[3:1] _Cf._ Brusa, _Italien_, in Marquardsen's _Handbuch des Oeffentlichen Rechts_, 12-16, 181-82. [3:2] Professor Dicey points out ("Law of the Constitution," 5 Ed., 116 and Note 2) that De Tocqueville considered the Charter unalterable by reason of this omission, but that it was, in fact, changed like an ordinary law. [3:3] For the purpose of the argument it is unimportant that Prussia is not a sovereign state, and for sixteen years it did exist as an independent sovereign state under its present constitution. [4:1] Constitutional amendments can also be proposed by popular initiative, and ordinary laws cannot. [5:1] Const., Art. 78. [5:2] _Ibid._, Art. 5. [6:1] By far the best exposition of this matter is to be found in Professor Dicey's "Law of the Constitution." It is discussed more fully in Chapter xl., _infra_. [6:2] Marbury _vs._ Madison, 1 Cranch, 137. [7:1] The Australian Federation Act (§ 74) refers particularly to the decision of such questions, limiting the right to bring them on appeal before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. [7:2] There are a few exceptions. Provisions giving such a power to the courts are to be found in the constitutions of the little Swiss cantons of Uri (Art. 51) and Unterwalden nid dem Wald (Art. 43). The Swiss national constitution, on the other hand (Art. 113), directs the Federal Tribunal to apply every law enacted by the national legislature. Some discussion has taken place on the question in Germany. (See Brinton Coxe, "Judicial Power and Unconstitutional Legislation," Ch. ix., and the writer's "Governments and Parties in Continental Europe," I., 282-84.) Curiously enough, a struggle over this question occurred in the Transvaal not long before the South African War (Bryce's "Studies in History and Jurisprudence," 378; Kruger's "Memoirs," 254-57). In his next inaugural address President Kruger quoted Scripture to prove that the principle of holding statutes unconstitutional had been invented by the devil. (Kruger, 354-55.) [8:1] Esmein (_Elements de droit constitutionel_, 425-28) describes the various proposals made at different times in France for annulling unconstitutional laws. One of these, Sieyes's _jurie constitutionaire_, bears a curious resemblance to an institution for a somewhat analogous purpose in Athens: Goodwin, "Demosthenes on the Crown," Essay II., 316-27. [8:2] It must be observed, also, that the English colonies are not legally independent or sovereign states, and hence their parliaments are legally subordinate legislatures. We may note in this connection that the Swiss Federal Tribunal can hold unconstitutional laws of the cantons which violate the constitution either of the confederation or of the canton.