Since the revolution of 1918 the Hungarian Chamber of Magnates, noted among upper chambers for its longevity, has been in a state of suspended animation. Unlike the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, which disappeared under the tidal wave of revolution at the outset of the Karolyist régime, it never was formally dissolved. Both houses of the Hungarian parliament, yielding to political realities, suspended their sessions and disbanded, many of the members of the upper chamber scurrying to regions under Allied occupation for protection against possible excesses of the revolution. Following the brief interlude of extra-constitutional Karolyist republicanism, under the legislative auspices of the Hungarian National Council, came the communist revolution which swept before it all remnants of the older constitutional structure. But not for long. On the collapse of the Hungarian Commune it became the onerous task of the Allied Governments to find, or to create, a constituent authority capable of assuming unreservedly the obligations of peace-making and domestic reconstruction. The First National Assembly, elected by decree of Stephen Friedrich, then the liaison between the Hungarian nationalists and the Great Powers in Paris, was the result. This single-chambered body, distinctly smaller than the old Chamber of Deputies because of the territorial reduction of Hungary, became, for the purposes of the Allied Governments, the sole repository of national power, and was acknowledged by them, as well as by the nation itself, to have constituent authority.

A new statute for the election of members of the House of Representatives was promulgated in Japan on May 5, 1925, and will be applicable in the next general election. It is Japan's fourth electoral law, the previous ones having been promulgated in 1889, 1900, and 1919, respectively. All three of the earlier laws based the suffrage upon a tax-paying qualification, the first requiring voters to pay fifteen yen in direct national taxes, the second reducing the required tax to a minimum of ten yen, the third decreasing it still further to three yen. The present law abolishes the tax-paying qualification and provides that all males twenty-five years of age and over, who are not otherwise disqualified, and who do not receive “public or private relief or help for a living, on account of poverty,” shall be entitled to exercise the suffrage. In addition to paupers and vagabonds, there continue to be excluded from the franchise active members of the army and navy, certain classes of civilian officials, women, and the heads of noble houses. Priests, religious teachers, primary school teachers, government contractors, and certain classes of students hitherto unenfranchised now gain the suffrage and may become candidates for election. Under the law of 1889 the franchise was exercisable by 450,000 men, and under that of 1900 by 983,000; the act of 1919 increased the electorate to 2,860,000; while the present law raises it to an estimated total of 12,000,000.