Part 182

Article 38. The armed force (of the nation) may not deliberate either when on or off duty; nor may it otherwise assemble than when commanded to do so. Assemblies and meetings of the Landwehr for the purpose of discussing military institutions, commands and ordinances, are forbidden even when it is not called out.

Article 39. The provisions of Arts. 5, 6, 29, 30, and 32 will only apply to the army in so far as they do not conflict with military laws and rules of discipline.

Article 40. The establishment of feudal tenures is forbidden. The Feudal Union still existing with respect to surviving fiefs shall be dissolved by law.

Article 41. The provisions of Art. 40 do not apply to Crown fiefs or to non-State fiefs.

Article 42. Abolished without compensation, in accordance with special laws passed, are:

1. The exercise or transfer of judicial power connected with the possession of certain lands, together with the dues and exemptions accruing from this right;

2. The obligations arising from patriarchal jurisdiction, vassalage, and former tax and trading institutions. And with these rights are also abolished the counter-services and burdens hitherto therewith connected.

Article 43. The person of the King is inviolable.

Article 44. The King's Ministers are responsible. All Government acts (documentary) of the King require for their validity the approval of a Minister, who thereby assumes responsibility for them.

Article 45. The King alone is invested with executive power. He appoints and dismisses Ministers. He orders the promulgation of laws, and issues the necessary ordinances for their execution.

Article 46. The King is Commander-in-Chief of the army.

Article 47. The King fills all posts in the army, as well as in other branches of the State service, in so far as not otherwise ordained by law.

Article 48. The King has the right to declare war and make peace, and to conclude other treaties with foreign governments. The latter require for their validity the assent of the Chambers in so far as they are commercial treaties, or impose burdens on the State, or obligations on its individual subjects.

Article 49. The King has the right to pardon, and to mitigate punishment. But in favour of a Minister condemned for his official acts, this right can only be exercised on the motion of that Chamber whence his indictment emanated. Only by special law can the King suppress inquiries already instituted.

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Article 50. The King may confer orders and other distinctions, not carrying with them privileges. He exercises the right of coinage in accordance with the law.

Article 51. The King convokes the Chambers, and closes their sessions. He may dissolve both at once, or only one at a time. In such a case, however, the electors must be assembled within a period of 60 days, and the Chambers summoned within a period of 90 days respectively after the dissolution.

Article 52. The King can adjourn the Chambers. But without their assent this adjournment may not exceed the space of 30 days, nor be repeated during the same session.

Article 53. The Crown, according to the laws of the Royal House, is hereditary in the male line of that House in accordance with the law of primogeniture and agnatic succession.

Article 54. The King attains his majority on completing his 18th year. In presence of the united Chambers he will take the oath to observe the Constitution of the Monarchy steadfastly and inviolably, and to rule in accordance with it and the laws.

Article 55. Without the consent of both Chambers the King cannot also be ruler of foreign realms (Reiche).

Article 56. If the King is a minor, or is otherwise lastingly prevented from ruling himself, the Regency will be undertaken by that agnate (Art. 53) who has attained his majority and stands nearest the Crown. He has immediately to convoke the Chambers, which, in united session, will decide as to the necessity of the Regency.

Article 57. If there be no agnate of age, and if no legal provision has previously been made for such a contingency, the Ministry of State will convoke the Chambers, which shall then elect a Regent in united session. And until the assumption of the Regency by him, the Ministry of State will conduct the Government.

Article 58. The Regent will exercise the powers invested in the King in the latter's name; and, after institution of the Regency, he will take an oath before the united Chambers to observe the Constitution of the Monarchy steadfastly and inviolably, and to rule in accordance with it and the laws. Until this oath is taken, the whole Ministry of State for the time being will remain responsible for all acts of the Government.

Article 59. To the Crown Trust Fund appertains the annuity drawn from the income of the forests and domains.

Article 60. The Ministers, as well as the State officials appointed to represent them, have access to each Chamber, and must at all times be listened to at request. Each Chamber can demand the presence of the Ministers. The Ministers are only entitled to vote in one or other of the Chambers when members of it.

