Chapter XVII: Amendment of the Constitution

Last of all we come to the mode of amending the Constitution, a mode easier to apply than that prescribed for the United States, but showing the influence to some extent of the American though more largely of the Swiss model in its reference to the popular vote.

Every law proposing to alter the Constitution must be passed by an absolute majority of each House, and thereupon (after two but before six months) be submitted to the voters of every State. If in a majority of States a majority of the electors voting approve the proposal, and if these State majorities constitute a majority of all the electors voting over the whole Commonwealth, the amendment is passed, and is then to be presented to the Crown for assent. Should the two Houses differ, one passing the proposed law and the other rejecting it (or passing it with an amendment which the first-mentioned House rejects), the House which approves the proposal may again pass it, and if the dissenting House again dissents, the amendment may be submitted to the people as if both Houses had passed it. The decision of the people is final. To meet the fact that the suffrage is not in all the States confined to men, it is further provided that, in any State wherein all adults are entitled to vote, only one half of the vote shall be counted[230].

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Footnote 230:

But ‘no alteration diminishing the proportionate representation of any
State in either House of the Parliament, or the minimum number of
representatives of a State in the House of Representatives, or
increasing, diminishing or otherwise altering the limits of the State,
shall become law unless the majority of the electors voting in that
State approve the proposed law’ (sect. 128).

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Thus the requirements for the passing of an Amendment are:—

1. Absolute majority in each House of Parliament, or else absolute majority in one House given twice, the second time after three months’ interval, _plus_ submission on both occasions to the other House.

2. Approval of the people in a majority of States (_i.e._ at present in four States at least).

3. Approval of a majority of the people voting over the whole Commonwealth.

The American Federal Constitution requires a two-thirds’ majority in each House of Congress and a three-fourths’ majority of States, or else the proposal of a Convention by two-thirds of the States and a three-fourths’ majority of States approving what the Convention has settled, conditions extremely difficult to secure. The Swiss system permits the Constitution to be amended by the same process as is applied to the passing of laws, _plus_ a popular vote which results in a majority of Cantons and in a majority of the people voting over the whole Confederation.