Referendum

REFERENDUM and INITIATIVE, two methods by which the wishes of the general body of electors in a constitutional state may be expressed with regard to proposed legislation. They are developed to the highest extent in Switzerland, and are best exemplified in the Swiss federal and cantonal constitutions. By these two methods the sovereign people in Switzerland (whether in the confederation or in one of its cantons) approve or reject the bills and resolutions agreed upon by the legislative authority (Referendum), or compel that authority to introduce bills on certain specified subjects (Initiative)—in other words, exercise the rights of the people as regards their elected representatives at times other than general elections. The Referendum means "that which is referred" to the sovereign people, and prevailed (up to 1848) in the federal diet, the members of which were bound by instructions, all matters outside which being taken "ad referendum." The Initiative, on the other hand, is the means by which the sovereign people can compel its elected representatives to take into consideration either some specified object or a draft bill relating thereto, the final result of the deliberations of the legislature being subject by a referendum vote to the approval or rejection of the people. These two institutions therefore enable the sovereign people to control the decisions of the legislature, without having recourse to a dissolution, or waiting for the expira tion of its natural term of office.

Two forms of the Referendum should be carefully distin guished: the facultative or optional (brought into play only on the demand of a fixed number of citizens), and the obligatory or compulsory (which obtains in all cases that lie within its sphere as defined in the constitution). The Initiative exists only in the facultative form, being exercised when a certain number of citi zens demand it. Both came into common use during the Liberal reaction in Switzerland after the Paris revolution of July 183o.

In 1831 St. Gall first adopted the "facultative referendum" (then and for some time after called the "Veto"), and its example was followed by several cantons before 1848. The "obligatory referen dum" appears first in 1852 and 1854 respectively in the Valais and the Grisons, when the older system was reformed, but in its mod ern form it was first adopted in 1863 by the canton of rural Basel.

The Initiative was first adopted in 1845 by Vaud. In the case both of the facultative referendum and of the Initiative each can ton fixes the number of citizens who have a right to exercise this power. The constitution of the Swiss confederation lags behind the constitutions of the cantons. Both institutions have since their adoption been freely and constantly used in connection with fed eral and cantonal proposals.

British Empire.

In Australia the referendum, which had been used only once before 191o, was used on several occasions during the ensuing 15 years. In 1910 itself a referendum author ised the transference of the debts of the various states to the Com monwealth Government. In 1916, and again in 1917, the vital question of extension to service abroad of the compulsory enlist ment (which was already in use for home defence) was referred to the Commonwealth electorate and on each occasion rejected—in 1916 by 1,146,000 to 1,085,000 and in 1917 by 1,180,000 to 1,015, 000. In 1911, 1913 and 1919, amendments to the Commonwealth Constitution of a Socialist tendency were all rejected. Similarly in the separate states of the Commonwealth, e.g., Victoria, 192o, Queensland, 1923, and New South Wales, 1925, proposals in favour of prohibition were defeated by large majorities.

New Zealand used the machinery of the referendum in 1911, 1914, 1919, 1922, 1925 and 1928 in order to discover the will of her people respecting this same vexed question of prohibition. On each occasion prohibition was rejected, and at the last refer endum in Nov. 1928 a large majority voted against prohibition.