The Governments of Europe Part 45

*583. The Political Situation Since 1909.*--The period from June, 1905, to December, 1907, was covered by the two successive Liberal ministries of Borgesius and De Meester. Each was essentially colorless. Efforts to bring about an extension of the suffrage failed, and during 1907 the Liberal majority virtually disappeared. The upshot was that, February 8, 1908, there was created a new ministry, under Dr. Heemskerk, whose members were drawn from the Conservatives. At the general election of June 11, 1909, the Conservatives recovered supremacy completely. Following the grouping which prevails at the present day, the results of this election were as follows: (1) Anti-Revolutionaries (largely rural Calvinists), 23 members; (2) Historic Christians, 12; (3) Roman Catholics, 25--a total Conservative quota of 60; (4) Free Liberals, 4; Union Liberals, 21; Liberal Democrats, 8; Socialists, 7--a total Liberal contingent of 40.

Furthermore, while the Conservatives were compactly organized, the Liberals were divided hopelessly among themselves and quite unable to offer substantial resistance to their opponents. With a majority of 20 in the lower chamber and of 19 in the upper, with a popular vote in excess by 80,000 of that of the Liberals, and with a ministry in office which, if not brilliant, was at least popular, the Conservatives came off from the campaign in a position to maintain through an extended period, so far as may be foreseen, their control of public affairs. Quite the contrary of the contemporary situation in Belgium, the rifts which separate the various Liberal groups tend in Holland to deepen, and the political impotence of Liberalism consequently to be accentuated.[740]

[Footnote 740: On Dutch political parties see P.

Verschave, La Hollande politique; le role des catholiques neerlandais depuis dix ans, in _Le Correspondant_, April 10, 1908; Les elections generales et la situation politique aux pays-bas: l'organisation de la campagne electorale, ibid., Nov. 25, 1909; and La Hollande politique; un parti catholique en pays protestant (Paris, 1910).]

IV. THE JUDICIARY AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (p. 531)

*584. Judicial Principles.*--The const.i.tution guarantees various fundamental personal rights, including those of pet.i.tion, a.s.sembly, free speech, and equality before the law in all matters pertaining to the protection of person and property. It likewise undertakes to guarantee the individual against partiality and arbitrariness in the administration of justice. Except in unusual cases, prescribed by law, no one may be taken into custody except upon a warrant issued by a judge, stating specifically the reason for arrest. No one may be removed against his will from the jurisdiction of the tribunal in which he has a right to be tried. General confiscation of the property of a person adjudged guilty may not be imposed as a penalty for any offense. Save in exceptional cases, specified by law, or when in the opinion of the judge public order and morals forbid, the sessions of all courts are required to be public. Judgments must be p.r.o.nounced in public session. They must be accompanied by a statement of the considerations upon which they are based, and, in criminal cases, by a citation of the specific provisions of law upon which the sentence is founded.[741]

[Footnote 741: Arts. 149-161. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, II., 110-112.]

*585. The Courts.*--Justice is administered throughout the kingdom in the name of the crown, and all judicial officers are appointed by the crown. Within the const.i.tution provision is made only for a supreme tribunal known as the High Court (_Hooge Raad_) of the Netherlands, sitting at The Hague. Minor courts exist by virtue of ordinary law.

The judges of the High Court, five in number, are appointed by the crown from lists prepared by the lower house of the States-General.

The junctions of the High Court are of large importance. On appeal from inferior tribunals it may annul any judicial proceeding, decree, or judgment held by it to be unwarranted by law. It is charged with the duty of seeing that suits are properly tried and decided, and that judicial officials comply with the laws. Inferior judges are appointed normally for life, but under conditions prescribed by law they may be dismissed or relieved of their duties by decision of the High Court.

Finally, the High Court const.i.tutes a tribunal before which, upon charges brought by either the sovereign or the lower chamber, members of the States-General, heads of the ministerial departments, governors-general, members of the Council of State, and commissioners of the crown in the provinces, may be prosecuted upon charge of offenses committed in office. Such prosecution may be inst.i.tuted (p. 532) either during an official's tenure of office or after his retirement.[742]

[Footnote 742: Arts. 162-166. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, II., 112-113.]

