Note (Back) — Chapter XXXIII

684. Sessions and Status of the Chambers.—The Cortes, consisting thus of the Senate and the Congress of Deputies, is required by the constitution to be convened by the crown in regular session at least once each year. Extraordinary sessions may be held, and upon the death or incapacitation of the sovereign the chambers must be assembled forthwith. To the crown belongs the power not only to convene, but also to suspend and to terminate the sessions, and to dissolve, simultaneously or separately, the Congress and the elective portion of the Senate. In the event, however, of a dissolution, the sovereign is obliged to convene the newly constituted Cortes within the space of three months. Except when it devolves upon the Senate to exercise its purely judicial functions, neither of the chambers may be assembled without the other. In no case may the two chambers sit as a single assembly, or deliberate in the presence of the sovereign. Each body is authorized to judge the qualifications of its members and to frame and adopt its own rules of procedure. The Senate elects its secretaries, but its president and vice-president are designated, for each session, and from the senators themselves, by the crown. The Congress, on the other hand, elects from its membership all of its own officials. Sessions of both chambers are public, though "when secrecy is necessary" the doors may be closed. A majority of the members constitutes a quorum, and measures are passed by a majority vote. No senator or deputy may be held to account by legal process for any opinion uttered or for any vote cast within the chamber to which he belongs; and, save when taken in the commission of an offense, a member is entitled to all of the safeguards against arrest and judicial proceedings which are extended customarily to members of legislative bodies in constitutional states.[859]