is easy. With the
approval of the king, an amendment may at any time be adopted by a
simple majority of the two legislative chambers, with the special
requirement only that an amendment, unlike a statute, must be voted
upon twice, with an interval of three weeks between the two votes.
During the first ten years of its existence the constitution was
amended no fewer than ten times. Of later amendments there have been
six, but none more recent than that of May 27, 1888. The Prussian
system of amendment by simple legislative process was incorporated, in
1867, in the fundamental law of the North German Confederation (except
that in the Bundesrath a two-thirds vote was required); and in 1871 it
was perpetuated in the constitution of the Empire.[371]

[Footnote 371: There is an annotated English
version of the Prussian constitution, edited by J.
H. Robinson, in the _Annals of the American Academy
of Political and Social Science_, Supplement,
Sept., 1894. The original text will be found in F.
Stoerk, Handbuch der deutschen Verfassungen
(Leipzig, 1884), 44-63; also, with elaborate notes,
in A. Arndt, Die Verfassungs-Urkunde fuer den
preussischen Staat nebst Erganzungs-und
Ausfuehrungs-Gesetzen, mit Einleitung, Kommentar und
Sachregister (Berlin, 1889). The principal
treatises on the Prussian constitutional system are
H. Schulze, Das preussisches Staatsrecht, auf
Grundlage des deutschen Staatsrechtes (Leipzig,
1872-1874); ibid., Das Staatsrecht des Koenigreichs
Preussen, in Marquardsen's Handbuch (Freiburg,
1884); L. von Roenne, Das Staatsrecht der
preussischen Monarchie (Leipzig, 1881-1884); and H.
de Grais, Handbuch der Verfassung und Verwaltung in
Preussen und dem deutschen Reiche (11th ed.,
Berlin, 1896). A good brief account is that in A.
Lebon, Etudes sur l'Allemagne politique, Chap. 4.]

III. THE CROWN AND THE MINISTRY (p. 253)

*269. Status of the Crown.*--At the head of the state stands the king,
in whom is vested the executive, and a considerable share in the
legislativ