Excerpts from Legal Documents 807
- That the sovereignty lately exercised by the former duke shall be
henceforth exercised by the three Estates of Brabant. - That otherwise the constitution of this province remains intact on
all points. - And in particular that the Council of Brabant will preserve all its
pre- eminencies, rights and prerogatives....
In consequence, on December 31, 1789... at the Town Hall of Brussels, in the
great hall prepared for the occasion (a crucifix and a copy of Holy Scripture having
been placed in the room), there assembled the above- mentioned three Estates of
Brabant, to wit:
Of the First Estate, His Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Malines, His
Illustrious Greatness the Bishop of Antwerp, etc., etc....
Of the Second Estate, the Prince of Grimbergue, the Marquis of Wemmel, etc.,
etc....
And of the Third Estate, from the chief- town of Louvain M. Henri Tielens,
acting burgomaster... from the town of Brussels... from the town of
Antwer p....
The ceremony opened with prayer....
And the three estates then took an oath... [to uphold] the rights, privileges,
statutes, usages, properties and exemptions of the churches... [and swearing] faith
and homage to the three Estates representing the people of Brabant... and... to
support the constitution in all points on the basis of the Joyous Entry, and of the
above resolutions.
Translated from F. X. Feller, Recueil des représentations... des Pays- bas autrichiens,
17 vols. (n.p. 1787– 1790), XV, 123– 28.
- GENEVA: THE EDICT OF PACIFICATION, 1782
Title I. On the various Orders in the Republic, and on its Sovereignty- All the various Orders which compose the government of Geneva— to wit,
the four Syndics, the Small Council or Council of Twenty- five, the Council of
Sixty, the Council of Two Hundred or Great Council, and the General Council—
will preserve each its particular rights and attributes, in such a way that none of the
above named Orders shall encroach in any way on the rights and attributes of the
others. - The Syndics may be chosen only from among the Council of Twenty- five;
members of the Council of Twenty- five may be chosen only from among the
Council of Two Hundred; those of the Council of Sixty, only from among the
Council of Two Hundred; those of the Council of Two Hundred from among the
Citizens and Burghers; and only the Citizens and Burghers of a full twenty- five
years of age shall have the right of entrance to the General Council, along with the
Syndics and the members of the Small and Great Councils.