The government of Hungary is a limited monarchy, where the king enjoys great authority and influence ; but where the nobility also have extensive rights and numerous privileges. The order of succession is established in the descendants of either sex of the House of Hapsburg, who at their coronation most take an oath in the presence of the diet, to preserve and maintain inviolate the liberties, privileges, rights, laws, and usages of the kingdom at pre sent existing, or which may hereafter be decreed during their reign ; never to carry the Hungarian diadem out of the kingdom, but to entrust it to two lay guardians elected by the diet for the put pose ; to unite to toe crown of Hungary all the countries which it formerly possessed, should they be reconquered ; to restore to the estates of the realm the right of electing a king alter the extinction of the line of the descendants of Charles VI., Joseph 1., and Leopold 1.; and that each of their successors shall be bound to sanction this conservative act at the diet of his coronation within six months after his accession.
The prerogatives of the monarch consist in his exercis ing the executive power in its full extent ; but the legisla tive power he holds only in conjunction with the diet, whose decrees alone have the force of laws ; the nomina tion to all bishoprics and abbeys, and ecclesiastical dig nities, as also to all civil and military appointments, (the Palatine, and the two keepers of the crown excepted, who are chosen by the diet from a list of candidates presented by the king); the power of creating nobles, of making peace and war, and of calling out the personal levy ; the right to the revenues of all vacant benefices, as also to the properties of all deceased nobles who have died without heirs, or who have been convicted of treason or rebellion ; the immediate superintendence and direction of all establish ments of public instruction, whether religious or temporal, whether Catholic or Protestant ; and the right of convok ing the diet, of pointing out the matters that are to be there discussed, and of proroguing or dismissing it.
The privileges of the nobility, by an act of the diet in 1741, were formed into a fundamental law of the king dom, and consist in the right of assisting at the delibera tions of the legal assemblies of the county, wherein they dwell or possess property, whatever be the subject under consideration ; the inviolability of their persons from arrest, unless in the cases of felony, high-way robbery, and some other crimes ; the sole right of possessing lands with the seignorial power over their vassals ; and the exemption from all contributions and imposts.
The royal free cities enjoy the same rights as the nobles without exception, and ai•e subject to the same laws and usages. They are considered as domains of the crown, which can neither be alienated nor mortgaged. They con stitute the fourth order of the diet, and are represented by two members each ; and the citizens elect their own bur gomasters, judges, and magistrates. Besides the royal free cities, there are others which possess particular pri vileges ; the most considerable of which are the sixteen cities of Zips, which were mortgaged to Poland by King Sigismund, but restored to Hungary in 1772. Their juris diction, civil and military, is independent of the county ; and they enjoy the right of appeal lrom their own tribunals to the supreme courts of the kingdom. Their population is 45,000. The six cities of Heidukes, in the county of Saboltsch, which possess nearly the same privileges, and send two deputies to the diet. • They contain about 27.500 inhabitants ; and the districts of Jazyg, of Great and Little Cumania, which form a population of 112,723 souls. They are under the immediate jurisdiction of the palatine, and form, like the royal free cities, a domain of the crown. They pay neither duty nor tithe, and send two represen tatives to the diet.. All these, however, are subject, like the other cities, to the general contributions.
The peasants, since t791, by an act of the diet, are no longer attached to the soil, but are at liberty to leave their habitations at the proper term, and seek another lord. Formerly it was not permitted for plebeians to plead in law against a noble ; but the free cities pleaded for their individual burghers, and one noble defended the rights of his vassals against another. By the diet of 1802, how ever, it was decreed, that, for the future, citizens and peasants should be permitted, in certain cases, to prosecute For themselves, Plebeians, also, as such, may fill the highest situations in the church ; and it is not unfrequent, that, on account of their learning and good conduct, they obtain letters of nobility. When once ennobled, the career of honours is open to them, and they may then aspire to the first offices of the kingdom.
The principal officers of state are the palatine, who, be sides other duties, presides at the assembly of the diet, is viceroy in the absence of the king, and generalissimo of the Hungarian troops ; the grand judge of the kingdom; • the bane of Croatia, Dalmatia, and Sclayonia ; and the grand treasurer.