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Art. 68. "No one shall be a Minister who is not a Belgian by birth or who has not received supreme naturalization.”

Art. 77. "The law shall fix the civil list for the duration of each reign."

Art. 78. "The king shall have no other powers than those which the constitution formally confers upon him and the particular laws passed in pursuance of the same constitution."

In case of vacancy of the throne the ministers exercise the kings' powers, and the two houses provide a regency during the minority or disability of the king.

Art. 87. "No member of the Royal Family shall be a minister."

Art. 88. "The Ministers shall have a deliberative voice in one or the other house only when they are members thereof. They shall have free access to each of the houses and must be heard when they demand it. The houses may require the presence of the Ministers."

Art. 89. "In no case shall the verbal order or writ of the king relieve a minister from his responsibility.”

Impeachments of ministers are tried before both houses in joint session. Articles 92 to 107 inclusive relate to Judicial Power.

Art. 94. "No tribunal nor civil court shall be established except by law. No extraordinary commissions or tribunals shall be established under any name whatsoever."

One Court of Appeals for all Belgium is established with no original jurisdiction except in the trial of ministers. Court proceedings must be public, except when dangerous to public order or morals and formally decided so to be. Jury trials are required in all criminal matters. All judicial officers are named directly by the king. Judges are appointed for life with salaries fixed by law, and prohibited from accepting any other salaried appointment. The powers and procedure of all courts civil and military are subject to regulation by law. Provincial and local institutions are regulated by law on the principles of direct election, local self-government in local affairs, publicity of council meetings, budgets and accounts.

Art. 110. "No tax for the benefit of the state shall be established except by law."

Art. 111. "All state taxes shall be voted annually."

A court of accounts, charged with the examination of the accounts of the general administration, with members named by the House of Representatives is established. Title V relates to the army and requires all matters relating to its numbers, method of recruiting and organization to be regulated by law. Art. 128. "Every foreigner on Belgian territory shall enjoy the protection accorded to persons and property, with such exceptions as may be established by the law."

Art. 130. "The constitution can neither be suspended in whole or in part." The constitution may be revised after a declaration that there is need of revision and dissolution of the houses by a two-thirds vote of newly elected houses. This constitution is clearly the most advanced of all those retaining a king as head of the state. In practice time has demonstrated the wisdom of its provisions, and Belgium with the most dense population of any European country enjoyed a high degree of prosperity and had kept clear of destructive wars until invaded by the Germans in August, 1914.

In its provision requiring authoritative interpretations of the law to be made only by the law-making power, it is in advance of the American constitutions.

In each province there is a governor named by the king and a provincial council elected by the people. The affairs of the communes are also conducted by councils chosen by the people for terms of six years and a burgomaster appointed by the king from among the members of the council. There is a general primary school system, carried on at the expense of the communes, and secondary schools, part supported by the communes and others by the government. There are four universities, at Ghent, Liege, Brussels and Louvain. Besides these there are technical schools of high rank. In its benevolent and charitable institutions Belgium takes high rank and maintains many of various classes.

Much attention is paid to the needs of the working classes. and to organizations designed to assist them. There are not only savings banks and mutual assistance societies, but charity workshops are provided at Ghent, Liege and other towns,

where indigent laboring men out of employment are relieved. These are not only means of temporary relief to the necessitous, but are designed as schools of instruction and to encourage industry among those who otherwise might become criminals or beggars. There are also manufacturing schools for girls, where they are taught to make fabrics, etc. Liberal provisions are made for the care of the insane, diseased and infirm and for temporary relief to the indigent.

The judicial system consists of a court of cassation at Brussels, composed of a president general, a president of the chamber and fifteen councillors. It has power to revise the action of inferior courts and reverse their decisions for errors of law. It is divided into two chambers, one for civil and the other for criminal causes. There are three courts of appeal, one each at Brussels, Ghent and Liege. In the capital of each province is a court of assize, composed of a councillor deputed from one of the courts of appeals and two judges chosen from among the presidents and judges of the primary tribunal where the court is held. This court has jurisdiction of crimes and the trial is by a jury of twelve, chosen from a panel of thirty by lot. In each arrondissement is a court of primary jurisdiction of civil causes and misdemeanors. The number of judges in these varies from three to ten. There are also tribunals of commerce in the principal towns. Appeals are allowed in causes involving 2000 francs or more. In the manufacturing towns there are councils of prud-hommes, composed of master tradesmen and workmen, who decide dissetes between masters and workmen. All judges are appointed by the king for life and are incapable of holding any other The interests of the state are represented by advocates and »roceraters appointed by the crown. After the settlement of its dispetes with Holland Belgium entered on a prosperitus aceful career. It passed through the period of 1848, me sa so ran Furorean states with het slede televe and as a mining and manufacturing state has en• not a god degree of mm spots.

Ceat Cosettesfaction has been man lested recenti en the my sons of the electoral law which gloss to Belgians da

thirty-five years of age if married or widowers paying five francs direct tax two votes each and to those having certain other property qualifications, official status or university diplomas three votes each. By this increased voting power a minority of the voters is given a majority of the votes.

CHAPTER XXII

SWITZERLAND

The territory included in modern Switzerland passed successively under the rule of Romans, Franks and Burgundians, without the development of any local national life. About A.D. 406 or 407 the Alemanni took possession of northern Helvetia, which their descendants still occupy. A little later the Burgundians settled about Lake Geneva and soon acquired mastery over southern Helvetia. The ancient Celts and Romans were not exterminated, but remained subject to the invading tribes. The Alemanni carried with them the Germanic customs of land tenure, using pasture and waste lands in common, and of determining all public matters in an assembly of the freemen. The rule of Charlemagne was extended over all Helvetia, and feudalism developed there substantially as elsewhere throughout western Europe.

The history of Switzerland, as well as the romantic legends connected with its political birth, are closely connected with the rise of the House of Hapsburg, whose early seat was in the modern canton of Aargau, with estates in the cantons of Luzern, Schwyz and Unterwalden. From ancient times the Germanic tribes were accustomed to act in concert in the assertion of their rights, and the feudal system did not have the effect of obliterating all such organizations in the mountain districts of Switzerland. Prior to the controversy with the Hapsburgs we find the people of Schwyz and of separate parts of Unterwalden organized into Markgenossenschaften and accustomed to meet and confer with reference to their common interests. In 1231 Henry VII issued a charter to the men of Uri, making them immediate vassals of the empire, promising them his protection, and setting them free from Count Rudolf of Hapsburg. In 1240 a similar charter was granted by Frederick II to the men of Schwyz the original of which is still preserved and reads:

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