petition calling for a referendum must be presented to the executive
council of the canton, as a rule, within thirty days after the
enactment of the measure upon which it is proposed that a vote be
taken. The number of signers required to make the petition effective
varies from 500 in Zug to 6,000 in St. Gall. Likewise, the proportion
of voters which is competent to reject a measure is variable. In some
cantons a majority of all enfranchised citizens is required; in
others, a simple majority of those actually voting upon the
proposition in hand. In the event of popular rejection of a measure
which the cantonal legislature has passed, the executive council gives
the proper notice to the legislature, which thereupon pronounces the
measure void.[612]

[Footnote 610: Lowell, Governments and Parties,
II., 243.]

[Footnote 611: It will be observed, of course, that
in the cantons which maintain a Landesgemeinde
there is no occasion for the employment of the
referendum upon either constitutional or
legislative questions. The people there act
directly and necessarily upon every important
proposition.]

[Footnote 612: Important treatises on the Swiss
referendum are T. Curti, Geschichte der
schweizerischen Volksgesetzgebung (Zuerich, 1885);
ibid., Die Volksabstimmung in der schweizerischen
Gesetzgebung (Zuerich, 1886). A French version of
the former work, by J. Ronjat, has appeared under
the title Le referendum: histoire de la legislation
populaire en Suisse (Paris, 1905). Of large value
is Curti, Die Resultate des schweizerischen
Referendums (2d ed., Bern, 1911). An older account
is J. A. Herzog, Das Referendum in der Schweiz
(Berlin, 1885). An excellent book is S. Duploige,
Le referendum en Suisse (Brussels, 1892), of which
there is an English translation, by C. P.
Trevelyan, under the title The Referendum in
Switzerland (London, 1898). Of value also are
Stuessi, Referendum und Initiative in den
Schweizerkantonen (Zueri