Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/109

LEGISLATURE. to determine upon the qualifications and elections of its own members.

In the English dominions in America legislatures modeled upon the Parliament of the mother country came to be established in every colony. At the time of the adoption of the National Constitution these bodies were bicameral in form in all the States except Georgia and Pennsylvania, the Lower House everywhere being an exclusively popular body. From the first there was a clear-cut distinction between legislative, executive, and judicial powers, and the early constitutions almost without exception expressly required that each set of functions should be exercised by a separate and independent organ of government. The only legislative power left to the Governor was the right to veto bills and recommend the enactment of laws which seemed to him wise and needful.

At the end of the eighteenth century the political reformers on the European Continent looked to the institutions of England for their inspiration, so that during the course of the nineteenth century most of the countries of Continental Europe adopted written constitutions of government providing for legislative bodies, partially representative at least, and vested with the greater part of the legislative power and often modeled closely upon the English Parliament. In some of the Continental States, particularly France, Germany, and Italy, the chief executive still has a large ordinance power which is not only used to fill in the details of legislative acts, but even to supplement them in some cases. Such ordinances, however, are always subject to alteration or repeal by the statutes. So far as the general principles of legislative organization and procedure are concerned, it may be said that the European and American States have pretty nearly reached a consensus of opinion. In all the countries of America and Europe where legislative bodies exist, except in some of the Balkan and Central American States, the bicameral system has been adopted as having substantial advantages over the old three-chambered bodies of estates, on the one hand, and the single-chambered legislatures on the other. There is also substantial agreement that the lower houses shall be popular bodies and consequently vested with the initiation of financial and revenue measures. With this exception the two houses everywhere enjoy substantial equality of powers in legislation. It is a general principle, however, that the upper houses shall also be vested with certain administrative or judicial functions such as the trial of impeachments preferred by the lower houses, the ratification of treaties, the confirmation of appointments to office, the issue of administrative regulations, etc. Similar distinctions in favor of the upper houses exist in the case of the local legislatures of the United States.

The principle of representation upon which the popular chambers rest is essentially the same almost everywhere, namely, apportionment according to the population, often with some regard to geographical division, and choice by district ticket, rather than the apportionment according to classes of voters and choice by general ticket. A striking exception with respect to the principle of apportionment strictly according to population is afforded by the State of Connecticut. The ratio of representation varies greatly. In the Congress of the United States it is one

representative to every 194,000 inhabitants, in the German Empire one to every 131,000, in Great Britain and Ireland (on an average) one to every 63,000, in France one to every 100,000, in Mexico one to every 40,000, and in Switzerland one to every 20,000. There is a great diversity with respect to the principles of representation in the upper houses of the legislatures. In general, the representation is of classes or of territorial divisions. In the United States, France, Switzerland, Mexico, and Brazil, the Upper House represents the individual States or the larger administrative units. In all of these except France the principle is equality of representation without respect to size or population of the area represented. In Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, and Hungary the principle of class representation predominates, or, to speak more accurately, no general principle of representation exists. Germany has as a part of its legislature a body, known as the Bundesrat, which though in one sense an upper house, at the same time resembles a meeting of diplomatic representatives of the several States of the Empire.

The source from which the legislatures proceed is now substantially the same everywhere in the case of the lower houses, namely, universal manhood suffrage. To this rule there are exceptions, as in Italy, where a complex system of qualifications (education, tax, rent) prevails; in Great Britain, where there is a household lodger franchise; and in the Netherlands, where the payment of a direct tax is required. So far as the upper houses are concerned, there is considerable variety in the source from which they proceed. In the United States and France the Upper House is chosen by indirect election; in Mexico, the Commonwealth of Australia, and Brazil it is chosen by direct election; in Germany and Switzerland it is appointed by the local governments. The British House of Lords consists of peers of the blood royal, English bishops, English peers (hereditary and created by the sovereign), Scotch representative peers (elected for duration of Parliament), and Irish representative peers (elected for life). The constitution of the Austrian Herrenhaus and of the Hungarian Table of Magnates is in the main very similar to that of the British House of Lords. The composition of the Prussian Herrenhaus is somewhat more complex than that of the Austrian; included in its members are representatives of the large cities and of the universities. The Senate in Italy is composed of princes of the royal house and of an unlimited number of peers, nominated by the King for life. The members of the Senate of the Dominion of Canada are appointed for life by the Governor-General. Among the Commonwealths of the American Union the source of both houses is popular election.

The qualifications for members of the lower houses do not now differ greatly in the various modern States of the world. In general they are male sex; mature age, sometimes twenty-one years, although it is twenty-five in the United States, France, Germany, Spain, and Prussia, and thirty in Italy; citizenship, and residence in the State and sometimes in the district from which the member is chosen. The usual disqualifications are conviction of crime, bankruptcy, pauperism, and the holding of incompatible office at the same time. For eligibility to the upper houses there is usually a higher age qualification, the average being about thirty, although it is