*690. The Elections of 1910.*--The first important act of Ca.n.a.lejas was to persuade the sovereign, as Moret had vainly sought to do, to dissolve the Cortes, to the end that the Liberal ministry might appeal to the country. The elections were held May 10. They were of peculiar interest by reason of the fact that now for the first time there was put into operation an electoral measure of the recent Maura government whereby it is required that every candidate for a seat in the lower chamber shall be placed in nomination by two ex-senators, two ex-deputies, or three members of the general council of the province.
This regulation had been opposed by the Republicans and by the radical elements generally on the ground that it put in the hands of the Government power virtually to dictate candidacies in many electoral districts, and the results seemed fairly to sustain the charge. May 1, in accordance with a provision of the law, 120 deputies--upwards of one-third of the total number to be chosen--were declared elected, by reason of having no compet.i.tors. Of these 70 were Liberals, 39 were Conservatives, and the remainder belonged to minor groups. In the districts in which there were contests the Government also won decisively a few days later, as it did likewise in the senatorial elections of May 15. The results of the elections, as officially reported, may be tabulated as follows: (p. 625) CONGRESS OF DEPUTIESElected indirectlyby the people, May 15Elected bythe corporations,etc., May 15SENATETotal electedImmovable portionof SenateGrandTotalLiberals 229 92 11 103 70 173 Dissenting Liberals 0 3 0 3 0 3 Conservatives 107 35 7 42 77 119 Republicans 40 3 1 4 0 4 Carlists 9 4 0 4 2 6 Regionalists 8 4 1 5 0 5 Integrists 7 0 0 0 0 0 Independents 5 1 1 2 16 18 Socialists 1 0 0 0 0 0 Catholics 0 5 0 5 8 13 ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 406 147 21 168 173[863] 341
[Footnote 863: Some seats vacant.]
*691. Republicanism and Socialism.*--Among other accounts, the elections of 1910 were notable by reason of the return to the Congress for the first time of a socialist member. In Madrid, as in other centers of population, the Government concluded with the Conservatives an _entente_ calculated to hold in check the rising tide of socialism and republicanism. Under the stimulus thus afforded the Socialists at last responded to the overtures which the Republicans had long been making, and the coalition which resulted was successful in returning to Parliament the Socialist leader Iglesias, together with an otherwise all but unbroken contingent of Republicans. In Barcelona and elsewhere Republican gains were decisive. None the less the Republican forces continue to be so embarra.s.sed by factional strife as to be not really formidable. The Socialists, however, exhibit a larger degree of unity.
As in Italy, France, and most European countries, they are growing both in numbers and in effectiveness of organization. In Spain, as in Italy, the historic parties which have been accustomed to share between them the control of the state have, in reality, long since lost much of the vitality which they once possessed. The terms "Liberal" and "Conservative" denote even less than once they did bodies of men standing for recognized political principles, or even for recognized political policies. The field for the development of parties which shall take more cognizance of the nation"s actual conditions and be more responsive to its demands seems wide and, on the whole, not unpromising.[864]
[Footnote 864: On political parties in Spain two older works are A. Borrego, Organizacion de los Partidos (Madrid, 1855) and El Partido Conservador (Madrid, 1857). Two valuable books are E. Rodriguez Solis, Historia del partido republicano espanol (Madrid, 1893) and B. M. Andrade y Uribe, Maura und di Konservativen Partei in Spanien (Karlsruhe, 1912). The subject is sketched excellently to 1898 in Clarke, Modern Spain, Chaps. 14-16. In the domain of periodical literature may be mentioned A.
Marvaud, Les elections espagnoles de mai 1907, in _Annales des Sciences Politiques_, July, 1907; C.
David, Les elections espagnoles, in _Questions Diplomatiques et Coloniales_, May 16, 1907; A.
Marvaud, Un aspect nouveau du Catalanisme, ibid., June 16, 1907; La situation politique et financiere de l"Espagne, ibid., Dec. 16, 1908; La rentree des Cortes et la situation en Espagne, ibid., June 16, 1910. A well-informed sketch is L. G. Guijarro, Spain since 1898, in _Yale Review_, May, 1909.]