Of inferior tribunals there are three grades. At the bottom are the cantonal courts, 106 in number, consisting each of a single judge and taking cognizance of claims under 200 guilders, breaches of police regulations, and other cases of a minor nature. Next are the district courts, 23 in number, each consisting of three judges and exercising within the _arrondiss.e.m.e.nt_ jurisdiction in matters of more weight.

Still above the district tribunals are five courts of appeal, each comprising a body of three judges. Trial by jury is unknown in Holland.

*586. Local Government: the Province.*--The const.i.tution of the Netherlands is somewhat peculiar in that it prescribes at length not merely the form and character of the national government, but also the arrangements that shall prevail respecting the governments of the provinces and the communes throughout the kingdom. Of provinces there are eleven; of communes, 1,123. The importance of the province is enhanced by the fact that the nation has sprung from a pure confederation, the original autonomy of the federated provinces having never been wholly obliterated under the present centralized regime.

Each province has its own representative body, or "provincial estates," a unicameral a.s.sembly whose members are chosen directly for six years by all inhabitants of the province who are ent.i.tled to vote for members of the lower house of the States-General. Half of the members retire every three years. The number of members varies, according to the population of the province, from eighty in South Holland to thirty-five in Drenthe. The a.s.sembly meets at least twice a year. Its powers are extensive, although it can perform no legislative act without the a.s.sent of the crown. It enacts ordinances, levies taxes, prepares and submits to the sovereign an annual budget, controls in certain respects the munic.i.p.alities, and elects those members of the upper branch of the States-General to which the individual province is ent.i.tled.

For the exercise of executive authority within the province there are two agencies. The provincial a.s.sembly appoints from its own members a committee of six, known as the "deputed states," to which, in accordance with conditions fixed by law, the daily administration of affairs is intrusted. Furthermore the sovereign appoints and establishes in each province a commissioner who is charged with the execution of royal orders and with a general supervision of the acts of the local authorities. This royal commissioner presides over the deliberations of both the provincial estates and the committee of six, possessing in the committee the power also of voting. He is (p. 533) distinctly the chief magistrate of the province, and at the same time the effective tie between the central and the provincial governments.[743]

[Footnote 743: Arts. 127-141. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, II., 105-108.]

*587. Local Government: the Commune.*--In all essential respects the government of the Dutch communes is prescribed by the national const.i.tution, with the result that that government is characterized by uniformity no less thoroughgoing than is the communal government of France. Within each commune is a council of from seven to forty-five members elected directly by the people of the commune for a term of six years under franchise arrangements identical with those obtaining in the election of members of the provincial estates, save that no one, although otherwise qualified to vote for communal councillors, may exercise the privilege unless he contributes a minimum amount yearly to the communal rates. One-third of the members of the council retire every two years. The council meets publicly as frequently as business requires. It enacts by-laws, levies taxes, supervises education, and represents the interests of the commune, if occasion arises, before the sovereign, the States-General, and the provincial estates. All of its legislative acts are liable to veto by the crown, and the munic.i.p.al budget requires regularly the approval of the committee of the provincial estates. Executive authority within the commune is vested in a burgomaster, or mayor, appointed by the sovereign for a term of six years, and a board of two to six _wethouders_, or aldermen, elected by and from the council. The burgomaster presides in the council and, as a representative of the royal authority, may suspend for a period of thirty days any measure enacted.[744]

[Footnote 744: Arts. 142-148. Ibid., II., 108-110.]

CHAPTER XXIX (p. 534)

THE GOVERNMENT OF BELGIUM

I. THE CONSt.i.tUTION--THE CROWN AND THE MINISTRY

*588. The Const.i.tution: Liberalism and Stability.*--The const.i.tution of the kingdom of Belgium was framed, consequent upon the declaration of Belgian independence October 4, 1830, by a national congress of two hundred elected delegates. It was promulgated February 7, 1831, and July 21 of the same year the first independent Belgian sovereign, Leopold I., took oath to observe and maintain it. Circ.u.mstances conspired to give the instrument a p.r.o.nouncedly liberal character.

