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II. The Chamber of Peers shall be composed of all those Barons and their Successors, and of all those Ecclesiastics and their Successors, who have at present the right of sitting and voting in Parliament. The Spiritual as well as the Temporal Peers shall have but one vote each, the present plurality of votes for their different Peerages being abolished.

III. The respective and only Peerage for which each Peer can vote, and that for the Ecclesiastical Peers, shall be established by the List to be prepared by the Prothonotary of the Kingdom, which List shall be placed at the end of this Act.

IV. The dignity of the Temporal Peers, in conformity with the title expressed in the above-mentioned List, shall be perpetual, inalienable, and hereditary; and it cannot be transferred either by sale or donation, nor in any other manner than by succession, in such form as may prevail in the respective Families. In the same manner, Ecclesiastical Parliamentary Dignities shall continue to be perpetual and inalienable.

V. His Majesty may create as many new Temporal Peers as he may think proper, provided that the Persons chosen for that purpose be Sicilian Princes, Dukes, Marquises, Counts, Viscounts, or Barons, and possess a clear annual income, issuing out of lands, amounting to at least 6,000 ounces; and every Diploma of the King for such purpose shall be of no force and effect, unless it shall have been first registered in the Acts of the Chamber of Peers, which is alone entitled to take cognizance of the said conditions.

[Placet Regiæ Majestati, so far as relates to the creation of

Peers; but subject to the understanding, that His Majesty reserves to Himself a power hereafter to declare his Royal Sentiments, with regard to Limitations.]

VI. Upon the creation of new Bishoprics in our Kingdom of Sicily, the new Bishops and their Successors shall be, ipso facto, Spiritual Peers.

VII. The Temporal Peers shall have the power of appointing their immediate Successors as their Proxy, respectively; and they, as well as the Spiritual Peers, may confide such Proxy to any other Peer, provided that no more than one Proxy shall be entrusted to the same Person.

CHAPTER V.

ART. I. The Chamber of Commons shall be composed of the Representatives of the Populations of the whole Kingdom, without distinction as to whether they be Domanial or Baronial, in the number and proportions which follow.

II. The entire Kingdom, with the exception of the adjacent Islands, shall be divided into 23 'Districts, according to the Map

already prepared, on which are marked the Chief Places or Capital Populations, and which shall be registered in the Acts of the Prothonotary of the Kingdom; and each of these Districts shall send 2 Representatives to the Chamber of Commons.

III. The City of Palermo shall send 6 Representatives; the Cities of Catania and Messina 3 each; and every other City or Land, of which the Population amounts to 18,000 souls, shall send 2 Representatives, besides those elected by their respective District.

IV. Every City or Land, the Population of which amounts to 6,000 Inhabitants, and is less than 18,000, shall send 1 Representative.

V. Those Cities or Lands which contain less than 6,000 Inhabitants, shall be included in the Districts.

"But it is declared by Parliament, that this Law shall not take the franchise from those Domanial Cities which are in actual possession of the same, even when the Population of such Cities may not amount to 6,000 souls, unless they have become so far reduced by the vicissitudes of time, as not to contain more than 2,000 Inhabitants."

VI. The Census of the Population published in 1798, shall be the standard adopted in the execution of the foregoing Enactment; subject to the condition, however, that any General Census of the Population which may hereafter be published, and approved by Parliament, shall at all times serve as the standard for regulating the number of the Representatives.

VII. The Island of Lipari shall have only 1 Representative, as at present.

VIII. The Universities of Learning of the Cities of Palermo and Catania shall have 1 Representative each; but whenever the University of Palermo may be entitled, in right of its Abbeys, to a Parliamentary Vote in the Peers, it shall, in such case, be deprived of that Vote, and send, instead thereof, a second Representative to the Chamber of Commons.

IX. The List of the Populations and Representatives already enrolled among the Acts, framed upon the Census of 1798, together with the Rules above established, shall be placed at the end of this Act, immediately after the List of the Peers.

X. No Person shall sit in the Chamber of Commons for more than 1 Constituency, nor have more than 1 Vote, and no Member thereof shall delegate or transfer to another Person, the trust confided to him by his Constituents.

CHAPTER VI.

The following Persons are declared incapable of representing any District, City, Land, or University of Learning.

ART. I. Foreigners of every Nation, without exception.

II. Persons who shall not have completed the age of 20 years. III. Persons who shall have been accused of a criminal offence, unless the accusation shall be cancelled.

IV. The Presidents and Judges of all the Tribunals, and all the Magistrates, except those of the Municipalities.

V. The Officers of the Army and Navy in actual service, from the rank of Colonel downwards, except those who have an annual income of 300 ounces.

[Vetat Regia Majestas.]

VI. All Persons holding Subordinate Appointments in the Royal Departments, Customs, Segrezie, and other branches of the Public Administration, as well as those who may be in the receipt of Pensions, terminable at the pleasure of His Majesty.

VII. No Person shall be qualified to represent a District who has not in Sicily a clear annual income for life, issuing out of an absolute or beneficial estate, or in respect of some annuity derived from Bimestre, Tande, or similar descriptions of property, (but not out of any Office held at the pleasure of the Crown,) of 300 ounces per annum.

VIII. No Person shall be qualified to represent the City of Palermo, who has not a clear yearly income in Sicily, as above described, of 500 ounces.

