- ment, and the remainder will be represented by a current account with the railways and post office, defraying travelling and postal expenses.

Lower House, elected 1909 : Constitutionalists, 420 ; Radicals, 54 ; Republicans, 19 ; and Socialists, 37.

The duration of a Parliament is five years, and it must meet annually ; but the King has the power to dissolve the lower House at any time, being bound only to order new elections, and convoke a new meeting within four

1 The amount of the civil list i.s, in lacl, 15,U5U,U(J0 lire, l.ecause the King repays to the 8Late the annuity settled uu Queen Maiij'herita by law of December 6, laoO.