Devised in the midst of a revolution brought on princ.i.p.ally by the autocratic rule of King William I., it is, and was intended to be, uncommonly explicit in its definition of the royal prerogative. There were Belgians in 1831, indeed, who advocated the establishment of a republic. Against such a course various considerations were urged, and with effect; but the monarchy which was set up, owing clearly its existence to popular suffrage, is of the strictly limited, const.i.tutional type. "All powers," it is a.s.serted in the fundamental law, "emanate from the people."[745] The principles of liberalism are the more in evidence by reason of the fact that the framers of the const.i.tution deliberately accepted as models the French instruments of 1791 and 1830 and were likewise influenced profoundly by their admiration for the const.i.tutional system of Great Britain.

[Footnote 745: Art. 25. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 130.]

A striking testimony to the thoroughness with which the work was done, and to the advanced character of the governmental system established, is the fact that the text of the Belgian fundamental law endured through more than half a century absolutely unchanged, and, further, that when in our own generation the task of amendment was undertaken not even the most ardent revisionists cared to insist upon more than the overhauling of the arrangements respecting the franchise. Leopold I.(1831-1865), and Leopold II. after him (1865-1909), frankly recognized the conditional basis of the royal tenure and, although conspicuously active in the management of public affairs, afforded (p. 535) by their conduct slight occasion for popular criticism or disaffection.

Even the revolutionary year 1848 pa.s.sed without producing in Belgium more than a mere ripple of unrest. In 1893 the const.i.tution was amended to provide for universal male suffrage, and in 1899 a further amendment inst.i.tuted a system of proportional representation.

Otherwise, the instrument stands to-day virtually as it was put into operation in 1831. It need hardly be remarked that, in Belgium as elsewhere, the written const.i.tution does not by any means contain the whole of the actually operative political system. Numerous aspects of parliamentarism, and of other well-established governmental forms and practices, depend for their sanction upon the conventions, rather than upon the law, of the const.i.tution; but they are none the less real and enduring.

*589. Content and Amendment.*--The written const.i.tution of Belgium, like that of Holland, is comprehensive in scope. It comprises an extended bill of rights; a detailed definition of the framework of the national executive, legislative, and judicial departments; special provisions relating to finance and the army; and an enumeration of the principles underlying the provincial and communal administration. It contains a total of 139 articles, of which eight, being temporary in character, are inoperative. The process of amendment is identical with that which prevails in Holland. Upon declaration by the legislative chambers to the effect that a specified amendment is desirable, the chambers are _ipso facto_ dissolved. If the chambers thereupon elected approve the proposition by a two-thirds vote, and the sovereign accords it his sanction, it is declared adopted.[746]

[Footnote 746: Art. 131. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 146. The text of the const.i.tution of Belgium, in English translation, is printed in Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 126-148, and in the _Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science_, May, 1896, Supplement (translation by J. M. Vincent). French texts of the const.i.tution and of important laws will be found in F. Larcier, Code politique et administratif de la Belgique (2d ed., Brussels, 1893). The standard commentary is J. J. Thonissen, La const.i.tution belge (3d ed., Brussels, 1879).

Works of value relating to the amendments of 1893-1894 are C. Thiebault et A. Henry, Commentaire legislatif des articles revises de la const.i.tution belge (Brussels, 1894), and Beltjens, La const.i.tution belge revisee (Liege, 1895). The best treatises on the Belgian const.i.tutional system are P. Errera, Das Staatsrecht des Konigreichs Belgien (Tubingen, 1909), and Traite de droit public belge: droit const.i.tutionnel, droit administratif (Paris, 1908), and O. Orban, Le droit const.i.tutionnel de la Belgique, 3 vols. (Liege, 1906-1911). An older but excellent work is A. Giron, La droit public de la Belgique (Brussels, 1884). A convenient elementary book on the subject is F. Ma.s.son et C. Wiliquet, Manuel de droit const.i.tutionnel (7th ed., Brussels, 1904). A useful volume is E. Flandin, Inst.i.tutions politiques de l'Europe contemporaine (2d ed., Paris, 1907), I.]

