--Two other executive organs possess
considerable importance. These are the Oberrechnungskammer, or Supreme
Chamber of Accounts, and the Volkswirthschaftsrath, or Economic
Council. The Oberrechnungskammer has existed continuously since 1714.
Its function is the oversight and revision of the finances of the
departments, the administration of the state debt, and the acquisition
and disposal of state property. Its president is appointed by the
crown, on nomination of the Staats-Ministerium. Its remaining members
are designated by the crown on nomination of its own president,
countersigned by the president of the Staats-Ministerium. All enjoy
the tenure and the immunities of judges, and the body collectively is
responsible, not to the Ministry of State, but to the crown
immediately. In status and function it resembles somewhat closely the
French Cour des Comptes. The same group of men, with additional
members appointed by the Bundesrath, serves as the Chamber of Accounts
of the Empire. The Volkswirthschaftsrath consists of seventy-five
members named by the king for a term of five years. Its business is to
give preliminary consideration to measures vitally affecting large
economic interests, to determine what should be Prussia's position in
the Bundesrath upon these measures, and to recommend to the crown
definite courses of action regarding them. Its function is purely
consultative.

CHAPTER XIII (p. 257)

THE PRUSSIAN LANDTAG--LOCAL GOVERNMENT

I. COMPOSITION OF THE LANDTAG

*274. The House of Lords: Law of 1853.*--Legislative authority in the
kingdom of Prussia is shared by the king with a national assembly, the
Landtag, composed of two chambers, of which the upper is known as the
Herrenhaus, or House of Lords, and the lower as the Abgeordnetenhaus,
or House of Representatives. Under the original provisions of the
constitution, the House of Lords was composed of (1) adult princes of
the royal family; (2) heads of Prussian houses deriving directly from
the earlier Empire; (3) heads of families designated by royal
ordinance, with regard to rights of primogeniture and lineal descent;
(4) 90 members chosen by the principal taxpayers of the kingdom; and
(5) 30 members elected by the municipal councils of the larger towns.
By law of May 7, 1853, this arrangement was set aside and in its stead
it was enacted that the chamber should be made up entirely of persons