ed for
their conclusion, and the approval of the Reichstag shall be necessary
to render them valid."[303]

[Footnote 301: Howard, The German Empire, Chap. 12;
Laband, Deutsches Reichsstaatsrecht, 345-359.]

[Footnote 302: Art. II. Dodd, Modern Constitutions,
I., 330.]

[Footnote 303: Art. II, clause 3. Dodd, I., 331.]

*222. Powers: Legislation and Justice.*--A third group of functions has
to do with legislation. By the constitution the Emperor is vested with
the right to convene the Bundesrath and the Reichstag, and to open,
adjourn, and close them.[304] In accordance with resolutions of the
Bundesrath, bills are laid before the Reichstag in the name of the
Emperor; and it is the Emperor's duty to prepare and publish the laws
of the Empire, as well as to supervise their execution.[305] In so far
as is permitted by the constitution, and by laws from time to time
enacted, decrees and ordinances may be promulgated by the Emperor,
under the countersignature of the Chancellor. Speaking strictly, the
Emperor possesses no veto upon measures passed in the Bundesrath and
Reichstag, though in practice he may refuse to publish a law in the
enactment of which he believes the ordinary formal requirements not to
have been complied with. He may not withhold a measure by reason
simply of its content.

[Footnote 304: Art. 12. Ibid.]

[Footnote 305: "The laws of the Empire shall
receive their binding force by Imperial
promulgation, through the medium of an Imperial
Gazette. If no other time is designated for the
published law to take effect it shall become
effective on the fourteenth day after its
publication in the Imperial Gazette at Berlin."
Art. 2. Dodd, Modern Constitutions, I., 326.]

The Emperor is vested, in the next place, with certain prerogatives in
relation to the judiciary. On motion of the Bundesrath, he appoints
(though he may not remove) the members of the Reichsgericht, or
Imperial Court; and by the Code of Criminal Procedure it is stipulated
that in cases in which the Imperial Court shall have rendered judgment
as a tribunal of first instance, the Emperor shall possess the power
of pardon. The pardoning power is extended likewise to cases adjudged
i