For the purposes of legislation the Constitution provides for a National Parliament, the Reichs tag, representing the nation as a whole, and the Federal Council, or Bundesrat, representing the individual States. The latter is, to a certain ex tent, modeled after the old Diet of the Confedera tion. It is composed of delegates chosen by the governments of the several states that compose the Empire. They are without definite tenure, and are apportioned without much regard to population, but according to the artificial plan of the old Confederation. The Constitution fixes the number of votes in the Federal Council at fifty-eight, of which Prussia has seventeen, Ba varia six, Saxony and Wurttemberg four each, Baden and Hesse three each, Brunswick and Mecklenburg-Schwerin two each, and the other States one each. The members have the char acter of ambassadors, and are entitled to the same privileges that are accorded the diplomatic representatives of foreign States. They vote ac cording to instructions from their governments, and uninstructed votes are not counted. In case a State has more than one vote, the delegation from the State must vote as a unit, but the en tire vote to which the State is entitled may be cast by a portion of its representatives. It is left to each State to prescribe the qualifications of its representatives in the Federal Council. The imperial Constitution and the statutes, however, prescribe a number of disqualifications, most of which relate to the holding of other incompatible offices at the same time.
The Reichstag consists of representatives chos en for a term of five years by direct universal suffrage and secret ballot. By universal suffrage is meant the suffrage of all male citizens who have attained the age of twenty-five years. Those who are in active military or naval service, those who are subject to guardianship, or who are bankrupt or insolvent, or in receipt of poor relief, or condemned to the loss of civil or political rights are disqualified from the exercise of the suffrage. There are at present 397 members of the Diet, and they are distributed among the States on the basis of one representative to every 131,600 of the population. Of these Prussia has 236, or about three-fifths of the whole number. They are chosen by single district ticket, receive no pay, and are uninstructed. No qualifications are provided by the Constitution for membership in the Diet, but by statute the qualifications are fixed at citizenship for a year previous to the election, male sex, and completion of the twenty fifth year. The constitutional privileges of mem bers consist in exemption from arrest except by consent of the Diet unless the member be taken in the act, exemption from legal responsibility for words spoken in the Diet, and immunity from insult. In addition to these, members of the Fed eral Council enjoy the privilege of exterritorial ity, and have the right to champion the measures of their governments in the Reichstag. The power of calling, opening, adjourning, and pro roguing both the Diet and the Federal Council and of dissolving the Diet (with the consent of the Federal Council) is a prerogative of the Em peror. He must, however, call them annually,
and in case of a dissolution of the Diet he is bound to order the elections within sixty days, and call the new Diet together within ninety days. The Diet, moreover, cannot be adjourned without its consent more than once during the same session or for a longer period than thirty days. The Constitution fixes the quorum of the Diet at a majority, while the presence of the Imperial Chancellor in the Federal Council seems to be sufficient to enable it to proceed with busi ness. The Diet is the judge of the elections and qualifications of its members, and has power over its own internal organization and proce dure, except that its sessions must be public. There are constitutional limitations, however, on the power of the Federal Council in this re for the president is designated by the Con stitution, and the membership of some of its important standing committees is determined by the same authority. So far as the initiation of legislative measures is concerned, the two representative bodies are theoretically on an equality. In the Federal Council each govern ment represented may introduce measures, and it is made the constitutional duty of the president to submit them to deliberation. In the Diet the initiation of measures is regulated by a rule of the House.
Unlike the French Parliament, the powers of the German Imperial Legislature are enumerated in the Constitution. They include the ratification of treaties, the regulation of foreign and inter state commerce, with certain exceptions in the ease of Bavaria and Wiirttemberg; the regulation of the monetary system; the regulation of the criminal law, private law and judicial organiza tion and procedure throughout the Empire; the regulation of citizenship, medical and veterinary practice; the regulation of the customs and the excise upon tobacco, salt, spirituous liquors, beer, sugar, the regulation of the military and naval systems; the enactment of measures for the execution of the laws; and the settlement of con stitutional conflicts within a State in certain con tingencies. It will be seen from the enumeration that the power of the German Legislature extends to many subjects which in other States having the federal system of government are left to the regulation of the individual States. As a gen eral thing the power of the Imperial Legislature over these subjects is not exclusive, but they may be regulated by the States in the absence of Imperial legislation. Moreover, in the domain of interstate and foreign relations, the individual States may conclude treaties among themselves for the regulation of their postal and telegraph communication, and even with foreign countries for the regulation of matters of local concern, and to that end may send and receive ambassa dors.