ouse; and
that of April 8, 1906, whereby direct elections
were substituted for indirect.]

[Footnote 405: The crown is hereditary in the house
of Wittelbach, by which it was acquired as early as
1180. From 1886, the king, Otto I., being insane,
the powers of the sovereign were exercised by the
prince regent Luitpold, until his death December
12, 1912.]

[Footnote 406: Lowell, Governments and Parties, I.,
338.]

*295. The Bavarian Landtag.*--The Landtag of Bavaria consists of two
chambers. The upper, designated officially as the Kammer der Reichsrate
("chamber of the council of the Empire"), is composed of princes (p. 276)
of the royal family, crown dignitaries, high ecclesiastics, hereditary
nobles, and life members appointed by the crown--in all, some
eighty-five to ninety persons. The lower chamber, or Abgeordnetenkammer,
consists of 163 members. By law of 1881 the class system of voting in
Bavaria was replaced by an equal suffrage extended to all males paying
a direct tax. Elections continued to be indirect until 1906, when
provision was made for elections by direct and secret ballot.[407]
Deputies are chosen for a term of six years and are apportioned in
such a manner that, normally, there is one for every 38,000 people.
Every male inhabitant is entitled to vote who at the time of the
election has completed his twenty-fifth year, has been a Bavarian
citizen during at least one year, and has paid to the state a direct
tax during at least the same period. The Landtag must be summoned not
less frequently than once every three years.[408] The budget is made
up on a two-year basis, so that sessions are held, in point of fact,
biennially.

[Footnote 407: Grassman, Die bayerische
Landtagswahlgesetz vom 8 April, 1906, in Jahrbuch
des Oeffentlichen Rechts der Gegenwart, I., 242. A
law of April 15, 1908, introduced the principle of
proportional representation in Bavarian municipal
elections.]

[Footnote 408: M. von Seydel, Das Staatsrecht des
Koenigreichs Bayern, (Freiburg, 1888), in
Marquardsen's Handbuch; E. Junod, La Baviere et
l'Empire alle