Johannes Althusius: Politica - Hubertlerch.com - HubertLerch.com

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[§ 1] THIS CONCLUDES THE DISCUSSION of the secular administration of the general right, that is, of the office of the magistrate in
administering the means for conserving justice, peace, concord, and discipline among the subjects and inhabitants. We turn now
to the administration of the special right, that is, to the administration of the means for procuring advantages to the social life,
or for avoiding disadvantages to it. The administration of these special rights involves the care and direction of (1) commercial
activity, (2) money, (3) language, (4) duties and privileges, (5) public security, (6) councils of the realm, and (7) arms and war.
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XXXIII
[§ 1] A UNIVERSAL COUNCIL is a meeting of each and all members and estates of the realm called for the purpose of deliberating
and making decisions about the condition and welfare of the common universal association, of averting troubles to it, and of
attending to and improving its advantages. This council is called a universal meeting, a senate of the imperium or realm, an
assembly of the realm, an epitome of the realm, ein Reichstag, ein gemeine Reichsversamlung.
[§ 2] The requisites of a legitimate council are (1) a purpose or matter to be acted upon in the council, (2) personnel, (3) a
time and place, and (4) an order and form for holding the council. [§ 3] The purposes for which an assembly is held are those
that concern the entire realm or associated body, one or more estates, or the subjects of the realm. Some of these purposes are
grave and difficult. They relate to religion and divine worship, war, establishing peace and public tranquillity, taxes and
collections, money, the ordering of political and ecclesiastical affairs, commerce, safe conduct and transit privileges, the supreme
court of the realm, tyranny, public goods, and other rights of the realm. Some purposes are principally private in nature, such as
the right of discussion, the possession of a castle, public violence, disagreements between estates, privileges, and the like.
[§ 4] The persons who hold an assembly and come together in council are twofold, namely, the supreme administrator or
magistrate of the realm, and all the representatives of the realm. [§ 5] The supreme magistrate presides over universal
councils. Whence he has the right of directing and governing the whole proceeding: the right of calling a universal and ecumenical
assembly, the right of proposing the things that are to be transacted, the right of gathering the members’ opinions, the right of
promulgating those things that have been decided by the assembly, and the right of adjourning it. The supreme magistrate,
either in his own person or through others, carries out all those things in which the direction of the council consists.
[§] The right of calling an assembly and convoking the estates and orders is carried out by letters of announcement and
summons sent to the individual estates of the realm. [§ 7] In these letters are contained the purpose of the assembly and the
time and place of it. Thereby those who are called can study the purpose and come instructed and informed, as well as know
when and where they are to come.
[§ 8] The proposition is the public declaration delivered vocally in the presence of all the orders that defines the purpose for
which the assembly has been called together. [§ 9] The rogation is the collecting of the judgments of the deliberating and
consulting estates. [§ 10] The promulgation of the things decided in the assembly is the reading aloud in the presence of all the
orders of decisions confirmed by signed and sealed documents, and then their publication throughout the entire realm.
[§ 11] The representatives of the realm called to the assembly are partly consultants, deliberants, and judges, partly
petitioners, complainers, and defenders of their own interests in the matter at hand. The persons who consult and render opinions
are all the members of the realm, or the estates and orders organized in their various collegia, or legates who have a mandate
from these estates to perform this function. [§ 12] It is best that the collegia of the orders be of an uneven number in order
that disagreement can be resolved between differing opinions of the orders by a majority vote, and that something definite can
thereby be established. Or if the number is even, it is necessary that the supreme magistrate be granted a vote. By this means
controversy is overcome and a definite decision is made. [§ 13] It is advisable that there be both ecclesiastical and secular
persons in each collegium of the orders or estates, that each collegium have its own chamber, and that all the collegia combined
have one common chamber. [§ 14] Those persons who have been called to the council and do not come lose their vote for this
occasion. Those who are present reach their conclusions in their individual collegia either by unanimous consensus or by a
majority of those voting.
[§ 15] All the members of the realm are also expected to be petitioners and to make complaints. For it is permitted to all to
complain freely in that estate in which they abide. And anyone who wishes to denounce things that need correction in the
commonwealth is to be patiently heard. Thus the superior is informed about the state of the commonwealth and realm by such
denunciations, and can discuss with the assembled orders the means by which the wants of the commonwealth can be relieved,
its perils and disadvantages averted and removed, its advantages increased, and common support and aid made available.
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