Abstract
Majority-rule was established as a principle, when the legal effect of the Romanic majority vote came to be regarded as equivalent to the Germanic unanimity. The procedure that a majority vote shall constitute a valid election was introduced, for the first time, in connection with the election of the king, in the Appeal of Sachsenhausen of 1324 A. D. The same principle was given official recognition in the Declaration of Rense and the ordinance Licet iuris, both of 1338. But the election by majority vote was accepted as valid, on the basis of fictional interpretation that such an election could be deemed as unanimous. Before such a practice came to be introduced, the appearance of unanimous election, even when the Electors failed to reach unanimity, was simulated by "electio per unum", in which one of the Electors pronounced the result of the voting on behalf of all the Electors. This procedure had come to be regarded as superfluous, when the idea of corporate person gained general recognition through Lupold's corporation theory. The electio per unum was done away with in the election of Charles IV in 1346. Instead, individual votes were taken and such voting was now held valid as an empowering act. This election procedure was legally set forth in the Golden Bull of 1356. In this Bull, however, a majority meant" the majority of all Electors" and not "the majorty of Electors present in the voting". The number of Electors was seven and, therefore, the participation in the voting by, and the unanimity of, four or more was necessary for a legally effective act. This fact indicates how stubbornly the idea of Germanic unanimous vote persisted in Germany.
