of schools, and for other special trusts. They are chosen, like the members of a special jury, from among merchants, physicians, solicitors, manufacturers, head-masters of public schools, &c., and often show themselves the most active and most influential members of committees.

Under this ruling staff of 230 aldermen, town councillors, and select citizens-who, with the exception of the 15 professional aldermen, are honorary officials and persons of independent means, and who in all committees work and vote side by side without any difference of rank-stands a numerous staff of clerks and servants, viz.:—

42 Principal clerks.

343 Ordinary clerks.

418 Assistant and copying clerks.

94 Inspectors and officers of special departments.

280 Paid tax-collectors.

182 City sergeants and servants.

The higher class of clerks proves very useful in assisting the unpaid aldermen and honorary members in the routine business. The permanent service staff requires to be numerous on account of the many special committees of which I am going to speak now.

B. The Departments of Magistratical Self-Government correspond in general to the chief functions of the justices of the peace in an English borough, though with a different distribution of business. and various extensions of those functions. They may be considered as assistant organs of the administration of justice, as principal organs of the police, as supplementary organs of the administration of the army and of the finances of the State.

I. The administration of the ordinary civil and criminal justice lies in the courts of law. All the judges of local courts, county courts, and provincial courts are appointed by the king; the judges of the Imperial High Tribunal of Appeal by the emperor and the Federative Council of the empire. All judges are appointed for life, and can be deposed or transferred to another court only by the decision of a higher court of law. Now, in this administration of justice the communes and their citizens take part in various

ways:

The Courts of Assizes, consisting of three judges and twelve jurymen, pass sentence in capital cases and felonies of the higher class. The annual list of jurors is drawn up by a commission formed by the local judge as chairman, one commissioner of the civil administration, and seven citizens chosen by the Town Council. There is no property clause, but some classes of society are exempt from the duty of serving on a jury-namely, all persons under thirty, menial servants, and by reason of profession, judges, clergymen,

schoolmasters are excused; men above sixty-five, physicians, chemists, and such people as protest "that they are unable to bear the expenses a juryman is liable to." In conformity with this clause, the commission chiefly selects persons of the first and second class of ratepayers. The lot decides which of the men in the annual list are to serve in each single session, and their appearance is enforced by heavy fines.

For the trial of minor criminal cases-corresponding to the English summary convictions-small courts are formed (Schöffengerichte), consisting of the local judge and two citizen assessors (law-men, Echevins, Schöffen), with a full and equal vote. The lists of jurors serve at the same time as Schöffenliste. From these lesser courts there lies an appeal to the superior courts; from the assizes, a writ of error to the Imperial High Tribunal.

A civil jury is not adopted in Germany; but in lawsuits on commercial questions a peculiar formation of the court takes place in the larger commercial towns, the divisions of the court in such cases consisting of a judge and two merchant assessors, each with a full vote. There are seven such commercial divisions in the County Court of the capital.

Another supplement to the administration of justice are the arbitrators (Schiedsmänner), one of whom, aided by a deputy, is elected for every ward. In every civil lawsuit the plaintiff may summon his opponent before this co-arbitrator, and the agreements here entered are as valid as the judgments of the law courts. Common actions for slander (Injurienklagen) are not admitted by the law courts before the parties are summoned to appear before the arbitrator. It is just in these cases that this institution proves most efficient.

There were in the last year 402 citizens summoned to do active service as jurors, 1,478 citizens as Schöffen; add to these a number of commercial assessors, and about 400 arbitrators.

In a wider sense the law courts are connected with the guardians of orphans (Gemeinde-Waisenräthe), who assist the courts as mediators in the selection and control of guardians, in the education of fatherless orphans and of illegitimate children. The small committees formed for this purpose in the wards of the city are composed of 171 chairmen, 636 citizens, and some hundred resident ladies.

At last we have to add the offices of registrars of civil marriages, births, and deaths. There are thirteen such offices in the metropolis. The registrar receives a considerable salary, and is a man of higher education and social standing. The entire cost (167,000 marks) is defrayed by the town treasury.

II. The administration of the police is in German towns the core of the magistratical self-government. The German system,

however, rests on a systematic separation of justice and administration.

So far as justice is administered by summary conviction, the jurisdiction (even in the most trifling cases) is exercised by the ordinary law courts, and in all cases an appeal is open to the superior courts. The police authorities play in this case only the part of prosecutor (Polizeianwaltschaft). The police magistrates are restricted, therefore, to the administrative police in its full and vast extent. In the large majority of towns this power of issuing orders is exercised by the mayor, under the authority of the State, with full responsibility of a State officer. But in the case of the metropolis and a few other large towns, there is reserved a direct administration of the police by the State authorities, for which a commissioner is appointed by the king. The exceptional position of Berlin in this respect has been justified on the ground that the person of the Sovereign, the highest governing bodies of the State, the Parliament, &c., could not safely be entrusted to the protection of a single municipality. The metropolitan police accordingly is committed to a Chief Commissioner (Polizeipräsident), assisted by a body of legal advisers in six divisions, the first of which decides certain questions, like a court of law "in banco.". Under the control of the Chief Commissioner stands a paid constabulary of about 3,000 men, with their sergeants, inspectors, and a colonel-commandant. The personal pay of the administrative and executive officers in the metropolis is defrayed by the State, the other working expenses (amounting annually to 1,100,000 marks) are borne by the town. It is true that in former times the people had reason to complain of the arbitrary exercise of power by the police; but the complaint is no longer heard now.