VII. THE JUDICIARY AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (p. 626)
*692. Law and Justice.*--The law of Spain is founded upon the Roman law, the Gothic common law, and, more immediately, the Leyes de Toro, a national code promulgated by the Cortes of Toro in 1501. By the const.i.tution it is stipulated that the same codes shall be in operation throughout all portions of the realm and that in these codes shall be maintained but one system of law, to be applied in all ordinary civil and criminal cases in which Spanish subjects shall be involved. The civil code which is at present in operation was put in effect throughout the entire kingdom May 1, 1889. The penal code dates from 1870, but was amended in 1877. The code of civil procedure was put in operation April 1, 1881, and that of criminal procedure, June 22, 1882. A new commercial code took effect August 22, 1885.
"The power of applying the laws in civil and criminal cases," says the const.i.tution, "shall belong exclusively to the courts, which shall exercise no other functions than those of judging and of enforcing their judgments."[865] What courts shall be established, the organization of each, its powers, the manner of exercising them, and the qualifications which its members must possess, are left to be determined by law. The civil hierarchy to-day comprises tribunals of four grades: the munic.i.p.al courts, the courts of first instance, the courts of appeal, and the Supreme Court at Madrid. The justices of the peace of the munic.i.p.al courts are charged with the registration of births and deaths, the preparation of voting lists, the performance of civil marriage, and the hearing of petty cases to the end that conciliation, if possible, may be effected between the litigants. No civil case may be brought in any higher court until effort shall have been made to adjust it in a justice"s tribunal. In each of the 495 _partidos judiciales_, or judicial districts, of the kingdom is a court of first instance, empowered to take cognizance of all causes, both civil and criminal. From these tribunals lies appeal in civil cases to fifteen _audiencias territoriales_. By a law of April 20, 1888--the measure by which was introduced the use of the jury in (p. 627) the majority of criminal causes--there were established forty-seven _audiencias criminales_, one in each province of the kingdom, and these have become virtually courts of a.s.size, their sessions being held four times a year. Finally, at Madrid is established a Supreme Court, modelled on the French Court of Ca.s.sation, whose function it is to decide questions relating to the competence of the inferior tribunals and to rule on points of law when appeals are carried from these tribunals. Cases involving matters of administrative law, decided formerly by the provincial councils and the Council of State, are disposed of now in the _audiencias_ and in the fourth chamber of the Supreme Court.[866]
[Footnote 865: Art. 76. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, II., 213.]
[Footnote 866: G. Marin, La jurisdiction contentieuse administrative en Espagne, in _Revue du Droit Public_, Oct.-Dec., 1906.]
Justice is administered in the name of the king. All judgments must be p.r.o.nounced in open court, and by the const.i.tution it is guaranteed specifically that proceedings in criminal matters shall be public. In every tribunal the state is represented by _abogados fiscales_ (public prosecutors) and counsel nominated by the crown. Magistrates and judges, appointed by the crown, may not be removed, suspended, or transferred, save under circ.u.mstances minutely stipulated in the organic judicial laws. But judges are responsible personally for any violation of law of which they may be guilty.
*693. Local Government: the Province and the Commune.*--Prior to 1833 the Spanish mainland comprised thirteen provinces, by which were preserved in a large measure both the nomenclature and the geographical ident.i.ty of the ancient kingdoms and princ.i.p.alities from which the nation was constructed. In the year mentioned the number of provinces was increased to forty-seven, at which figure it remains at the present day. The essential agencies of government in the province are two--the governor and the _diputacion provincial_, or provincial council. The governor is appointed by the crown and it is his function, under the direction of the Minister of the Interior, to represent the central government in the provincial council and in the general administrative business of the province. The provincial council is composed of members chosen by the voters of the province, which means, under the law of June 28, 1890, all male Spaniards of the age of twenty-five. Under the presidency of the governor the body meets yearly, and in the intervals between sessions it is represented by a _commission provinciale_, or provincial committee, elected annually. The size of the council varies roughly according to the population of the province.
