is that of sitting, under the
presidency of one of its members appointed for his judicial
qualifications, as the administrative court of the district.[397]

[Footnote 396: The province of Schleswig-Holstein,
however, contains but a single district. The
largest number of districts in a province is six,
in Hanover.]

[Footnote 397: The immediate legal basis of the
organization of the district is the
Landesverwaltungsgesetz of 1883.]

*291. The Circle.*--In the Kreis, or circle, as in the province, there
exist two sharply distinguished sets of governmental functions, the
general and the local; but for the administration of both there is a
single hierarchy of officials. The number of circles within the
kingdom is about 490, with populations varying from 20,000 to 80,000.
Each includes all towns lying within it which have a population of
less than 25,000. A town of over 25,000 is likely to be created, by
ministerial order, a circle within itself, in which case the functions
of government are exercised by the municipal authorities.[398] The
essential organs of government within the Landkreise, or country
circles, are three: the Landrath, the Kreisausschuss, and the
Kreistag. The Landrath is appointed for life by the crown, on
nomination frequently by the Kreistag, or diet. He superintends all
administrative affairs, general and local, within the circle; fulfills
the functions of chief of police; presides over the Kreisausschuss and
Kreistag; and, in general, occupies within the circle the place
occupied within the province by the Oberpraesident. Associated with
him, and organized under his presidency, is the Kreisausschuss, or
circle committee, composed of six unofficial members elected by the
Kreistag for six years. In addition to its consultative functions, the
Kreisausschuss sits as an administrative court of lowest grade.

[Footnote 398: Approximately one hundred towns have
been so constituted.]

The Kreistag is the legislative body of the circle. Its members,
numbering at least twenty-five, are elected for a term of six years by
three Verbaende, or colleges, the first being made up of the cities,
the second of the large rural taxpayers, the third of a complicated
group of rural interests in which the smaller taxpayers and delegates
of the communal