of government is that of a republic, under a
constitution proclaimed on the 8th of March 1849, revised on the 21st of
February 1854, the 17th of November 1875, and the 1st of January 1894.
The sovereignty resides jointly in the senate and the Burgerschaft, or
Convent of Burgesses. The senate, which is the executive power, is
composed of sixteen life members, elected by the convent, on
presentation by the senate. Of these ten at least must be lawyers and
three merchants. Two of the number are nominated by their colleagues as
burgomasters, who preside in succession for a year at a time and hold
office four years, one retiring every two years. The Burgerschaft
consists of 150 (formerly 300) representatives, chosen by the citizens
for six years, and forms the legislative body. Fourteen members are
elected by such citizens of Bremen (city) as have enjoyed a university
education, forty by the merchants, twenty by the manufacturers and
artisans, and forty-eight by the other citizens. Of the remaining
representatives, twelve are furnished by Bremerhaven and Vegesack and
sixteen by the rural districts. As a member of the German empire, the
state of Bremen has one voice in the Bundesrat and returns one member to
the Imperial diet (Reichstag). Formerly Bremen was a free port, but from
the 1st of October 1888 the whole of the state, with the exception of
two small free districts in Bremen and Bremerhaven respectively, joined
the German customs union. The state has two Amtsgerichte (courts of
first instance) at Bremen and Bremerhaven respectively, and a superior
court, Landgericht, at Bremen, whence appeals lie to the
Oberlandesgericht for the Hanseatic towns in Hamburg. The judges of the
Bremen courts are appointed by a committee of members of the senate, the
Burgerschaft and the bench of judges. By the convention with Prussia of
the 27th of June 1867, the free state surrendered its right to furnish
its own contingent to the army, the recruits being after that time
drafted into the Hanseatic infantry regiment, forming a portion of the
Prussian IX. army corps.

BREMEN, a city of Germany, capital of the free state of Bremen, and one
of the Hanseatic towns. It lies on a sandy plain on both banks of the
Weser, 46 m. from the North Sea and 71 m. S.W. from Hamburg by rail, on
the mainline to Cologne. Pop. (1905) 214,953. It has also direct railway
communication with Berlin via Uelzen, Hanover and Bremerhaven. The city
consists of f