*590. The Crown.*--Kingship in Belgium is hereditary in the (p. 536) direct male line in the order of primogeniture. In default of male descendants, the king, with the consent of the legislative chambers, may name his successor.[747] A king or heir to the throne attains his majority at the age of eighteen. In the event of a minority, or of the incapacity of the sovereign, the two houses are required to meet in a single a.s.sembly for the purpose of making provision for a regency. The powers of regent may not be conferred upon two or more persons jointly, and during the continuance of a regency no changes may be made in the const.i.tution.[748] If by chance the throne should fall wholly vacant, the choice of a sovereign would devolve upon the legislative chambers, specially re-elected for the purpose, and deliberating in joint session. The civil list of the crown is fixed at the beginning of a reign. That of Leopold II., as established by law of December 25, 1865, was 3,300,000 francs, and that of the present sovereign, Albert I., is the same.

[Footnote 747: This privilege was conferred by an amendment (Art. 61) adopted September 7, 1893.]

[Footnote 748: Arts. 60, 79-85. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 136, 138-139.]

*591. The Ministers and the Parliamentary System.*--The Council of Ministers consists of ten heads of executive departments. These, together with a variable number of ministers without portfolio, comprise the Council of State, an advisory body convened by the crown as occasion requires. All ministers are appointed, directly or indirectly, and all may be dismissed, by the king. All must be Belgian citizens, and no member of the royal family may be tendered an appointment. Ministers are all but invariably members of one or the other of the legislative houses, princ.i.p.ally of the House of Representatives.[749] Whether members or not, they are privileged to attend all sessions and to be heard at their own request. The houses, indeed, possess the right to demand their attendance. But no minister may vote, save in a house of which he is a member.[750]

[Footnote 749: The minister of war, regularly an active military official, has been usually not a legislative member. Aside from this one post, however, the custom of selecting ministers exclusively from the chambers has been followed almost as rigorously in Belgium as in Great Britain. And so largely are the ministers taken from the lower house that the Senate not infrequently has no representative at all in the cabinet.]

[Footnote 750: Arts. 86-91. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 139-140.]

Belgium is one of the few continental states in which the parliamentary system is thoroughly operative. At no point is the const.i.tution more explicit than in its stipulation of the responsibility of ministers.

Not only is it declared that the king's ministers are responsible; it is stipulated that "no decree of the king shall take effect unless it is countersigned by a minister, who, by that act alone, renders himself responsible for it"; also that "in no case shall the verbal or (p. 537) written order of the king relieve a minister of responsibility."[751]

The House of Representatives is vested with the right to accuse ministers and to arraign them before the Court of Ca.s.sation; and the king may not pardon a minister who has been sentenced by this tribunal, save upon request of one of the two legislative chambers. A ministry which finds that it cannot command the support of a majority in the House of Representatives has the right to determine upon the dissolution of either of the houses, or of both. If after a general election there is still lack of harmony, the ministry, as would be the procedure in a similar situation in Great Britain, retires from office, the sovereign calls upon an opposition party leader to a.s.sume the premiership and to form a cabinet, and the remainder of the ministers are selected from the dominant parties by this official, in consultation with the king. By reason of the multiplicity of party groups in Belgium, the king is apt to be allowed somewhat wider lat.i.tude in the choice of a premier than is possible in Great Britain.[752]

[Footnote 751: Arts. 63-64, 89. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 137, 140.]

[Footnote 752: Dupriez, Les Ministres, I., 210-230; O. Kerchove de Denterghem, De la responsabilite des ministres dans le droit public belge (Paris, 1867).]

*592. The Exercise of Executive Powers.*--The powers of the executive, exercised nominally by the king, but actually by the ministry, are closely defined in the const.i.tution; and there is the stipulation, unusual in European const.i.tutions, that the king shall possess no powers other than those which the const.i.tution, and the special laws enacted under the const.i.tution, confer explicitly upon him.[753] Under the conditions that have been explained, the king appoints all officials who are attached to the general administrative and foreign services, but other officials only in so far as is expressly authorized by law. He commands the forces by land and sea, declares war, and concludes peace. He negotiates treaties, with the limitation that treaties of commerce and treaties which impose a burden upon the state, or place under obligation individual Belgian citizens, take effect only after receiving the approval of the two houses; and with the further condition that no cession, exchange, or acquisition of territory may be carried through save by warrant of a law. The king promulgates all legislative measures, and he is authorized to issue all regulations and decrees necessary for the execution of the laws.

