Switzerland

A republic of Europe. It is a confederation of 22 cantons, which are sovereign states, except so far as they have tions are vested in a federal assembly of two chambers, a state council of forty-four members chosen by the cantons, two for each, and the national council of one hundred and sixty-seven deputies chosen by representation on the basis of population for three years. It meets at Bern. The chief executive authority is deputed to a federal council of seven members chosen by the federal assembly. The president and vice-president of the federal council, who are elected for the term of one year, are the first magistrates of the republic. The Bundesgericht consists (since 1904) of nineteen full members and nine substitutes elected for six years by the federal assembly; every two years the federal parliament elects the president and vice-president of the federal tribunal; it adjudicates in the last instance all points in dispute between the federal governments and the individual cantons, and is a high court of appeal. It is divided into a civil and criminal court.