The smallest governmental unit is the commune, and the number of (p. 628) communes in the kingdom is approximately 8,000. In each is an _ayuntamiento_, or council, the members of which, varying in number from five to thirty-nine, are elected for four years (one-half retiring biennially) by those residents of the commune who are qualified to vote for members of the provincial councils. To serve as the chief executive officer of the munic.i.p.ality the _ayuntamiento_ regularly elects from its own number an _alcalde_, or mayor, although in the larger towns appointment of the mayor is reserved to the crown.
*694. Principles of Local Control.*--After stipulating that the organization and powers of the provincial and munic.i.p.al councils shall be regulated by law, the const.i.tution lays down certain fundamental principles to be observed in the enactment of such legislation. These are (1) the management of the local interests of the province and the commune shall be left entirely to the respective councils; (2) the estimates, accounts, and official acts of these bodies shall invariably be made public; (3) the fiscal powers of the councils shall be so determined that the financial system of the nation may never be brought in jeopardy; and (4) in order to prevent the councils from exceeding their prerogatives to the prejudice of general and established interests the power of intervention shall be reserved to the sovereign and, under certain circ.u.mstances, to the Cortes.[867]
The theory, carried over from the liberal const.i.tution of 1869, is that within the spheres marked out for them by law the provinces and the munic.i.p.alities are autonomous. And it undoubtedly is true that, compared with the system in operation prior to 1868, the present regime represents distinct decentralization. None the less it must be said that in practice there is ever a tendency on the part of the central authorities to encroach upon the privileges of the local governing agencies, and through several years there has been under consideration a reorganization of the entire administrative system in the direction of less rather than more liberalism. In 1909 a Local Administration bill devised by the recent Maura ministry was adopted by the lower chamber of the Cortes. This measure, which was combatted with vigor by the Liberal party, proposed to enlarge the fiscal autonomy of the communes, but at the same time to modify the provincial and munic.i.p.al electoral system by the establishment of an educational qualification, by the admission of corporations to electoral privileges, and by otherwise lessening the weight of the vote of the individual citizen. In the Senate the measure met determined opposition, and as yet its fate is uncertain.[868]
[Footnote 867: Art. 84. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, II., 215.]
[Footnote 868: J. Gascon y Marin, La reforme du regime local en Espagne, in _Revue du Droit Public_, April-June, 1909.]
CHAPTER x.x.xIV (p. 629)
THE GOVERNMENT OF PORTUGAL
I. A CENTURY OF POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
*695. The Napoleonic Subjugation and the Const.i.tution of 1820.*--The government of Portugal at the opening of the nineteenth century was no less absolute than was that of Spain, The Cortes was extinct, and although Pombal, chief minister during the period 1750-1777, had caused all Portuguese subjects to be made eligible to public office and had introduced numerous economic and administrative reforms, nothing had been permitted to be done by which the unrestricted authority of the crown might be impaired. The country was affected but slightly by the Revolution in France. In 1807, however, it fell prey to Napoleon and the royal family was obliged to take refuge in the dependency of Brazil. With the aid of the English the power of the conqueror was broken in 1808, and through a number of years the government was administered nominally by a commission designated by the absentee regent, Dom John, though actually by a British dictatorship. In 1815 Brazil was raised to the rank of a co-ordinate kingdom, and from that year until 1822 the official designation of the state was "the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves."
In 1816 the mad queen Maria I. died and the regent succeeded to the affiliated thrones as John VI. His original intention was to remain in America, but in 1820 a general revolt in Portugal culminated in the calling of a national a.s.sembly by which there was framed a const.i.tution reproducing the essentials of the Spanish instrument of 1812, and by this turn of events the sovereign was impelled, in 1821, to set sail for the mother country, leaving as regent in Brazil his son Dom Pedro. Fidelity to the new const.i.tution was pledged perforce, but the elements of reaction gathered strength swiftly, and before the close of 1823 the instrument was abrogated. The only tangible result of the episode was the creation of a const.i.tutional party which thereafter was able much of the time to keep absolutism upon the defensive.[869]
[Footnote 869: In the meantime a revolt which was impending in Brazil at the time of King John"s withdrawal had run its course. September 7, 1822, the regent Dom Pedro, who freely cast in his lot with the revolutionists, proclaimed the country"s independence, and some weeks later he was declared const.i.tutional emperor. Protest from Lisbon was emphatic, but means of coercing the rebellious colony were not at hand, and, in 1825, under constraint of the powers, King John was compelled to recognize the independence of his transoceanic dominion.]
