eventually will be
reached.[548]

[Footnote 548: E. Pagliano, Il Senato e la nomina
dei senatori (Rome, 1906); L. A. Magro, L'
aristocrazia e il Senato (Catania, 1909); I.
Tambaro, La reforme du Senat italien, in _Revue du
Droit Public_, July-Sept., 1910, and Les debats sur
la reforme du Senat italien, ibid., July-Sept.,
1911; M. Scelle, Reforme du Senat italien, ibid.,
Oct.-Dec, 1911; Nazzareno, La riforma del Senato,
in _Rivista di Diritto Pubblica_, III., 171. The
report of the commission of 1910 is contained in
Per la riforma del Senato; relazione della
commissione (Rome, 1911).]

*412. Privileges and Powers.*--Within the Senate, as to-day (p. 375)
constituted, the president and vice-president are named by the king;
the secretaries are selected by the body from its own membership. The
privileges of members are defined minutely. Save by order of the
Senate itself, no senator may be arrested, unless apprehended in the
commission of an offense; and the Senate is constituted sole judge of
the alleged misdemeanors of its members--a curious duplication of an
ancient prerogative of the British House of Lords. Ministers are
responsible only to the lower house, and although there are instances
in which a minister has retired by reason of an adverse vote in the
Senate, in general it may be affirmed that the Senate's importance in
the parliamentary regime is distinctly subordinate. The two chambers
possess concurrent powers of legislation, except that all measures
imposing taxes or relating to the budget are required to be presented
first in the Deputies. By decree of the crown the Senate may be
constituted a High Court of Justice to try cases involving treason or
attempts upon the safety of the state, and to try ministers impeached
by the Chamber of Deputies. When acting in this capacity the body is a
tribunal of justice, not a political organization; but it is forbidden
to occupy itself with any judicial matters other than those for which
it was convened.[549]

[Footnote 549: Art. 36. Dodd, Modern Constitutions,
II., 10.]

III. THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES--PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE

*413. Composition: Franchise Law of 1882.*--The lower legislative
chamb