ependence of judges, freedom of conscience, autonomy of recognized
religious communities, the right of free expression of opinion, the
abolition of restrictive censorship, the freedom of scientific
investigation, secrecy of postal and telegraphic communications, and
the rights of association and public meeting.

The second section creates a diet of seventy-two elected and twenty
_ex-officio_ representatives, fifteen of the latter being dignitaries
of the Mohammedan, Servian, Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic
religious communities. The presidential bureau, consisting of one
president and two vice-presidents, is appointed annually by the crown
at the opening of the session. Each creed is regularly to be
represented in the bureau, the presidential office being held by a
Servian, a Mohammedan, and a Croat in annual rotation. To be valid,
the decisions of the Diet require the presence of a majority of the
members, except when ecclesiastical matters are under discussion. Upon
such occasions the presence of four-fifths of the Diet, and a
two-thirds majority, is required.

The third section excludes from the legislative competence of the Diet
all joint Austro-Hungarian affairs and questions pertaining to the
armed forces and to customs arrangements. The Diet is, however, (p. 516)
empowered to elect a national council of nine members and to
commission it to lay the views of the Diet before the Austro-Hungarian
Government. In all other matters, such as civil, penal, police and
commercial law, industrial and agrarian legislation, sanitation,
communications, taxation, the provincial estimates, the issue and
conversion of loans, and the sale or mortgaging of provincial
property, the Diet has a free hand. Government measures to be
submitted to the Diet require, however, the previous sanction of the
Austrian and the Hungarian cabinets, whose assent is also necessary
before bills passed by the Diet can receive the sanction of the crown.

*569. The Electoral System.*--Subsequent statutes regulate the franchise
and electoral procedure. First of all, the seventy-two elective seats
in the Diet are divided among the adherents of the various religious
denominations, the Servians receiving 31, the Mohammedans 24, and the
Catholic Croats 16. One seat is reserved for a representative of the
Jews. The seats are divided, furthermore, into three curiae, or
electoral classes, eighteen being allotted to a first class composed
of large landed p