*696. The Const.i.tutional Charter of 1826: Miguelist Wars.*--The (p. 630) death of John VI., March 10, 1826, precipitated a conflict of large importance in the history of Portuguese const.i.tutionalism. The heir to the throne was Dom Pedro, Emperor of Brazil, who as sovereign of Portugal, a.s.sumed the t.i.tle Pedro IV. Having inaugurated his reign by the grant of a const.i.tutional charter whereby there was introduced a parliamentary system of government on the pattern of that in operation in Great Britain, the new king, being unwilling to withdraw from America, made over the Portuguese throne to his seven-year-old daughter, Dona Maria da Gloria, with the stipulation that when she should come of age she should be married to her uncle, Dom Miguel, in whom meanwhile the regency was to be vested. Amid enthusiasm the _Carta Const.i.tucional_ was proclaimed at Lisbon, July 31, 1826, and in August there was established a responsible Liberal ministry under Saldanha. When, however, in 1828, the regent at length arrived in Portugal, a clerical and absolutist counter-revolution was found to be under way, and by the reactionary elements he was received, not as regent, but as king. By a Cortes of the ancient type, summoned in the stead of the parliament provided for in the Charter, Dom Miguel was tendered the crown, which, in violation of all the pledges he had given, he made haste to accept. That he might vindicate the claims of his daughter, the Emperor Pedro, in April, 1831, abdicated his Brazilian throne and, repairing to Portugal, devoted himself unsparingly to the task of deposing the usurper. The outcome of the wars which ensued was that in 1834 Dom Miguel was overthrown and banished perpetually from the kingdom. Until his death, in September of the same year, Pedro acted as regent for his daughter, and under his comparatively enlightened rule the Charter of 1826 was restored and the state was set once more upon the path of reform. Upon his death the Princess Maria a.s.sumed the throne as Maria II.[870]
[Footnote 870: Cambridge Modern History, X., Chap.
10; Lavisse et Rambaud, Histoire Generale, X., Chap. 6; H. M. Stephens, Portugal (New York, 1903), Chap. 18. A general treatise covering the period is W. Bollaert, The Wars of Succession of Portugal and Spain from 1821 to 1840 (London, 1870).]
*697. Nominal Const.i.tutionalism, 1834-1853.*--The reign of Queen Maria (1834-1853) was a period of factional turbulence. There were now three political groups of princ.i.p.al importance: the Miguelists, representing the interests of the repudiated absolutist regime; the Chartists, who advocated the principles of the moderate const.i.tution (that of 1826) at the time in operation; and the Septembrists,[871] who were (p. 631) attached rather to the principles of the radical instrument of 1821-1822. By all, save perhaps the Miguelists, the maintenance of a const.i.tution of some type was regarded as no longer an open question.
In 1836 the Septembrists stimulated a popular rising in consequence of which the const.i.tution of 1822 was declared again in effect until a new one should have been devised, and, April 4, 1838, there was brought forward under Septembrist auspices an instrument in which it was provided that an elected senate should take the place of the aristocratic House of Peers for which the Charter provided, and that elections to the House of Deputies should thenceforth be direct. In 1839, however, a moderate ministry was const.i.tuted with Antonio Bermudo da Costa Cabral as its real, though not its nominal, head, and by a p.r.o.nunciamento of February 10, 1842, the Charter was restored to operation. Costa Cabral (Count of Thomar after 1845) ruled despotically until May, 1846, when by a combination of Miguelists, Septembrists, and Chartists he was driven into exile.[872] The Chartist ministry of Saldanha succeeded. In 1849 it was replaced by a ministry under the returned Thomar, but by a rising of April 7, 1851, Thomar was again exiled. At the head of a moderate coalition Saldanha governed peacefully through the next five years (1851-1856). The period was marked by two important developments. July 5, 1852, a so-called "Additional Act" revised the Charter by providing for the direct election of deputies, the decentralization of the executive, the creation of representative munic.i.p.al councils, and the abolition of capital punishment for political offenses. A second fact of importance was the amalgamation, in 1852, of the Septembrists and the Chartists to form the party of Regeneradores, or Regenerators, in support of the Charter in its new and liberalized form.
