Virile voice
A virile vote ( Latin vir "man") was a single vote of a person entitled to vote at the Reichstag in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation , its district assemblies or count days . It was in contrast to the curate votes , in which several voters shared one vote.
While the electors and imperial princes held virile votes in the Diets until 1806, the imperial counts and imperial prelates were given 1524 curial votes per “bank”. Thus, for example, around 100 imperial counts had to share 4 curiate votes.
Especially after 1668 at the time of the Perpetual Diet , an envoy was able to carry the voices of several imperial princes at the same time. He carried out their votes on instruction according to the will of their actual bearers.
In the Bundestag (or Federal Assembly) of the German Confederation 1815–1866, the representatives of the larger German states also carried virile votes, while several small gentlemen were grouped into curiate votes.
In the parliaments of the crown lands of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 Austria-Hungary , the virile votes of the higher clergy were retained until 1918.
literature
- Franz Brendle : The Confessional Age. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-05-004554-2 , pp. 64–65, online at Google Books .
- Waldemar Domke: The Viril Voices in the Reichs-Fürstenrath from 1495-1654 (= studies on German state and legal history. Issue 11, ISSN 0083-4572 ). Koebner, Breslau 1882.