f different forms.

One form of such assemblage, the basis of the superstructure of
government, is the political communal meeting. "In it take place the
elections, federal, state, and local; it is the local unit of state
government and the residuary legatee of all powers not granted to other
authorities. Its procedure is ample and highly democratic. It meets
either at the call of an executive council of its own election, or in
pursuance of adjournment, and, as a rule, on a Sunday or holiday. Its
presiding officer is sometimes the _maire_, sometimes a special
chairman. Care is taken that only voters shall sit in the body of the
assembly, it being a rule in Zurich that the register of citizens shall
lie on the desk for inspection. Tellers are appointed by vote and must
be persons who do not belong to the village council, since that is the
local cabinet which proposes measures for consideration. Any member of
the assembly may offer motions or amendments, but usually they are
brought forward by the town council, or at least referred to that body
before being voted upon."[F] The officials of the commune chosen in the
communal meeting, are one chief executive (who in French communes
usually has two assistants), a communal council, which legislates on
the lesser matters coming up between communal meetings, and such minor
officials as are not left to the choice of the council.

[Footnote F: Vincent.]

A second form of neighborhood assemblage is one composed only of those
citizens who have rights in the communal corporate domains and funds,
these rights being either inherited or acquired (sometimes by purchase)
after a term of purely political citizenship.

A third form is the parish meeting, at which gather the members of the
same faith in the commune, or of even a smaller church district. The
Protestant, the Catholic, and the Jewish are recognized as State
religions--the Protestant alone in some cantons, the Catholic in others,
both in several, and both with the Jewish in others.

A fourth form of local assembly is that of the school district, usually
a subdivision of a commune. It elects a board of education, votes taxes
to defray school expenses, supervises educational matters, and in some
districts elects teachers.

Dividing the commune thus into voting groups, each with its appropriate
purpose, makes for justice. He who has a share in the communal public
wealth (forests, pastoral and agricultural lands, and perhaps f