Article 61. On the resolution of a Chamber the Ministers may be impeached for the crime of infringing the Constitution, of bribery, and of treason. The decision of such a case lies with the Supreme Tribunal of the Monarchy sitting in United Senates. As long as two Supreme Tribunals co-exist, they shall unite for the above purpose. Further details as to matters of responsibility, (criminal) procedure (thereupon), and punishments, are reserved for a special law.

Article 62. The legislative power will be exercised in common by the King and by two Chambers. Every law requires the assent of the King and the two Chambers. Money bills and budgets shall first be laid before the Second Chamber; and the latter (i. e., budgets) shall either be wholly approved by the First Chamber, or rejected altogether.

Article 63. In the event only of its being urgently necessary to maintain public security, or deal with an unusual state of distress when the Chambers are not in session, ordinances, which do not contravene the Constitution, may be issued with the force of law, on the responsibility of the whole Ministry. But these must be laid for approval before the Chambers at their next meeting.

Article 64. The King, as well as each Chamber, has the right of proposing laws. Bills that have been rejected by one of the Chambers, or by the King, cannot be re-introduced in the same session.

Articles 65-68. The First Chamber is formed by royal ordinance, which can only be altered by a law to be issued with the approval of the Chambers. The First Chamber is composed of members appointed by the King, with hereditary rights, or only for life.

Article 69. The Second Chamber consists of 430 members. The electoral districts are determined by law. They may consist of one or more Circles (Arrondissements), or of one or more of the larger towns.

[Footnote: Originally 350 only—a number which, in 1851, was increased by 2, for the Principality of Hohenzollern, and in 1867 by 80 for the annexed provinces.]

Article 70. Every Prussian who has completed his 25th year (i. e., attained his majority), and is capable of taking part in the elections of the Commune where he is domiciled, is entitled to act as a primary voter (Urwähler). Anyone who is entitled to take part in the election of several Communes, can only exercise his right as primary voter in one Commune.

Article 71. For every 250 souls of the population, one (secondary) elector (Wahlmann) shall be chosen. The primary voters fall into three classes, in proportion to the amount of direct taxes they pay—and in such a manner as that each class will represent a third of the sum-total of the taxes paid by the primary voters. This sum-total is reckoned:—

(a) by Parishes, in case the Commune does not form of itself a primary electoral district.

(b) by (Government) Districts (Bezirke), in case the primary electoral district consists of several Communes.

The first class consists of those primary voters, highest in the scale of taxation, who pay a third of the total. The second class consists of those primary voters, next highest in the scale, whose taxes form a second third of the whole; and the third class is made up of the remaining tax-payers (lowest in the scale) who contribute the other third of the whole. Each class votes apart, and for a third of the secondary electors. These classes may be divided into several voting sections, none of which, however, must include more than 500 primary voters. The secondary voters are elected in each class from the number of the primary voters in their district, without regard to the classes.

Article 72. The deputies are elected by the secondary voters. Details will be regulated by an electoral law, which must also make the necessary provision for those cities where flour and slaughter duties are levied instead of direct taxes.

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Article 73. The legislative period of the Second Chamber is fixed at three years.

Article 74. Eligible as deputy to the Second Chamber is every Prussian who has completed his thirtieth year, has forfeited none of his civil rights in consequence of a valid judicial sentence, and has been a Prussian subject for three years. The president and members of the Supreme Chamber of Accounts cannot sit in either House of the Diet (Landtag).

Article 75. After the lapse of a legislative period the Chambers will be elected anew, and the same in the event of dissolution. In both cases, previous members are re-eligible.

Article 76. Both Houses of the Diet of the Monarchy shall be regularly convened by the King in the period from the beginning of November in each year till the middle of the following January, and otherwise as often as circumstances require.

Article 77. The Chambers will be opened and closed by the King in person, or by a Minister appointed by him to do so, at a combined sitting of the Chambers. Both Chambers shall be simultaneously convened, opened, adjourned, and closed. If one Chamber is dissolved, the other shall be at the same time prorogued.