[Footnote 871: So called from the _coup d"etat_ of September, 1836, mentioned shortly.]
[Footnote 872: E. Bavoux, Costa Cabral; notes historiques sur sa carriere et son ministere (Paris, 1846).]
*698. Party Rivalries: the Rotativos.*--In the const.i.tutional history of the kingdom the reign of Pedro V. (1853-1861) possesses slight importance. There was less civil strife than during the preceding generation, but ministries took office in rapid succession and little improvement was realized in practical political conditions. The period covered by the more extended reign of Luiz I. (1861-1889) was of the same character, save that its later years were given some distinction by certain developments in the party situation. The death of the old Chartist leader Saldanha in 1876 was followed, indeed, by the appearance of a political alignment that was essentially new. Already the Regeneradores, representing the Chartist-Septembrist coalition (p. 632) of 1852, had disintegrated, and in 1877 the more radical elements of the defunct party, known at first as the Historic Left, were reorganized under the name of the Progressistas, or Progressives. The new conservative elements, on the other hand, carried on the traditions and preserved the name of the original Regeneradores. In the Cortes the Progressistas a.s.sumed the position of a Const.i.tutional Left and the surviving Regeneradores that of a Conservative Right.
Both were monarchical and both were attached to the existing const.i.tution, differing only in respect to the amendments which they would have preferred to introduce in that instrument. Of remaining parties two were of importance, i.e., the Miguelists, representing still the interests of absolutism, and the Republicans, who first acquired definite party organization in 1881.
Between 1877 and 1910 the Regeneradores and the Progressistas shared in rotation the spoils of office with such regularity that the two acquired popularly the nickname of the _rotativos_. Both were dominated by professional politicians whose skill in manipulating popular elections was equalled only by their greed for the spoils of victory. Successful operation of a parliamentary system presupposes at least a fairly healthy public opinion. But in Portugal, upwards of four-fifths of whose inhabitants are illiterate,[873] there has been no such favoring condition, and the opportunity for the demagogue and the cacique has been correspondingly tempting. Parties have been regularly mere cliques and party politics only factional strife.
Throughout the period corruption was abundant and such public feeling as existed was stifled systematically. Elections were supervised in every detail by the provincial governors; agents of the Government were employed to instruct the people in their choice of representatives; and the voters did habitually precisely what they were told to do. No one ever expected an election to show results adverse to the Government. Especially unscrupulous was the manner in which the preponderating parties obstructed systematically the election of Republican and Independent deputies. As late as 1906 but one Republican was returned to the Cortes, although it was a matter of common knowledge that in many const.i.tuencies the party commanded a clear majority.
[Footnote 873: By official calculation, 78.6 per cent in 1900.]
*699. The Dictatorship of Franco, 1906-1908.*--From June, 1900, to October, 1904, the Regeneradores were in power, with Ribeiro as premier. During this period two national elections, in 1900 and in 1904, yielded the controlling party substantial majorities. From October, 1904, the Progressive ministry of Luciano de Castro occupied the field, but in the spring of 1906 there took place a series of ministerial crises in the course of which Ribeiro returned for a (p. 633) brief interval to power. The election of April 26, 1906, gave the Regeneradores 113 seats, the Progressistas 30, and the Republicans 1.
The ministerial changes by which this election was accompanied prepared the way for the establishment of the regime known in recent Portuguese history as the _dictadura_, or dictatorship. The new premier, Joo Franco, was one of the abler and more conscientious men in public life. Originally a Regenerator, as early as 1901 he had led a secession from the party, and in 1903 he had organized definitely a third party, the Liberal Regenerators, whose avowed end was the establishment in Portugal of true parliamentarism. In 1906 a "Liberal Concentration" was effected between Franco"s followers and the Progressistas, led by Castro, and the outcome was the calling, May 19, 1906, of Franco to the premiership. That office he a.s.sumed with the determination to introduce and to carry through an elaborate programme of sorely needed fiscal and administrative reforms. If possible, his methods were to be entirely const.i.tutional; if not, as nearly so as might prove practicable. The Cortes elected April 26 met June 6 and, being found unpromising, was dissolved. During the campaign which followed the Regenerador party, to which Franco nominally belonged, split, the Franquistas, or supporters of the premier, taking the name of New Regenerators. The returns yielded by the election of August 12 were: New Regenerators, 73 seats; Progressives, 43; Old Regenerators, 23; Republicans, 4; with scattering seats distributed among other groups.
