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the State is inherited by the Emperor from his ancestors, and by him bequeathed to his posterity. All the different legislative as well as executive powers of State, by means of which he reigns over the country and governs the people, are united in this most exalted personage, who thus holds in his hands, as it were, all the ramifying threads of the political life of the country. His Imperial Majesty has himself determined a Constitution, and has made it a fundamental law to be observed both by the Sovereign and by the people. He has, further, made it clear that every provision in the said Constitution shall be conformed to without failure or negligence.
His Imperial Majesty has taken this step out of the high veneration in which he holds his Heaven-bestowed functions, and with a view to the completion of a permanent system of government in harmony with the march of national progress. The combination of all the governmental powers of the State in one person is the essential characteristic of sovereignty, and the carrying of those powers into effect in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution denotes the exercise of sovereignty. When the essential characteristics of sovereignty exist without its exercise in the manner just stated, the tendency will be towards despotism. When, on the other hand, there is such exercise of sovereignty without its essential characteristics, the tendency will be towards irregularities and supineness.
5. The legislative power belongs to the sovereign power of the Emperor; but this power shall always be exercised with the consent of the Diet. The Emperor shall cause the Cabinet to make drafts of laws, or the Diet may initiate projects of laws; and after the concurrence of both Houses of the Diet has been obtained thereto, the Emperor will give them his sanction, and then such drafts or projects shall become law. Thus, the Emperor is not only the centre of the executive, but is also the source and fountain-head of the legislative power.
6. The sanction of a law, the causing of the same to be promulgated in a proper form, and the ordering of the taking of measures for the execution of the same—all these belong to the sovereign power of the Emperor. Sanction completes the process of legislation, while promulgation produces binding force upon the subjects. If the power of sanction belongs to him, it is scarcely necessary to remark that, as a consequence, he also possesses the power to refuse his sanction. Sanction is a manifestation of the sovereign powers of the Emperor in matters of legislation. Consequently, without the sanction of the Emperor no project can become law, even if it has received the consent of the Diet.
7. The convocation of the Diet appertains exclusively to the sovereign power of the Emperor. Hence, the Constitu-