Article 78. Each Chamber will examine the credentials of its members, and decide thereupon. It will regulate its own order of business and discipline by special ordinances, and elect its president, vice-presidents, and office-bearers. Civil servants require no leave of absence in order to enter the Chamber. If a member of the Chamber accepts a salaried office of the State, or is promoted in the service of the State to a post involving higher rank or increase of pay, he shall lose his seat and vote in the Chamber, and can only recover his place in it by re-election. No one can be member of both Chambers.

Article 79. The sittings of both Chambers are public. On the motion of its president, or of ten members, each Chamber may meet in private sitting—at which this motion will then have to be discussed.

Article 80. Neither of the Chambers can pass a resolution unless there be present a majority of the legal number of its members. Each Chamber passes its resolutions by absolute majority of votes, subject to any exceptions that may be determined by the order of business for elections.

Article 81. Each Chamber has the separate right of presenting addresses to the King. No one may in person present to the Chambers, or to one of them, a petition or address. Each Chamber can transmit the communications made to it to the Ministers, and demand of them an answer to any grievances thus conveyed.

Article 82. Each Chamber is entitled to appoint commissions of inquiry into facts—for its own information.

Article 83. The members of both Chambers are representatives of the whole people. They vote according to their simple convictions, and are not bound by commissions or instructions.

Article 84. For their votes in the Chamber they can never be called to account, and for the opinions they express therein they can only be called to account within the Chamber, in virtue of the order of business. No member of a Chamber can, without its assent, be had up for examination, or be arrested during the Parliamentary session for any penal offence, unless he be taken in the act, or in the course of the following day. A similar assent shall be necessary in the case of arrest for debts. All criminal proceedings against a member of the Chamber, and all arrests for preliminary examination, or civil arrest, shall be suspended during the Parliamentary session on demand from the Chamber concerned.

Article 85. The members of the Second Chamber shall receive out of the State Treasury travelling expenses and daily fees, according to a statutory scale; and renunciation thereof shall be inadmissible.

Article 86. The judicial power will be exercised in the name of the King, by independent tribunals subject to no other authority but that of the law. Judgment shall be executed in the name of the King.

Article 87. The judges will be appointed for life by the King, or in his name. They can only be removed or temporarily suspended from office by judicial sentence, and for reasons foreseen by the law. Temporary suspension from office (not ensuing on the strength of a law), and involuntary transfer to another place, or to the retired list, can only take place from the causes and in the form mentioned by law, and in virtue of a judicial sentence. But these provisions do not apply to cases of transfer, rendered necessary by changes in the organisation of the courts or their districts.

Article 88. (abolished).

Article 89. The organisation of the tribunals will only be determined by law.

Article 90. To the judicial office only those can be appointed who have qualified themselves for it as prescribed by law.

Article 91. Courts for special kinds of affairs, and, in particular, tribunals for trade and commerce, shall be established by statute in those places where local needs may require them. The organisation and jurisdiction of such courts, as well as their procedure and the appointment of their members, the special status of the latter, and the duration of their office, will be determined by law.

Article 92. In Prussia there shall only be one supreme tribunal.

Article 93. The proceedings of the civil and criminal courts shall be public. But the public may be excluded by an openly declared resolution of the court, when order or good morals may seem endangered (by their admittance). In other cases publicity of proceedings can only be limited by law.

Article 94. In criminal cases the guilt of the accused shall be determined by jurymen, in so far as exceptions are not determined by a law issued with the previous assent of the Chambers. The formation of a jury-court shall be regulated by a law.

Article 95. By a law issued with the previous assent of the Chambers, there may be established a special court whereof the jurisdiction shall include the crimes of high treason, as well as those crimes against the internal and external security of the State, which may be assigned to it by law.

Article 96. The competence of the courts and of the administrative authorities shall be determined by law. Conflicts of authority between the courts and the administrative authorities shall be settled by a tribunal appointed by law.

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Article 97. A law shall determine the conditions on which public, civil, and military officials may be sued for wrongs committed by them in exceeding their functions. But the previous assent of official superiors need not be requested.

