Sept., 1910; C. Brocard, La reforme electorale en
Prusse et les partis, in _Revue Politique et
Parlementaire_, Feb., 1912.]

III. ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTIONS OF THE LANDTAG

*282. Sessions and Privileges of Members.*--The maximum life of a
Landtag is five years; but the lower house may at any time be
dissolved by the crown. A dissolution must be followed by the election
of a new chamber within sixty days, and the ensuing session is
required to begin within three months. The power of dissolution is not
infrequently exercised, and there have been instances of the
dissolution of a newly elected chamber, by reason of its objectionable
political character, before it had been convened for so much as a
single sitting. According to law the Landtag must be convoked in
regular session every year, during the period between the beginning of
November and the middle of the following January.[386] It may be
called in extraordinary session at any time. Without its own consent,
it may not be adjourned for more than thirty days, or more than once
during a session. Save in the event of the necessity of making
provision for a regency, the chambers sit separately; but the two must
be convoked, opened, adjourned, and prorogued simultaneously.

[Footnote 386: Art. 76.]

Each chamber passes upon the qualifications of its members; each
elects it own presidents, vice-presidents, and secretaries; and each
regulates its own discipline and order of business. Sittings of both
chambers are public, save when, on proposal of the president or of ten
members, it is decided to close the doors. Members are regarded (p. 264)
as representatives of the population of the kingdom as a whole. They
may not be bound by any sort of instructions; nor may they be called
to account legally for votes cast, or for statements made, in the
fulfillment of their legislative functions. Unless taken in the act,
or within twenty-four hours thereafter, no member of either house may,
without the consent of that house, be arrested or submitted to
examination for any penal offense. Members of the lower house receive,
and must accept, travelling expenses and a daily allowance of fifteen
marks during sessions.

At the beginning of each sitting the House of Lords is divided into
five Abtheilungen, or sections, and the House of Representatives into
seven. In the lower house the division is made by lot; in t