Although in 1808 the Stein reforms granted Prussian cities a certain measure of self-government, and although the Prussian municipal code of 1853 brought about some degree of uniformity so far as the urban communities of the several provinces of Prussia were concerned (the rest of the German states following the example of Prussia by adopting codes no two of which were alike in their provisions), yet even in Prussia there was, and is, no uniform municipal code. There are indeed no fewer than nine systems of municipal government in that state. In 1923, however, a new municipal code was drafted which, if passed by the Landtag, will give the country a more balanced system of municipal government. In other German states, e.g., Bavaria, Württenberg, Baden, and Saxony, new municipal codes have been adopted since the revolution of 1918.

Opinions differ as to the significance of the work of the recent Imperial Conference. That it was the most successful of the conferences yet held does not mean much. For these conferences have in reality contributed little to the conditions of imperial coöperation. Meeting only once in four years, with necessarily little continuity of membership (only three members this year were present in 1923), and coming to problems with which they have had no continuity of contact, the representatives of the dominions can at best solemnly endorse general principles upon which all are agreed, at worst tender advice which in foreign affairs and in the economic sphere has often been ill considered. As Professor A. B. Keith wrote in “Imperial Unity and the Dominions,” “it may safely be predicted that if the dominion representatives are to have only such control of or intelligence of foreign politics in their relation to the Empire as they can pick up once in four years at a very much overcrowded conference, they are not likely to benefit the Empire very seriously by their advice.”

When, on January 29, 1927, Admiral Horthy, regent of Hungary, formally opened the reconstructed parliament, declaring that “the happy consolidation of the country permits the reëstablishment of the system of two chambers which corresponds to the national tradition,” a far-reaching step in constitutional restoration was completed. The revival of the oldest parliament in Europe marks the culmination of a political movement which has been in process for the last seven years, and definitely closes a phase, albeit a retrogressive one, in Hungarian constitutional development. The elections which preceded this latest phase of restoration, following hard upon the constitutional revamping of both chambers, are, therefore, significant; they provide, in addition, an interesting example of governmental pressure, upper class control, and oral voting in the midst of a world habituated to the concepts of popular sovereignty, universal suffrage, and the secret ballot.