ting of one house at a time when the
other is not in session is illegal, and that measures enacted under
such circumstances are void.[556] Custom and the necessities of
administration, however, render it incumbent upon the crown to convoke
the chambers in at least one session each year, unless, indeed, as has
sometimes happened, a session is so prolonged as to extend, with
occasional recesses, over an entire year, or even two years.

[Footnote 556: Art. 48. Dodd, Modern Constitutions,
II., 12.]

The president and vice-president of the Senate are designated by the
crown, but the president, vice-presidents, and secretaries of the
lower chamber are chosen by the chamber itself from among its own
members at the beginning of each session, for the entire session. The
president of the Deputies, although empowered to appoint certain
committees, such as those on rules and contested elections, is not (p. 380)
infrequently re-elected again and again without regard to party
affiliations, after the manner of the Speaker of the British House of
Commons. The membership of the Chamber of Deputies is divided into
nine _uffici_, or sections, and that of the Senate into five. A fresh
division, by lot, takes place every two months. The principal function
of the _uffici_ is the election of those committees for whose
constitution no other provision is made. In each chamber the most
important of all committees, that on the budget, is elected directly
by the chamber. In the Deputies certain other committees are elected
in the same way, while, as has been said, those on elections and on
rules are appointed by the president. But committees specially
constituted for the consideration of particular measures are made up
of members chosen from the various _uffici_, unless the chamber
prefers to designate some other method.

*419. The Chambers: Procedure.*--Each house frames its own rules of
procedure. By the constitution it is stipulated that the sessions
shall be public (with the provision that upon the written request of
ten members secret sessions may be held); that Italian shall be the
official language; that no session or vote of either house shall be
valid unless an absolute majority of the members is present; and that
neither house shall receive any deputation, or give hearings to
persons other than the legislative members, ministers, and
commissioners of the Government.[557] Except such as relate to