The sitting of the Cortes which began September 29, 1906, was one of the stormiest on record. In May, 1907, when the Government seemed on the point of collapse and it was supposed that Franco would resign, the indomitable premier effected a _coup d"etat_ whereby the ministry was reconst.i.tuted, the Cortes was dissolved, and several important bills which were pending were proclaimed to have acquired the force of law. During the ensuing twelvemonth the government was that of a benevolent but uncompromising dictatorship. Supported by the king, the army, and a considerable body of partisans, Franco succeeded in carrying through the major portion of his reform programme. But he was opposed by the Republicans, by the professional politicians of the older parties, and by the entire hierarchy of administrative and judicial officials who shrank from impending investigation. His task was enhanced tremendously by the growing unpopularity of King Carlos, and in defense of the sovereign it was found necessary to deprive the House of Peers of its judicial functions, to replace the district and munic.i.p.al councils by commissions named by the crown, and, in short, to suspend virtually all remaining vestiges of popular government, (p. 634) as well as the various guarantees of individual liberty.
*700. Restoration of Normal Conditions.*--February 1, 1908, when the situation bordered on revolution, King Carlos and the crown prince Louis Philippe were a.s.sa.s.sinated and the dictatorship of Franco was brought abruptly to an end. The king"s second son, who succeeded under the t.i.tle of Manoel II., called together an extraordinary junta of ministers and party leaders, at whose instigation the imperious premier resigned and withdrew from the country; whereupon, under the premiership of Admiral Ferreira do Amaral, there was formed a coalition ministry, representative of all of the monarchist parties.
The administrative commissions created by Franco were dissolved; the civil list, concerning which there had been grave controversy, was reduced; the House of Peers was reconst.i.tuted; the election of a new Cortes was ordered; and parliamentary inst.i.tutions, suspended for a year, were revived. The various reforms, on the other hand, for which the dictator had been responsible were brought likewise to an end. The election of April 5, attended by grave disorders, yielded the Government a decisive majority and, April 29, the new sovereign formally opened the first Cortes of his reign and took oath to support the const.i.tution. In the Chamber the old balance between the Regeneradores and the Progressistas reappeared. Of the former there were 61; of the latter, 59. The Republicans had 7 seats; a group of "Nationalists," 3; the Independents, 1; and the "Amaralists," detached supporters of the ministry, 17. Before the end of the year the Government lost its majority, and December 24 a new coalition cabinet was made up by Campos Henriques, a former minister of justice.[874]
[Footnote 874: On the political history of Portugal since the establishment of const.i.tutionalism see Cambridge Modern History, XI., Chap. 20, XII., Chap. 10; and Lavisse et Rambaud, Histoire Generale, XI., Chap. 9, XII., Chap, 9. A serviceable general work is J. P. Oliveira Martins, Historia de Portugal (4th ed., Lisbon, 1901). An older and more detailed treatise is H. Schaefer, Geschichte von Portugal (2d ed., Hamburg, 1874), and a useful survey is R. de Vezeley, Le Portugal politique (Paris, 1890). For a good brief survey of Portuguese party politics see A. Marvaud, La crise en Portugal et les elections d"avril 1908, in _Annales des Sciences Politiques_, July, 1908.]
II. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE KINGDOM
*701. The Const.i.tution.*--Before speaking of the revolution of 1910, in consequence of which the monarchy was overthrown and the present republic was established, it is desirable that brief allusion be made to the governmental system of the earlier regime. The fundamental law in operation in 1910 was the _Carta Const.i.tucional_ of 1826, (p. 635) remodelled and liberalized by numerous amendments. The revision accomplished by the Additional Act of 1852 has been mentioned. An amendment of July 24, 1885, provided for the gradual extinction of the right of hereditary peers to sit in the upper house and for the representation, in the Deputies, of minorities; while three amendments of importance during the reign of Carlos I. (1889-1908) were: (1) that of March 28, 1895, whereby the number of deputies was reduced from 180 to 120 and the qualifications requisite for the exercise of the suffrage were overhauled; (2) that of September 25 of the same year whereby the elective portion of the House of Peers was abolished; and (3) that of August 8, 1901, by which the conditions of election to the House of Deputies were revised. In its final form the const.i.tution was an instrument of unusual length, comprising eight "t.i.tles" and 145 articles, some of which were very comprehensive.[875]
[Footnote 875: The text of the const.i.tution was published by the state under the t.i.tle of Carta Const.i.tucional da Monarchia Portugueza ... e Diplomas Correlativos (Lisbon, 1890). An annotated translation is in Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, II., 145-179. An excellent treatise is J. J. Tavares de Medeiros, Das Staatsrecht des Konigsreichs Portugal (Freiburg, 1892), in Marquardsen"s Handbuch.
Important Portuguese works include L. P. Coimbre, Estudios sobre a Carta Const.i.tucional de 1814 e Acto Addicional de 1852 (Lisbon, 1878-1880), and Coelho da Rocha, Ensaio sobre a Historia do Governo e da Legislacao de Portugal.]
*702. The Crown and the Ministry.*--Provision was made for the exercise of four distinct categories of powers, i.e., executive, moderative, legislative, and judicial. Of these the first two were lodged in the sovereign, the third in the sovereign and Cortes conjointly, and the fourth in tribunals established under provision of the const.i.tution.
The crown was vested permanently in the descendants of Dona Maria II., of the House of Braganza, and, in default thereof, in the nearest collateral line. The succession was regulated on the principle of primogeniture, with preference to the male line, and during a sovereign"s minority the regency devolved upon the nearest relative, according to the order of succession, who had attained the age of twenty-five. a.s.sociated with the sovereign was a ministry and a council of state. The ministry consisted of a premier, usually without portfolio, and a variable number of heads of departments (in 1910, seven),[876] and it was a principle of the const.i.tution that, the crown being legally irresponsible, no executive act might be adjudged valid unless signed by one or more of the members of the ministerial group. For all of their acts the ministers were responsible nominally to the Cortes, although in point of fact the turbulent state of (p. 636) politics rendered such responsibility nearly impossible to enforce.
The council of state was a body composed of the crown prince (when of the age of eighteen) and of twelve men appointed by the king for life, usually from present or past ministers. It was required that the council be consulted in all affairs of weight and in general measures of public administration, especially those relating to the declaration of war, the conclusion of peace, and the conduct of diplomatic negotiations.[877]
[Footnote 876: Foreign Affairs, Interior, Finance, Justice and Worship, War, Marine and Colonies, and Public Works.]
[Footnote 877: Arts. 107-112. Dodd, Modern Const.i.tutions, II., 168-169.]
Aside from partic.i.p.ation in legislation, the powers of the crown (exercised at least nominally through the intermediary of the ministers and councillors) were, as has been said, of two categories, executive and moderative. The powers of an executive character were of the usual sort, i.e., the appointment of civil, military, and ecclesiastical officials; the conduct of foreign relations; the promulgation of the laws, and of decrees, instructions, and regulations requisite to the proper execution of the laws; the ordering, not less frequently than quadrennially, of an election of a new Cortes; and the supervision, in conformity with the const.i.tution, of "all things which bear upon the internal and external security of the state."[878] Among modern const.i.tutions those of Portugal and Brazil are unique in the distinction drawn between powers that are executive and powers that are "moderative." Under the head of moderative powers the Portuguese const.i.tution vested in the crown the nomination of peers, the convening of the Cortes in extraordinary session, approval of the measures of the Cortes to the end that they might acquire the force of law, the proroguing and adjourning of the Cortes and the dissolving of the House of Deputies, the appointing and dismissing of ministers, the granting of amnesties, and the remitting or reducing of penalties imposed upon offenders by judicial sentence.
The theory was that these were powers which the sovereign exercised in the capacity of mediator between the several organs of the governmental system, and by the const.i.tution it was declared that this moderative power was the keystone of the entire political organization. The distinction, however, while from a certain point of view logical enough, does not appear to have possessed much practical importance.