the King for the affairs mentioned in sec. 13, the ministry shall be divided into the following departments:

a) Interior.

b) Finance.

c) Commerce.

d) Agriculture.

e) Religion and education.

f) Justice and pardons.

g) National defense.1

SEC. 15. A separate minister shall be at the head of each department and of the official personnel thereof, which shall be under the direction of the respective chiefs of divisions.

SEC. 16. The manner of conducting business within the departments shall be regulated by the ministry itself.

SEC. 17. The president of the ministry shall preside over the Council of Ministers in the absence of the King, and he may convene the Council of Ministers as often as he considers it necessary.

SEC. 18. Each minister shall be responsible for the orders which he signs.

SEC. 19. For the consideration of the public affairs of the country under the presidency of His Majesty or of the president of the ministry, a Council of State shall be established at Budapest, which shall be permanently organized by the next Diet.5

SEC. 20. In addition to the necessary staff of officers, two councilors of state shall be assigned to the minister in attendance upon the person of the King, such councilors to be selected for the present from among the active councilors of

For the representation of the interests of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia, there is also appointed a separate Croatian minister who is without portfolio. This minister is entitled to vote in the Council of Ministers and is responsible to the Hungarian House of Representatives.

The Council of State has never been organized; hence Arts. 19-24 are not really in force.

the Royal Hungarian Chancellery upon the nomination of the above-mentioned minister.

SEC. 21. The affairs enumerated in sec. 7 as reserved immediately to His Majesty shall be administered by the responsible Hungarian minister in attendance upon the person of the King, together with the councilors of state and officers associated with him.

SEC. 22. The other active councilors of the Royal Hungarian Chancellery shall be transferred to the Council of State mentioned in sec. 19.

SEC. 23. The Royal Hungarian Council of the Regency, and the Royal Council of the Treasury shall be divided among the respective departments of the ministry in pursuance of the provisions of Law 58 of 1791, which shall also be taken into consideration in the organization of the Council of State.

SEC. 24. The presidents of the government offices mentioned in sec. 6 shall have seats in the Council of State designated by sec. 19, and shall preside therein in the absence of the King and the ministers.

SEC. 25. All officers and employees of the government offices mentioned in sec. 6, not only those who receive new appointments but also those who cannot be given places in the above-mentioned departments of the ministry, shall retain their present salaries until other provision is made.

SEC. 26. The legal powers of all local governing bodies of the country shall remain in full force.

SEC. 27. The legally established courts shall preserve their legal independence and shall retain their present organization until further provided by law.

SEC. 28. The ministers shall have seats in the two houses of the Diet and must be heard therein when they wish to speak. SEC. 29. Ministers shall be bound to attend in either house of the Diet when requested, and to give proper explanations.

SEC. 30. Upon demand of either house of the Diet the ministers shall be bound to submit their official papers for

examination by the house itself or by a committee appointed by the house.

SEC. 31. Ministers shall have a vote in the Diet only in case they are legal members of the Table of Magnates or have been elected as representatives in the House of Representatives. SEC. 32. Ministers may be held responsible:

a) For every act committed or order executed by them in their official capacity which violates the independence of the country, the guaranties of the constitution, the provisions of existing laws, personal liberty, or the inviolability of property. b) For misapplication or illegal use of money or other property intrusted to them.

c) For failure to execute the laws or to maintain public peace and order, in so far as such neglect could have been avoided by the use of means placed at their disposal by the law.

SEC. 33. The Lower House may impeach ministers by a majority vote.

SEC. 34. Jurisdiction in such a case shall be vested in a court, chosen by means of secret ballot by the Upper House from among its own members; the procedure shall be public, and the penalty shall be fixed in proportion to the offense.

Thirty-six members in all shall be elected, of whom twelve may be rejected by the impeachment commission of the Lower House, twelve by the ministers under impeachment. The court thus composed of twelve persons shall try the impeached ministers.

SEC. 35. With respect to a convicted minister royal pardon may be granted only in case of a general amnesty.

SEC. 36. For other criminal offenses committed by ministers in an unofficial capacity, they shall be amenable to the ordinary laws.

SEC. 37. The ministry is bound to submit to the Lower House for its examination and approval an annual statement of the income and needs of the country, and the account of the income administered by it during the past year.

LAW 4 OF 1848 CONCERNING ANNUAL SESSIONS OF THE DIET

SECTION I. As the Diet will in future hold annual sessions at Pest, the King shall annually assemble the Estates of the country, and whenever circumstances permit, during the winter months.

SEC. 2. Hereafter the laws to be promulgated may also be approved by the King during the course of the annual session.

SEC. 3. Representatives shall be elected to a Diet to continue for five years, and for all five sessions of such a Diet.1

SEC. 4. After 1848 the new election of representatives shall take place throughout the country at the expiration of each fifth year, within six weeks before the opening of the first annual session of the new Diet; members elected during the interval between general elections retain their seats in the next Diet only by means of a new election and so retain them for each of the five annual sessions of a Diet.1

SEC. 5. His Majesty shall have the right to extend or to adjourn the assembled annual session and even to dissolve the Diet before the expiration of five years, and in such a case to order a new election of representatives; but in the latter case His Majesty shall order the meeting of the new Diet in such a manner that it shall assemble within three months after the dissolution of the former Diet.1

SEC. 6. As the establishment of the budget by the Diet is always effective for only one year and as no tax may be imposed or collected without a new establishment and grant, in case His Majesty for any reason shall dissolve the Diet before the regular time, adjourn or close its sessions before the ministry has submitted the final accounts and the estimates for the next year, and before the Diet could reach a decision concerning these matters, the Diet must be convened before the

1 Law 1 of 1886 extended the life of a Diet from three to five years.

end of the year and within sufficient time for the final accounts and the estimates for the succeeding year to be considered therein before the close of the year.

SEC. 7. His Majesty shall appoint the president and vicepresident of the Table of Magnates from the members of that house; the secretaries shall be elected by the house from among its own members, by secret ballot.

SEC. 8. As the Royal Table 2 henceforth ceases to be an integral part of the House of Representatives, this house shall elect from among its own members, by secret ballot, a president, two vice-presidents, and the secretaries.

The presidents of the two houses shall be chosen for the entire legislative period of the Diet; the other officials shall be chosen annually in the first sitting; in such sitting the oldest member of the Diet shall preside.

SEC. 9. The presidents of the two houses shall receive salaries from the public treasury, the amount of which shall be fixed in the first annual session of the new Diet.

SEC. 10. The sittings of the two houses shall continue to be public. Each house shall make the regulations for the maintenance of the necessary peace and order in its deliberations, and of silence among those listening to its proceedings; the president is charged with the strict enforcement of such rules.

SEC. II. In this regard it is hereby provisionally directed that the audience shall in no way disturb the deliberations.

SEC. 12. Should the audience or one of the persons present disturb the deliberations and the first warning of the president be without effect, the president may upon the second occasion, referring to the present law, order the expulsion of the audience or of a member thereof and the closing of the galleries.

SEC. 13. After this is done the deliberations shall be continued upon the same day or later, as the majority decides, but always publicly.

'The Supreme Court of Hungary, which before 1848 formed part of the House of Representatives, its president presiding in that body.