are printed and sent to all voters with an explanatory message; then the people on a certain day vote for the acceptance or rejection of the law by writing “yes” or “no” on a printed voting paper, which is placed in an urn under official control. In some cantons important financial resolutions involving large state expenses are also submitted to the decision of the people. In the revised federal constitution of 1874, under certain suppositions which have no further interest for us at present, a facultative referendum or Initiative (i.e. the possibility of demanding a plebiscite under exceptional circumstances) was introduced for federal laws. Since that period it has often been employed and has operated like a veto. It is evident that by the compulsory referendum in the cantons the mere veto is rendered superfluous.
In examining the question as to what position the veto occupies in jurisprudence, we must separate quite different conceptions which are comprised under the same name.
1. The veto may be a mere right of intervention on the part of a magistrate against the order of another official, or against that of an authority of equal or inferior rank. This was the case in ancient Rome. To this class belong also those cases in which, as in the French republic, the president makes his “no” valid against decisions of the general councillors, and the prefect does the same against decisions of the communal councillors. The use of the expression here is quite justifiable, and this veto is not confined to bills, but refers particularly to administrative measures. It affords a guarantee against the abuse of an official position.
2. The veto may be a safety-valve against precipitate decisions, and so a preventive measure. This task is fulfilled by the suspensory veto of the president of the United States. Similarly, to this class belong the above-mentioned prescriptions of the Spanish and Norwegian constitutions, and also the veto of the governor of an English colony against decisions of the legislature; for this protest is only intended to prevent a certain want of harmony between the general and the colonial legislation, by calling forth a renewed investigation. This veto is neither an interference with the competence of an authority, nor a division of the legislative power among different factors, but simply a guarantee against precipitancy in the case of a purely legislative measure. The wisdom of establishing this veto power by the constitution is thus manifest.
3. It is wrong to apply the term veto to what is merely the negative side of the sanctioning of the laws, in other words, an act of sovereignty. It would not be in accordance with the nature of a constitutional monarchy to declare the monarch's consent to a law unnecessary, or make it a compulsory duty; the legislative power is divided between him and the chambers. The sovereign must therefore be perfectly at liberty to say “yes” or “no” in each single case according to his opinion. If he says the latter, we speak of it as his veto, but this—if he possesses an absolute and not merely a suspensory veto—is not an intervention and not a preventive measure, but the negative side of the exercise of the legislative power, and therefore an act of sovereignty. That this right belongs fully and entirely to the holder of sovereign power—however he may be called—is self-evident. One chamber can also by protest prevent a bill of the other from coming into force. The “placet of the temporal power for church affairs—when it occurs—also involves in this manner in itself the veto or non placet.” Where in pure democracies the people in their assembly have the right of veto or referendum, the exercise of it is also a result of the sovereign rights of legislature. (For the question of the conflict between the two houses of England, see Representation.)
The peculiar power of veto possessed by the (Prussian) president of the federal council of Germany lies on the boundary between (2) and (3). (A. v. O.)
VETTER [Vätter or Wetter, often written, with the addition of the definite article, Vettern], a lake of southern Sweden, 80 m. long, and 18 m. in extreme breadth. It has an area of 733 sq. m., and a drainage area of 2528 sq. m.; its maximum depth in 390 ft., and its elevation above sea-level 289 ft. It drains eastward by the Motala river to the Baltic. Its waters are of remarkable transparency and blueness, its shores picturesque and steep on the east side, where the Omburg (863 ft.) rises abruptly, with furrowed flanks pierced by caves. The lake is subject to sudden storms. Its northern part is crossed from Karlsborg to Motala (W. to E.) by the Göta canal route. At the southern end is the important manufacturing town of Jönköping, and 15 m. N. of it the picturesque island of Vising, with a ruined palace of the 17th century and a fine church. Vadstena, 8 m. S. of Motala, with a staple industry in lace, has a convent (now a hospital) of St Bridget or Birgitta (1383), a beautiful monastic church (1395–1424) and a castle of King Gustavus Vasa. At Alvastra, 16 m. S. again, are ruins of a Cistercian monastery of the 11th century. Close to Motala are some of the largest mechanical workshops in Sweden, building warships, machinery, bridges, &c.
