ve those on foreign affairs and the
marine, which have five; and each includes representatives of at least
four states. Prussia holds all chairmanships, save that of the
committee on foreign affairs, which belongs to Bavaria.

[Footnote 321: Art. 8. Ibid., I., 330. Strictly,
the Bundesrath but indicates by ballot the states
which shall be represented on each committee,
leaving to the states themselves the right to name
their representatives.]

*232. Powers of Legislation.*--By reason of the pivotal position (p. 221)
which the Bundesrath occupies in the German constitutional system the
functions of the body are fundamental and its powers comprehensive.
Its competence is in the main legislative and fiscal, but also in part
executive and judicial. By the constitution it is stipulated that the
legislative power of the Empire shall be exercised by the Bundesrath
and the Reichstag, and that a majority of the votes of both bodies
shall be necessary and sufficient for the enactment of a law.[322] The
right of initiating legislation is expressly conferred upon the
Reichstag, but in practice it is exercised almost exclusively by the
Bundesrath. Even finance bills all but invariably originate in the
superior chamber. Under the normal procedure bills are prepared,
discussed, and voted in the Bundesrath, submitted to the Reichstag for
consideration and acceptance, and returned for further scrutiny by the
Bundesrath before their promulgation by the Emperor. In any case, the
final approval of a measure must take place in the Bundesrath, by
whose authority alone the character of law can be imparted. Speaking
strictly, it is the Bundesrath that makes law, with merely the assent
of the Reichstag.

[Footnote 322: Art. 5. Dodd, Modern Constitutions,
I., 328.]

*233. Executive Authority.*--The Bundesrath's executive functions
represent a curious admixture, but the sum total is very considerable.
In the first place, the body possesses supplementary administrative
powers. By the constitution it is required to take action upon "the
general administrative provisions and arrangements necessary for the
execution of the Imperial laws, so far as no other provision is made
by law," as well as upon "the defects which may be discovered in the
execution of the Imperial laws."[323] This function is performed
through