IX. No Person shall be qualified to represent a City, Parliamentary Land, or University, who has not in Sicily a clear annual income, as above described, of 150 ounces; with this limitation, however, that the Representatives of the Universities shall be exempted from proving the said income, provided they occupy Professorial Chairs in such Universities.

X. Every Person who shall be elected, either as Representative of a District, City, or Parliamentary Land, must attend the Parliament at his own expence; but in case the Universities shall be willing to contribute out of their surplus funds, to the expences incurred by their Representatives, in attending the Parliament, they shall be at liberty to do so; upon condition that the pecuniary assistance to be so given, respectively, shall not exceed the sum of one ounce per day, and that it be done with the consent of the Civic Council.

XI. All natural-born Sicilians, or sons of Sicilians resident in Sicily, in whom the aforesaid conditions shall be fulfilled, shall be entitled to be admitted into the Chamber of Commons, without regard to their rank or condition.

CHAPTER VII.

ART. I. No Persons shall be admitted as Representatives into the Chamber of Commons, who are Debtors to the State,-in the same manner as Peers, under similar circumstances, shall be deprived of their

seats; subject to this restriction, however, that no one shall be deprived of his right of Representation, in consequence of debts heretofore contracted with the State, provided that the same shall be discharged within 4 years; and that all those sums which may be due and owing, but for the payment of which additional time may have been legally granted, shall not be considered as debts, except when they have not been liquidated at the expiration of such time; but with this proviso, that the Executive Power shall in no case be precluded from taking the necessary steps for the recovery of debts due to the National Treasury.

II. The exemption called Eccezione Ostica is declared to be abolished, for the Members of both Chambers, except so far as concerns the right of not being personally arrested, unless for certain Crimes which will be specified in the new Code.

[Placet Regiæ Majestati; as regards the Abolition of the Eccezione Ostica, and the right of not being liable to personal arrest in Civil matters; but in Criminal matters, Placet Regiæ Majestati, only so far as concerns the Crimes hereafter mentioned, punishable with banishment, until the new Code shall be drawn up and sanctioned.]

CHAPTER VIII.

ART. I. The Representatives of a District in the Chamber of Commons shall be elected by all who possess in that District a clear annual revenue for life of at least 18 ounces, provided the same be derived from an absolute or beneficial estate, (diretto o utile dominio), from any rent, or from an annuity from Bimestre or Tande, or similar kinds of property.

II. The Representatives of the City of Palermo shall be elected, by all who possess in that City, or its Territory, a clear annual income for life of at least 50 ounces, provided the same issue out of an absolute or beneficial estate, from any rent, or from an annuity derived from Bimestre, Tande, or similar kinds of property; by all who hold in that City or its Territory a permanent Public Appointment, with a salary of at least 100 ounces per annum; and, finally, by the 5 Consuls, (who have by ancient custom always enjoyed the privilege of electing the Procurator of the City of Palermo,) by the single Consul, and by the Chief of each of the legal Bodies of Artificers, provided they have a clear annual income of 18 ounces.

III. The Representatives of every other City or Parliamentary Land shall be elected by all those who have, in such City or Land, or its Territory, a clear annual income for life of at least 18 ounces, provided the same be derived from an absolute or beneficial estate, from any rent, or from an annuity from Bimestre, Tande, or similar kinds of property.

IV. By all those who shall hold, in such City or Land, a permanent Public Appointment, of at least 50 ounces per annum; and by the Consuls aud Chiefs of Artificers, provided they possess an annual income of 9 ounces.

V. Finally, the Representatives of the 2 Universities of Learning shall be elected by the Rectors, the Chancellors, the Body of Professors, and the Collegial Doctors, of each of those Universities.

VI. Every Person who shall have an annual income, as above described, of 18 ounces or upwards, shall be entitled to vote, both for the election of the Representatives of a City or Land, and for that of the Representatives of the District in which such City or Land is included.

VII. The same qualifications as have been enumerated for the Representatives, are also required for the Electors, with the sole exception of the difference in the amount of income.

CHAPTER IX.

ART. I. The Officers called Capitan d'Arme, or the Capitani Giustizieri, shall assist at the Election of Representatives for the Chamber of Commons, for those Places which belong to their respective Jurisdiction, pursuant to the Instructions which will in due time be communicated to them.

[Placet Regiæ Majestati; the Instructions having already been approved of.]

II. It shall be the peculiar Office of the Capitan d'Arme of each District, and the Capitano Giustiziere of each City or Parliamentary Land, to keep the List of Voters, the formation of which will hereinafter be described, and to summon such Voters to attend the Elections, on the days appointed for that purpose.

III. They shall, likewise, in order to prevent all disorders and irregularities at the meetings, decide, and without appeal, at the moment, upon any doubt or controversy which may arise, as to the legality of the Votes at the Elections; and also decide without appeal, upon the spot, for the purpose of preventing the disorders which might otherwise ensue; but the Parties who may consider themselves aggrieved by the proceedings and decisions of the Capitan d'Arme, or Giustizieri, shall be at liberty, after the Election, to refer their complaints to the Chamber of Commons, which shall have the exclusive right of deciding upon the legality or illegality of the Election of its own Members.

IV. Immediately after the Election, the said Officers shall announce the same to the Prothonotary, and shall also give a Certificate thereof to the Person elected.

V. In case the Representation of a District, City, or Land, shall, from any cause whatever, become vacant, such District, City, or Land, may proceed to a new Election, according to the established forms; and it shall be the duty of every Capitan d'Arme, or Ca

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