Article 98. The special legal status (Rechtsverhältnisse) of State officials (including advocates and solicitors) not belonging to the judicial class, shall be determined by a law, which, without restricting the Government in the choice of its executive agents, will grant civil servants proper protection against arbitrary dismissal from their posts or diminution of their pay.

Article 99. All income and expenditure of the State must be pre-estimated for every year, and be presented in the Budget, which shall be annually fixed by a law.

Article 100. Taxes and dues for the State Treasury may only be raised in so far as they shall have been included in the Budget or ordained by special laws.

Article 101. In the matter of taxes there must be no privilege of persons. Existing tax-laws shall be subjected to a revision, and all such privileges abolished.

Article 102. State and Communal officers can only levy dues on the strength of a law.

Article 103. The contracting of loans for the State Treasury can only be effected on the strength of a law; and the same holds good of guarantees involving a burden to the State.

Article 104. Budget transgressions require subsequent approval by the Chambers. The Budget will be examined and audited by the Supreme Chamber of Accounts. The general Budget accounts of every year, including tabular statistics of the National Debt, shall, with the comments of the Supreme Chamber of Accounts, be laid before the Chambers for the purpose of exonerating the Government. A special law will regulate the establishment and functions of the Supreme Chamber of Accounts.

Article 105. The representation and administration of the Communes, Arrondissements and Provinces of the Prussian State, will be determined in detail by special laws.

Article 106. Laws and ordinances become binding after having been published in the form prescribed by law. The examination of the validity of properly promulgated Royal ordinances is not within the competence of the authorities, but of the Chambers.

Article 107. The Constitution may be altered by ordinary legislative means; and such alteration shall merely require the usual absolute majority in both Chambers on two divisions (of the House), between which there must elapse a period of at least twenty-one days.

Article 108. The members of both Chambers, and all State officials, shall take the oath of fealty and obedience to the King, and swear conscientiously to observe the Constitution. The army will not take the oath to the Constitution.

Article 109. Existing taxes and dues will continue to be raised; and all provisions of existing statute-books, single laws, and ordinances, which do not contravene the present Constitution, will remain in force until altered by law.

Article 110. All authorities holding appointments in virtue of existing laws will continue their activity pending the issue of organic laws affecting them.

Article 111. In the event of war or revolution, and pressing danger to public security therefrom ensuing, Articles 5, 6, 7, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 36 of the Constitution may be suspended for a certain time, and in certain districts—the details to be determined by law.

Article 112. Until issue of the law contemplated in Article 26, educational matters will be controlled by the laws at present in force.

Article 113. Prior to the revision of the criminal code, a special law will deal with offences committed by word, writing, print, or artistic representation.

Article 114 (_abolished_).

Article 115. Until issue of the electoral law contemplated in Article 72, the ordinance of 30th May, 1849, touching the return of deputies to the Second Chamber, will remain in force; and with this ordinance is associated the provisional electoral law for elections to the Second Chamber in the Hohenzollern Principalities of 30th April, 1851.

Article 116. The two supreme tribunals still existing shall be combined into one-to be organised by a special law.

Article 117. The claims of State officials appointed before the promulgation of the Constitution shall be taken in to special consideration by the Civil Servant Law.

Article 118. Should changes in the present Constitution be rendered necessary by the German Federal Constitution to be drawn up on the basis of the Draft of 26th May, 1849, such alterations will be decreed by the King; and the ordinances to this effect laid before the Chambers, at their first meeting. The Chambers will then have to decide whether the changes thus provisionally ordained harmonise with the Federal Constitution of Germany.

Article 119. The Royal oath mentioned in Article 54, as well as the oath prescribed to be taken by both Chambers and all State officials, will have to be tendered immediately after the legislative revision of the present Constitution (Articles 62 and 108).

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our signature and seal.

Given at Charlottenburg, the 31st January, 1850. (Signed) FRIEDRICH WILHELM.

In connection with Article 44 the course of domestic and parliamentary politics drew forth the following Declaratory Rescript from the German Emperor and King of Prussia, in 1882:—