Emperor of the Germans (In the Victor's Crown)

The Federal President and Emperor of the Germans is the title of the hereditary constitutional monarch of the. The Emperor is always the Head of the House of Hohenzollern. To date, there have been no Empresses, however the succession laws, which operate through absolute primogeniture since 1954, do not forbid it. The Emperor wields considerable power for a modern moanrch, being in law and practice the Supreme Commander of the Deutsches Heer, the Executive Head of State and the face of the German state much more so than the Reichskanzler he must appoint.

Duties and functions

 * Appointment of the Government: The ' ("Chancellor") is appointed and dismissed by the Emperor, and in turn appoints his cabinet. A vote of confirmation is required in the Reichstag before the members of the cabinet can assume office, and any member of the cabinet was obliged to resign if the body passed a vote of no confidence in him. The Emperor can appoint and dismiss the chancellor at will, but all other cabinet members could, save in the event of a no confidence motion, only be appointed or dismissed at the Chancellor's request. The Chancellor has to face a vote of confidence every time a new Reichstag is elected, save for when it is dissolved for failing to oust the Emperor (see the Removal''' section below).
 * Dissolution of the Reichstag: The president had the right to dissolve the Reichstag at any time, in which case a general election had to occur within sixty days. Theoretically, he was not permitted to do so more than once for the same "reason", but this limitation had little significance in practice.
 * Promulgation of the law: The president was responsible for signing bills into law. The president was constitutionally obliged to sign every law passed in accordance with the correct procedure but could insist that a bill first be submitted to the electorate in a w|referendum. Such a referendum could, however, only override the decision of the Reichstag if a majority of eligible voters participated.
 * Foreign relations: Under the constitution, the Emperor is entitled to represent the nation in its foreign affairs, to accredit and receive ambassadors and to conclude treaties in the name of the state. However approval of the Reichstag is required to declare war, conclude peace or to conclude any treaty that relates to German laws.
 * Commander-in-chief: The Emperor holds "supreme command" of the armed forces.
 * Amnesties: The Emperor has the right to confer amnesties.

Removal
The provisions of the Constitution for the deposition of the Emperor (and the entire dynasty; in this case, the office would be replaced by a purely Presidential one) are similar to those found in relation to the President in the Constitution of Austria. The Constitution provides that the Emperor can be removed from office prematurely by a referendum initiated by the Reichstag. To require such a referendum the Reichstag has to pass a motion supported by at least two-thirds of votes cast in the chamber. If such a proposal to depose the monarchy was rejected by voters, the Reichstag would be automatically dissolved to prevent further gridlock. The Emperor can abdicate himself to make way for a successor, or can even initiate the abolition referendum himself. The first monarch under the current constitution, Wilhelm II, did so every 10 years to show his responsibility.

The Reichstag also has authority to force the specific Emperor to abdicate before the Staatsgerichtshof, a court exclusively concerned with disputes between state organs. However it can only do this on a charge of willfully violating German law; furthermore the move has to be supported by a two-thirds majority of votes cast, at a meeting with a quorum of two-thirds of the total number of members.