Appendix S.1 Saxon Electoral Law of 5 May 1909: Translation (excerpt)

 

 

 

Electoral Law of May 5, 1909.

 

Article 1.

 

Paragraph 1.

 

The 68th paragraph of the Constitutional Charter shall be amended as follows.

The Second Chamber (Chamber of Deputies) of the Assembly of Estates shall consist of ninty [sic] one members. Of these 43 members shall be elected by urban electoral districts and 48 by rural electoral districts.

 

Article II

 

General Provisions

 

Paragraph 9.

 

Every male Saxon is entitled to vote provided he pays a direct state tax in the Kingdom of Saxony, has completed his twenty fifth year when the electoral register is closed, has been a Saxon subject for two years, and has resided for at least six months in the locality in which the electoral register is drawn up.

 

Paragraph 10.

 

The following persons are not entitled to vote:

 

a.     Persons under guardianship.

b.    Undischarged bankrupts.

c.     Persons who have been deprived of their civil rights or who are incapacitated from holding public office by judicial sentence, for the period during which such deprivation is valid.

d.    Persons under examination or on trial on a charge of felony or misdemeanor when conviction may entail loss of civil rights or incapacity to fill a public office and persons who at the time of the election are undergoing imprisonment or penal servitude.

e.     Persons under police supervision.

f.      Persons whose direct or communal taxes at the time when the register is closed are more than twelve months in arrears.

g.    Persons who are in receipt of public relief or who have been relieved during the year preceding the election.

 

Paragraph 11.

 

Every qualified elector has a single vote, in so far as he is not entitled to more than one vote in accordance with the previsions given below.

         

A. The following are entitled to two votes:

 

a)    Persons who have an income exceeding 1600 Mark.

b)    Persons who draw a salary exceeding 1400 Mark from a public office or from a permanent private situation.

c)    Persons entitled to vote at the election of members of the Chamber of Industry or the Landeskulturrat and who earn an income exceeding 1400 Mark through their calling.

d)    Persons who at the moment when the register is closed own or occupy real property in the Kingdom of Saxony charged with not less than 100 fiscal units, provided that the total income of the elector exceeds 1250 Mark.

e)    Persons who at the moment when the register is closed own or occupy real estate in the Kingdom of Saxony, of which an area exceeding two hectares is under cultivation, forestry or fruit culture or an area exceeding half a hectare is used for horticulture or vine growing.

f)     Persons who can prove that they have had a scientific training by means of certificates entitling the holder to military service for one year only.

 

B. The following have three votes:

 

a)    Persons who have an income exceeding 2200 Mark.

b)    Persons who (see A.b. above) draw a public or private salary exceeding 1900 Mark.

c)    Persons who not being in public or private service draw an income exceeding 1900 Mark from one of the liberal professions (lawyers, physicians, professors, engineers, artists[,] authors &c.).

d)    Persons who own or occupy real property (see A.d. above) of which an area exceeding 4 hectares is employed for agriculture, forestry or fruit culture or an area exceeding one hectare is employed for horticulture or vine growing.

 

C. The following have four votes:

 

a)    Persons who have an income exceeding 2800 Mark.

b)    Persons who draw a public or private salary exceeding 2500 Mark.

c)    Persons owning or occupying real property charged with not less than 200 fiscal units provided that the total income of the elector exceeds 2200 Mark.

d)    Persons who own or occupy real property of which an area exceeding eight hectares is employed for agriculture, forestry or fruit culture or an area exceeding two hectares is employed for horticulture or for vine growing.

A person who has completed his fiftieth year at the moment when the register is closed is entitled to an additional vote (Age Vote) provided always that no person shall be entitled to more than four votes.

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Source: Translation appended to British envoy to the Kingdom of Saxony, A.C. Grant Duff, Dresden, to British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey, London, 15 February 1912 (draft), The National Archives, UK, Foreign Office (FO) 215/60. Reprinted in British Foreign Office / Confidential Print, FO 371/374 (reel 39), no. 7197, pp. 77-92.

 

© 2017, 2021 James Retallack. All rights reserved. This page is part of the Online Supplement to James Retallack, Red Saxony: Election Battles and the Spectre of Democracy in Germany, 1860-1918 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017). ISBN 978-0-19-966878-6. Last updated: 10 July 2021.