Votes in German Confederation

Over the fifty years that the GC existed, there
were a number of instances where states were
amalgamated with others as collateral lines died
out. Frex, Saxe-Gotha and Saxe-Coburg merged in
1826, Hohenzollern became part of Prussia in 1849,
and three Anhalt principalities were down to just
one by 1863.

In such cases, what happened to their votes in the
Federal Diet? Dif Saxe-Coburg-Gotha have two
votes, and Anhalt three? Did the King of Prussia
have a further vote for Hohenzollern in addition
to that for Prussia? Or was one state viewed as
having been absorbed by the other, so the Prince
in question still had only one vote?

frederick...

Much to my frustration, this is not discussed in H W Koch's "A
Constitutional History of Germany". In fact, it's vaguer than I'd have
liked about a number of details of how the voting was organised.

The Engerer Rat was initially made up of seventeen votes: Austria,
Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover, W=FCrttemberg, Baden, Hesse-Kassel,
the Hesse-Darmstadt, Denmark re Holstein, the Netherlands re
Luxembourg, and a single vote for each of the following groups:
a=2E the Saxon duchies
b=2E Brunswick and Nassau
c=2E the two Mecklenburgs
d=2E "Holstein-Oldenburg", Anhalt, and Schwarzburg
e=2E Hohenzollern, Liechtenstein, Reu=DF, Schaumburg-Lippe, Lippe, and
Waldeck
f=2E the four free cities

frederick...

I thought it interesting that Reu=DF was referred to, rather than the
individual lines. I don't imagine that there's any significance to
that, though. Likewise with Anhalt.

Francois R. Velde...

The three sub-lines of the junior line (until 1848) were treated as one entity.
In the arrangement for the 16th vote, shared by the two Reuß (senior and junior)
lines, Liechtenstein, Schaumburg-Lippe, Lippe-Detmold, Waldeck and
Hesse-Homburg, each of the two Reuß lines had a vote.

frederick...

mar had

frederick...

ule was

So presumably, the various amalgamations and re-orderings of the minor
states had no effect on the closed sessions.

Francois R. Velde...

The German Confederation was represented by a permanent congress held in
Frankfurt with representatives of all (initially 38) members. Decision-making
in this congress, called either federal assembly (Bundesversammlung) or federal
diet (Bundestag) was made by majority vote, but the number of votes, and the
definition of majority, depended on the manner of sitting:

(1) the engerer Rat ("narrow council") was the default. Decision-making took
place with a simple majority of votes cast. There were 17 votes to be cast,
less than the number of members:some members held a full vote (Virilstimme),
other members shared a vote (Curialstimme). The founding Act listed which
members had a full vote and which members shared a vote, but left it to
co-owners of a shared vote to decide how to cast it (by rotation, by
"dictatorship"-one member always casting the vote-, by majority vote weighted or
unweighted). If they couldn't agree, the vote was not cast.

[The 12th vote, that of the Saxon houses, was especially complicated; Weimar had
2 votes, Altenburg, Meiningen and Coburg had one vote, but the majority rule was
either Weimar+one other duchy, or else, if Weimar voted one way and the 3

frederick...

chies.]

When you say "Weimar had 2 votes", I take it that this refers to a
semi-formal arrangement between the four states, or perhaps a principle
agreed by the Bundesrat itself? The Bundesakte merely refers to the
"Grand Ducal and Ducal Saxon Houses" as having one 1 vote collectively.

frederick...

was by

frederick...

the

duchies the other, the deciding vote alternated between Weimar and the duchies.]

Francois R. Velde...

Yes, the arrangement on how to cast the 12th vote in the narrow Council.

I should have been more precise: for some Curialstimmen, the vote was delegated
to one of the representatives by alternation, but only for minor matters;
matters of importance were decided by a majority. That was the case for the
13th (Brunswick and Nassau), 16th and 17th (four free cities) votes. For the
15th vote, an arrangement similar to the 12th vote was chosen: Oldenburg had 4
votes, and Anhalt-Dessau, Anhalt-Bernburg and each Schwarzburg had one vote,
with tie-breaking by alternation between Oldenburg and the others.

(2) the Plenum ("plenary council") for specific matters. Decision-making was by
2/3 majority. There were initially 69 votes to be cast: all members had at
least one vote, but some members had more than one vote to cast. Again, the
list was given in the founding Act.

frederick...

For anyone else who's interested:
Austria, Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, Hanover, and W=FCrttemberg had four
votes each;
Baden, Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Darmstadt, Holstein, and Luxembourg had
three votes each;
Brunswick, M-Schwerin, and Nassau had two votes each;
and the remaining states had a single vote each.

The disparity in no. of votes between the two Mecklenburgs would have
been because M-Schwerin was much larger than M-Strelitz.

Francois R. Velde...

Also, the two Ms shared the 14th vote in the narrow Council but M-Schwerin
always cast it (that's what I meant by "dictatorship" among the possible
arrangements).

frederick...

the

frederick...

epended

frederick...

es, the

frederick...

vote

What happened when a dynasty became extinct or self-mediatized? Examples
include:
* extinction of Saxe-Gotha in 1825, lands divided between the ducal Saxon
branches
* extinction of Anhalt-Cöthen in 1847 (lands shared by Anhalt-Dessau and
Anhalt-Bernburg until 1853, Anhalt-Dessau alone after 1853)
* cession of sovereignty by Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
to Prussia in 1849

In the Plenum, the corresponding votes simply disappeared (in all cases, the
disappearing members were single-vote holders). In the engerer Rat, it depended
on how the other members sharing that vote decided to proceed (in all cases, the
disappearing entity shared in a Curialstimme). In practice, it seems the vote
of the disappearing entity disappeared. (Decisions in this matter were

frederick...

ok the

apparently ratified by the Assembly). Note, however, that Prussia overtook the
Hohenzollerns' share of the expenses of the federal chancery.

frederick...

The Hohenzollern principalities coming to Prussia as a deliberate act
must be the reason for the financial settlement.

All of the above from Heinrich Zoepfl, Grundsätze des gemeinen deutschen
Staatsrechts, last ed., 1863.

frederick...

Sounds like an interesting book!

Francois R. Velde...

An excellent source, for the old HRE as well as for the Bund.

Full sessions of the Bundestag had weighted voting, with the larger
states having more votes. A quick look at the text of the Bundesakte
shows that 38 states are listed as having one or more votes, whereas
Koch mentions that initially there were 41 states that joined the
Confederation; I haven't yet checked where the discrepancy lies between
the two. Unfortunately, since I can't read German, I have no idea what
provisions (if any) were made for adjusting votes due to any
territorial changes; it's also possible that a constitutional law was
passed at the relevant time to deal with voting and other issues.
However, the details of the weighting suggest that it's unlikely that
state A absorbing state B gained its votes, since even the six biggest
states only had four votes each to begin with, so increasing a state's
voting rights even by one must've been contentious.

But I'm sure there's an expert here who can expand on some of the
above!