In theory he possesses the power of the veto, but in the Belgian, as in parliamentary governments generally, there is no occasion for the actual exercise of this power. The king convokes, prorogues, and dissolves the chambers; though the provisions of the const.i.tution (p. 538) relating to the legislative sessions are so explicit that the crown is left small discretion in the matter. The king, finally, is authorized to remit or to reduce the penalties imposed by the tribunals of justice, to coin money, to confer t.i.tles of n.o.bility (which must be purely honorary), and to bestow military orders in accordance with provisions of law.[754]

[Footnote 753: Art. 78. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 138.]

[Footnote 754: Arts. 66-67. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 137-138.]

II. THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT--THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM

*593. The Senate.*--The Belgian parliament consists of two houses, both elective and both representative of the nation as a whole. The upper house, or Senate, is composed of 112 members, chosen for a term of eight years. With respect to the method of their election, the members fall into two categories. Under const.i.tutional provision, as amended by law of September 7, 1893, a number of senators equal to one-half the number of members of the House of Representatives is elected directly by the voters, in proportion to the population of the several provinces. The electorate which returns these senators is identical with that which returns the deputies, and by law of December 29, 1899, the principle of proportional representation, as applied in elections of the lower chamber, is applied to senatorial elections within each province. A second group of members consists of those elected by the provincial councils, to the number of two for each province having fewer than 500,000 inhabitants, of three for each province having from 500,000 to 1,000,000 inhabitants, and of four for each province having more than 1,000,000 inhabitants. The proportion of senators elected directly by the people is approximately three-fourths, being at present 76 to 26. Prior to the amendment of 1893 all members of the Senate were chosen by the same electorate which chose the members of the lower chamber. Inasmuch as only payers of direct taxes to the amount of 2,000 francs a year were eligible as senators, the upper house represented almost exclusively the interests of wealth. By vesting in the provincial councils the choice of a portion of the senators, who should be eligible regardless of taxpaying qualifications, it was hoped to impart to the Senate a more broadly representative character. At the same time the tax qualification for popularly elected members was reduced by a third. It may be noted that there is a possibility of a small non-elective element in the Senate.

According to the terms of the const.i.tution, the sons of the king, or if there be none, the Belgian princes of the branch of the royal family designated to succeed to the throne, shall be by right senators at the age of eighteen, though without deliberative vote until the (p. 539) age of twenty-five.[755] Prior to his accession to the throne, in 1909, the present sovereign Albert I., nephew and heir-presumptive of Leopold II., was ent.i.tled to a senatorial seat. There is at present no representative of royalty who is eligible.

[Footnote 755: Art. 58. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 135.]

All elective senators must be Belgian citizens and Belgian residents, at least forty years of age, and in the unrestricted enjoyment of civil and political rights. Senators elected by the provincial councils are subject to no property qualifications,[756] but those elected directly by the people must be drawn from either payers of as much as 1,200 francs of direct national taxes or proprietors or lessees of Belgian real estate of an a.s.sessed income of at least 12,000 francs. In provinces, however, where the number of eligible persons falls short of the proportion of one for every 5,000 inhabitants, the list is completed by the addition of such a number of the heaviest taxpayers of the province as may be necessary to establish this proportion.[757] Save pa.s.ses on the national railways, senators receive no salary or other emolument.

[Footnote 756: They may not be, and may not have been within two years preceding their election, members of the a.s.sembly which returns them.]

[Footnote 757: Art. 56. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, I., 135.]

*594. The House of Representatives: Earlier Electoral Arrangements.*--The lower legislative chamber consists of deputies elected directly by the voters of the kingdom. The number of seats is determined by law, under the general provision that it may not exceed the proportion of one for 40,000 inhabitants. Prior to 1899 it was 152; to-day it is 186. The term is four years. Half of the membership retires every two years, though in the event of a dissolution the house is entirely renewed.[758] The qualifications which the const.i.tution requires of deputies are those of citizenship, residence in Belgium, attainment of the age of twenty-five, and possession of civil and political rights. Deputies receive an honorarium of 4,000 francs a year, together with free transportation upon all State and concessionary railways between the places of their respective residences and Brussels, or any other city in which a session may be held.