are seats. In principle the second ballot has much in its favour, though it does not necessarily reflect the real opinion of the electorate, but only what is practicable; and while leading to political bargaining it does nothing for minority representation.
In England the importance of the whole subject of the method of elections was recognized at the end of 1908 by the appointment of a Royal Commission to inquire and report. Its conclusions were published in 1910, after much interesting evidence had been taken, but they attracted little attention, being in the main adverse to innovation. The one positive recommendation was for the adoption of the “alternative vote” (already in use in Queensland and Western Australia) by which the electors might mark their choices 1, 2, 3, &c.; this would not be for the purpose already discussed as part of the method of the “transferable vote,” but the indications of preference would only be used for the same purpose as the “second ballot,” while saving the voters the trouble of further elections. One objection to this “alternative vote,” however, as compared with the “second ballot,” is that it does not allow the voter to change his mind as to his preference, as he well might do after he knew the result of the original voting.
It may be said broadly that all the devices which have been proposed for mitigating or redressing the defects of electoral methods ignore the essential fact that in any case a representative system can only result in a rather arbitrary approximation to correspondence with the opinions of the electorate. It is by no means certain even that “proportional representation” in any of its forms would always result in the return of a representative assembly reflecting with mathematical accuracy the balance of opinion in the electorate; and even if it did, the electors have a way of changing their opinions long before their representatives come up for re-election. It was stated before the British Royal Commission that in Belgium, in spite of “proportional representation,” both in 1900 and in 1902 a majority of members was returned by a minority of votes. While under majority rule, as Mr Augustine Birrell once remarked, “minorities must suffer”—even large minorities—it is on the other hand not likely to conduce to the popularity of representative government that minorities should obtain too great a share of political power. The fact is that no “representation” can reflect the views of those “represented” as accurately as “presentation” by those entitled personally to speak. This conclusion, while in no necessary degree qualifying the importance of “popular government,” undoubtedly detracts from the value of the representative method. The result is seen in the increasing desire in really democratic countries to supplement representative government by some form of Referendum, or direct appeal to the electors for their own personal opinion on a distinct issue—a method which involves fundamentally the addition of a “preventative” element to the representative system.
Literature.—The number of separate works on various aspects of the theory, history and practice of political representation—a much wider subject than representative government—is too large for detailed mention. A general reference can only be made here to the standard treatises on constitutional law. The chapter in Sir G. Cornewall Lewis’s Remarks on the Use and Abuse of some Political Terms (Sir T. Raleigh’s edition, 1898) should also be noted. In addition to works cited above, a valuable account of all parts of the electoral “machine” is given in M. Ostrogorski’s Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties (1902). The Congressional Library, Washington, U.S.A., issued in 1904 a “List of Books relating to Proportional Representation,” which constitutes a complete bibliography of that subject up to that date. The best discussion of the various methods for securing adequate representation is, however, now to be found in the Report (1910) of the British Royal Commission on Systems of Election (Parliamentary Paper, Cd. 5163). It is chiefly valuable for its description of the devices in use in different countries and for its weighty criticism of the proposals for minority representation. (H. Ch.)
REPRIEVE (reprise, from Fr. reprendre), in English law,
a term which originally meant remand to prison: later and
more usually, the suspension for a time of the execution of a
sentence passed on conviction of crime. The term is now seldom
or never used except with reference to sentences of death. In
the case of capital felonies other than murder the recording of
sentence of death has the effect of a reprieve by the court. The
court which can award a sentence is said to possess as of common
right a discretionary power of granting a reprieve. Courts of
justice, however, do not grant reprieves by way of dispensation
from the penalties of the law, which is not for the judicial
department, but for temporary purposes, e.g. of appeal or inquiry
as to the state of mind or health of the convict, or to enable him
to apply for a pardon. Under the old system of transportation
it was a common practice to reprieve convicted felons as a step
to induce them to consent to transportation to the American
colonies (see the Old Bailey Regulations of 1662, J. Kelyng,
ed. 1873, p. 1). In cases of conviction of wilful murder the
reprieve, if any, is granted by the home secretary on behalf of
the crown, and on convictions of murder the court seems now to
have no power to reprieve except in the case of a pregnant
woman.
See Hawkins, P.C. bk. 2, c. 51; Blackstone, Commentaries.
REPRISALS (Fr. représailles, from reprendre; Lat. reprehendere, to take back), properly speaking, the act of forcibly seizing something belonging to another state by way of retaliation, but currently used for the retaliation itself. They are acts of violence which are a casus belli according to the manner in which the state against which they are exercised regards them and is able to resist or resent them. Two comparatively recent cases have occurred in which this form of redress was resorted to. In the one case a demand by the British government for an indemnity for injuries inflicted on the British vice-consul and certain other British subjects by Nicaraguan authorities in the Mosquito reserve not having been complied with, British naval forces were landed on April 27th, 1895, at Corinto, where they occupied the customs house and other public buildings till an agreement was arrived at. In the other case the French government in November 1901 ordered the occupation by French naval forces of the customs house at Mytilene until redress was obtained for divers claims of French citizens. A Hague Convention of 1907 now places limitations on the employment of force for the recovery of contract debts, and forbids recourse to armed force unless “the debtor state refuses or neglects to reply to an offer of arbitration, or after accepting the offer prevents any compromise from being agreed on, or after arbitration fails to submit to the award” (art. I). (T. Ba.)
REPRODUCTION, in biology, the generation of new organisms
from existing organisms more or less similar. It is a special
case of growth, and consists of an increase of living substance
in such fashion that the new substance is either set free as a new
individual, or, whilst remaining attached to the parent organism,
separated by some sort of partition so as to have a subordinate
individuality. Y. Delage has distinguished as multiplication
those cases in which the new individual arises from a mass of
cells which remain a part of the maternal tissues during differentiation, reserving the term reproduction for those cases in
which the spore or cell which is the starting-point of the new
individual begins by separating from the maternal tissues;
but the distinction is inconvenient in practice and does not
appear to carry with it any fundamental biological significance.
The general relation between parent and filial organisms is
discussed under Heredity and Embryology; many of the
details of the cellular processes are dealt with under Cytology
and the modes of reproduction exhibited by different kinds of
animals and plants are treated of in the various articles describing
individual groups. Finally, some of the special problems involved
are discussed under the heading Sex. As reproduction is a
general biological phenomenon, its manifestations should be
dealt with simultaneously in the case of animals and plants,
but many of the special details differ so much that it is practically convenient to make two headings.
Reproduction of Animals
A. Asexual.—Many animals possess a more or less limited capacity to repair portions of the body that have been accidentally removed (see Regeneration), and this capacity may be so
