ARTICLE 54
The National Chancellor and the National Ministers require for the administration of their offices the confidence of the National a.s.sembly.
Each of them must resign if the National a.s.sembly by formal resolution withdraws its confidence.
ARTICLE 55
The National Chancellor presides over the National Cabinet and conducts its affairs in accordance with rules of procedure, which will be framed by the National Cabinet and approved by the National President.
ARTICLE 56
The National Chancellor determines the general course of policy and a.s.sumes responsibility therefor to the National a.s.sembly. In accordance with this general policy each National Minister conducts independently the particular affairs intrusted to him and is held individually responsible to the National a.s.sembly.
ARTICLE 57
The National Ministers shall submit to the National Cabinet for consideration and decision all drafts of bills and other matters for which this procedure is prescribed by the Const.i.tution or by law, as well as differences of opinion over questions which concern the departments of several National Ministers.
ARTICLE 58
The National Cabinet will make its decisions by majority vote. In case of a tie the vote of the presiding officer will be decisive.
ARTICLE 59
The National a.s.sembly is empowered to impeach the National President, the National Chancellor, and the National Ministers before the Supreme Judicial Court of the German Commonwealth for any wrongful violation of the Const.i.tution or laws of the Commonwealth. The proposal to bring an impeachment must be signed by at least one hundred members of the National a.s.sembly and requires the approval of the majority prescribed for amendments to the Const.i.tution. The details will be regulated by the national law relating to the Supreme Judicial Court.
_SECTION IV_
THE NATIONAL COUNCIL
ARTICLE 60
A National Council will be organized to represent the German States in national legislation and administration.
ARTICLE 61
In the National Council each State has at least one vote. In the case of the larger States one vote is accorded for every million inhabitants.
Any excess equal at least to the population of the smallest State is reckoned as equivalent to a full million. No State shall be accredited with more than two-fifths of all votes.
[German-Austria after its union with the German Commonwealth will receive the right of partic.i.p.ation in the National Council with the number of votes corresponding to its population. Until that time the representatives of German-Austria have a deliberate voice.][84]
[84] Stricken out at the demand of the Supreme Council of the Allied and a.s.sociated Powers. The Supreme Council addressed the following demand to Germany on September 2, 1919:
"The Allied and a.s.sociated Powers have examined the German Const.i.tution of August 11, 1919. They observe that the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 61 const.i.tute a formal violation of Article 80 of the Treaty of Peace signed at Versailles on June 28, 1919. This violation is twofold:
"1. Article 61 by stipulating for the admission of Austria to the Reichsrat a.s.similates that Republic to the German States composing the German Empire--an a.s.similation which is incompatible with respect to the independence of Austria.
"2. By admitting and providing for the partic.i.p.ation of Austria in the Council of the Empire Article 61 creates a political tie and a common political action between Germany and Austria in absolute opposition to the independence of the latter.
"In consequence the Allied and a.s.sociated Powers, after reminding the German Government that Article 178 of the German Const.i.tution declares that "the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles can not be affected by the Const.i.tution," invite the German Government to take the necessary measures to efface without delay this violation by declaring Article 61, Paragraph 2, to be null and void.
"Without prejudice to subsequent measures in case of refusal, and in virtue of the Treaty of Peace (and in particular Article 29), the Allied and a.s.sociated Powers inform the German Government that this violation of its engagements on an essential point will compel them, if satisfaction is not given to their just demand within 15 days from the date of the present note, immediately to order the extension of their occupation on the right bank of the Rhine."
Article 29 of the Treaty of Peace refers to Map No. 1 which shows the boundaries of Germany and provides that the text of Articles 27 and 28 will be final as to those boundaries.
Article 80 reads as follows:--
"Germany acknowledges and will respect strictly the independence of Austria, within the frontiers which may be fixed in a Treaty between that State and the Princ.i.p.al Allied and a.s.sociated Powers; she agrees that this independence shall be inalienable, except with the consent of the Council of the League of Nations."
A diplomatic act was signed at Paris on September 22, 1919, by the representatives of the Princ.i.p.al Allied and a.s.sociated Powers and Germany in the following terms:
"The undersigned, duly authorized and acting in the name of the German Government, recognizes and declares that all the provisions of the German Const.i.tution of August 11, 1919, which are in contradiction of the terms of the Treaty of Peace signed at Versailles on June 28, 1919, are null.
"The German Government declares and recognizes that in consequence Paragraph 2 of Article 61 of the said Const.i.tution is null, and that in particular the admission of Austrian representatives to the Reichstag could only take place in the event of the consent of the Council of the League of Nations to a corresponding modification of Austria"s international situation.
"The present declaration shall be approved by the competent German legislative authority, within the fortnight following the entry into force of the Peace Treaty.
"Given at Versailles, September 22, 1919, in the presence of the undersigned representatives of the Princ.i.p.al Allied and a.s.sociated Powers."
The number of votes is determined anew by the National Council after every general census.
ARTICLE 62
In committees formed by the National Council from its own members no State will have more than one vote.
ARTICLE 63
The States will be represented in the National Council by members of their Cabinets. Half of the Prussian votes, however, will be at the disposal of the Prussian provincial administrations in accordance with a State law.
The States have the right to send as many representatives to the National Council as they have votes.
ARTICLE 64
The National Cabinet must summon the National Council on demand by one-third of its members.
ARTICLE 65
The chairmanship of the National Council and of its committees is filled by a member of the National Cabinet. The members of the National Cabinet have the right and on request [of the National Council] the duty to take part in the proceedings of the National Council and its committees. They must at their request be heard at any time during its deliberations.