As far as orders of removal of nuisances and analogous orders are concerned, the police is (in Berlin at least) in the hands of the Chief Commissioner; but after the late law reforms, against any order of this kind an appeal lies to the administrative courts of law (Verwaltungsgerichte). The highest instance is represented by a Supreme Court (Oberverwaltungsgericht) the thirteen members of which enjoy the same independence as those of the Imperial Supreme Court. In Berlin a complaint against the Chief Commissioner is lodged with a district court, four members of which are chosen by the Town Council; an appeal lies from this to the Supreme Court.

Finally, the higher and highest State authorities exercise a general control over the administrative police, with the power of annulling police measures and regulations, on the ground of equity and utility, in cases where the legality of those measures cannot be contested.

But even in the metropolis certain branches of the police service

which do not concern the proper preservation of the peace, but the welfare of the public in general (Wohlfahrtspolizei), are detached from the domain of the Chief Commissioner and entrusted to the mayor and aldermen.

In the first place the trade police (Gewerbepolizei) is exercised as a control over the trade guilds, apprentices, friendly societies, provident societies, widows' funds, and similar institutions, by the city authorities. For these purposes a Gewerbe deputation is formed, consisting of five aldermen (including the chairman), eight town councillors, and eight select citizens (masters of trade and other competent men), who meet regularly twice a month for the transaction of business.

So

Another important branch of the police-in the hands of the city authorities-is the street building police (Strassenbaupolizei), concerning the approval of building projects, of streets, bridges, railways, the paving of streets and squares, &c.; a control exercised by the mayor personally and five aldermen as substitutes. Within the last ten years a great change has been effected in this respect. When the neighbouring towns of Berlin and Cöln an der Spree, were joined into one municipality as the residence of the Electors of Brandenburg, and developed into a town of European importance as residence of the kings of Prussia, the extension and improvement of the town were principally due to the Sovereigns, who as lords of the adjoining manors, bestowed gifts from the ancient demesne and various privileges on this their pet child. Streets and bridges especially were built according to the taste and desire of the Sovereign. the anomalous practice had arisen of considering the maintenance of the streets and bridges of Berlin as the duty of the State. But when the town grew more and more rapidly, the State authorities, and in constitutional times the Parliament, were reluctant to graut the heavy sums required for the purpose. This was the principal reason of the wretched state of the pavements, the sewers, the bridges, the public conveyances, &c., which astonished the foreign visitor in former times. At length, in 1874, an agreement was arrived at between the city and the State, according to which the former should herself, for a compensation paid by the latter, undertake this her natural duty. At last, freed from the shackles of State assistance, the municipality has, with great energy and huge expenditure, set itself to the task of reforming, and has with astonishing rapidity provided Berlin with an excellent pavement, with new and handsome bridges, with improved hackney carriages, and the most complete system of tramways in Europe; has carried through a gigantic plan of canalization, and has secured a cheap and abundant supply of pure water. The foreigner who revisits Berlin after an absence of ten years finds that, under a united and energetic muni

cipal administration, Berlin has risen to the rank of one of the splendid capitals of modern Europe.

In consequence of the introduction of an administrative jurisdiction in 1872, the Chief Commissioner of Police has been deprived of another important privilege. The granting of licenses for beer and refreshment houses, for the retail sale of spirits, and for several other trades, has been transferred from the Chief Commissioner to the Stadtausschuss-i.e., a committee consisting of the mayor and four aldermen, who in a public meeting decide whether the license should be granted, from which decision, however, an appeal may be taken to a higher court.

In a nearer connection with the police functions of the communal authorities stands, finally, the office of ward provosts (Bezirksvorsteher). The central government of the town requires some permanent local officers for its police functions, in the drawing up of the lists of the citizens for the elections, &c. Thus arose the office of the ward provosts, of whom there have existed hitherto 211, and as many deputies—all of them unpaid officers-which number will, in consequence of a redistribution of the wards, be increased to 326 at the end of this year.

III. The military department of the public service requires the co-operation of the communes in order to carry out the system of universal conscription, and to superintend the service in the militia (Landwehr). The task of enlisting is entrusted to enlisting commissions (Ersatzcommissionen), consisting of a civil commissioner, a staff officer, an army surgeon, and a considerable number of citizens; in Berlin at present an alderman and eighteen members of the Town Council and select citizens. The most rigorous conscientiousness in the performance of these responsible duties is required in order to maintain the strict principle of universal conscription.

Even more extensive is the business of the sixteen militia commissions, to which are entrusted the keeping of the lists and the control of the reserve forces and militiamen; 325 town councillors, select citizens, and other members, chosen for this purpose, are engaged on the militia commissions.

IV. The financial department of the State requires the co-operation of the communes in the assessment of the income-tax, which could not be properly levied without the assistance of communal assessment committees. The State income-tax is levied at present at the rate of three per cent. of the net income: the lower classes pay at a reduced rate; incomes below 900 marks remain untaxed. As the law gives only a certain number of rules in regard to this assessment, and as there is no obligation of making any special declarations, the task of assessing requires so accurate a knowledge of the affairs of one's neighbours as can only be procured in smaller communes