ter determined to bring
once more into use in Germany the title of Emperor, although between
the empire which was now assuming form and the empire which had been
terminated in 1806 there was recognized to be no historical
connection. The constitution of April 16, 1871, accordingly stipulates
that "to the king of Prussia shall belong the presidency of the
Confederation, and he shall bear the title of _Deutscher Kaiser_
(German Emperor)."[298]

[Footnote 298: Art. II. Dodd, Modern Constitutions,
I., 330. It will be observed that the title is not
"Emperor of Germany." The phrase selected was
intended to denote that the Emperor is only _primus
inter pares_ in a confederation of territorial
sovereigns (_Landesherren_.) He is a territorial
sovereign only in Prussia.]

The revival of the Imperial title and dignity involved, and was
intended to involve, no modification of the status of the
Bundespraesident, save in respect to his official designation and
certain of his personal privileges. His relations with the states and
with the princes of the federation continued precisely as before. The
powers of the Kaiser were, and are, the powers of the old President,
and nothing in excess of those. The title might be taken to imply a
monarchy of the customary sort; but properly it does not. There is no
Imperial crown, no Imperial civil list, no Imperial "office" as such.
The king of Prussia, in addition to his purely Prussian prerogatives,
is by the Imperial constitution vested with the added prerogative (p. 211)
of bearing the Kaiser title and of exercising those powers which under
the constitution and laws are conferred upon the bearer of that title.
Apart from the Prussian crown the Imperial function does not exist;
from which it follows that there is no law of Imperial succession
apart from the Prussian law regulating the tenure of the Prussian
throne,[299] and that in the event of a regency in Prussia the regent
would, _ipso facto_, exercise the functions of Emperor. Chief among
the privileges which belong to the Kaiser as such are those of special
protection of person and family and of absolute exemption from legal
process. Responsible to no superior earthly authority, the Emperor may
not be brought for trial before any tribunal, nor be removed from
office by any judicial proceeding. Assaults upo