[Footnote 632: For a brief account of the procedure
of the chambers see Vincent, Government in
Switzerland, 181-187.]

III. LEGISLATION: THE REFERENDUM AND THE INITIATIVE

From the domain of cantonal legislative procedure there has been
carried over into federal law-making the fundamental principle of the
referendum. The federal referendum exists to-day in two forms, i.e.,
the optional and the obligatory. The one appeared for the first time
in the revised constitution of 1874 and is applicable exclusively to
projects of ordinary legislation. The other was established by the
constitution of 1848 and is applicable solely to proposed amendments
of that instrument.

*475. The Optional Referendum: Laws and Resolutions.*--After a law which
has been enacted by the Federal Assembly has been published it enters
regularly upon a probationary period of ninety days during which,
under stipulated conditions, it may be referred directly to the people
for ratification or rejection. The only exceptions are afforded by
those measures which, by declaration of the councils, are of a private
rather than a general character, and those which are "urgent." Such
acts take effect at once. But all others are suspended until there
shall have been adequate opportunity for the carrying through of a
referendum. At any time within the ninety-day period a referendum may
be demanded, either by the people directly or by the cantonal
governments. Petitions signed by as many as 30,000 voters, or adopted
by the legislatures of as many as eight cantons, render it obligatory
upon the Federal Council to arrange for the submission of a measure to
a referendum within four weeks after the announcement of the demand
has been made. The method of the referendum is carefully prescribed by
federal legislation. Every citizen in possession of unimpaired civil
rights is entitled to vote, and the voting takes place under the
supervision of the authorities of the commune and of the canton. If in
a majority of the cantons a preponderance of votes is cast in favor of
the measure in hand, the Federal Council proclaims the fact and the
measure goes at once into operation. An adverse majority, on the other
hand, renders the measure null. In the event that no referendum is
demanded, the measure, of course, goes automatically into effect at
the expiration of the ninety-day period. Since its introduction (p. 431)
into the f