VETULONIUM, or Vetulonia (Etruscan Veltuna), an ancient town of Etruria, Italy, the site of which is probably occupied by the modern village of Vetulonia, which up to 1887 bore the name of Colonna. It lies 1130 ft. above sea-level, about 10 m. direct N.W. of Grosseto, on the N.E. side of the hills which project from the flat Maremma and form the promontory of Castiglione. The place is little mentioned in ancient literature, though Silius Italicus tells us that it was hence that the Romans took their magisterial insignia (fasces, curule chair, purple toga and brazen trumpets), and it was undoubtedly one of the twelve cities of Etruria. Its site was not identified before 1881, and the identification has been denied in various works by C. Dotto dei Dauli, who places it on the Poggio Castiglione near Massa Marittima, where scanty remains of buildings (possibly of city walls) have also been found. This site seems to agree better with the indications of medieval documents. But certainly an Etruscan city was situated on the hill of Colonna, where there are remains of city walls of massive limestone, in almost horizontal courses. The objects discovered in its extensive necropolis, where over 1000 tombs have been excavated, are now in the museums of Grosseto and Florence. The most important were surrounded by tumuli, which still form a prominent feature in the landscape.
See G. Dennis, Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria (London, 1883), ii. 263; Notizei degli Scavi, passim; I. Falchi, Ricerche di Vetulonia (Prato, 1881), and other works, especially Vetulonia e la sua necropoli antichissima (Florence, 1891); G. Sordini, Vetulonia (Spoleto, 1894) and references. (T. As.)
VEUILLOT, LOUIS (1813-1883), French journalist and man of letters, was born of humble parents at Boynes (Loiret) on the 11th of October 1813. When Louis Veuillot was five years old his parents removed to Paris. After a very slight education he entered a lawyer's office, and was sent in 1830 to serve on a Rouen paper, and afterwards to Périgueux. He returned to Paris in 1837, and a year later visited Rome during Holy Week. There he embraced extravagant ultramontane sentiments, and was from that time an ardent champion of Catholicism. The results of his conversion appeared in Pèlerinage en Suisse (1839), Rome et Lorette (1841) and other works. In 1843 he entered the staff of the Univers religieux. His violent methods of journalism had already provoked more than one duel, and for his polemics against the university of Paris in the Univers he was imprisoned for a short time. In 1848 he became editor of the paper, which was suppressed in 1860, but revived in 1867, when Veuillot recommenced his ultramontane propaganda, which brought about a second suppression of his journal in 1874. When his paper was suppressed Veuillot occupied himself in writing violent pamphlets directed against the moderate Catholics, the Second Empire and the Italian government. His services to the papal see were fully recognized by Pius IX., on whom he wrote (1878) a monograph. He died on the 7th of March 1883.
Some of his scattered papers were collected in Mélanges religieux, historiques et littéraires (12 vols., 1857-75), and his Correspondance (6 vols., 1883-85) has great political interest. His younger brother, Eugene Veuillot, published (1901-4) a comprehensive and valuable life, Louis Veuillot.
VEVEY [German Vivis], a small town in the Swiss canton of Vaud and near the eastern extremity of the Lake of Geneva. It is by rail 12 m. S.E. of Lausanne or 3½ m. N.W. of the Vernex-Montreux railway station, while it is well served by steamers plying over the Lake of Geneva. In 1900 it had a population of 11,781, of whom 8878 were French-speaking, while there were 8277 Protestants to 3424 Romanists and 56 Jews. It is the second town in point of population in the canton, coming next after Lausanne, though inferior to the “agglomeration” known as Montreux. It stands at the mouth of the Veveyse and commands fine views of the snowy mountains seen over the glassy surface of the lake. The whole of the surrounding
