Referendum
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a system of legislation which consults all the electors of a State as to whether new laws shall be confirmed. In some cantons of Switzer land a method resembling the referendum has been practiced since the 16th century. The present form was adopted in the canton of St. Gall in 1830. In 1848, in spite of Conservative opposition the referendum was, by the action of the Radicals, incorporated in the Swiss federal constitution, and in 1874 its application was extended. In all the Swiss cantons, except Freiburg, the referendum is now established. According to the Swiss federal constitution, all constitutional amendments must be ratified by the Swiss electorate before they become law. Other measures must be submitted to the popular vote, if demanded within 90 days after their publication by 30,000 voters, or by the government of eight cantons. During the 17 years, 1874 to 1891, out of 149 laws, 27 were referred to the people; of these 15 were rejected. The referendum has worked so well that it has conquered all opposition to it, and it is now generally regarded as a check on hasty and class legislation. It will be observed that the essence of it is that it submits to the people a single and clear issue upon which they may give their decision. There exists also an obligatory referendum in eight cantons, where every law and every expenditure beyond a fixed maximum must be submitted to the mass of the electors, and it is not necessary that a demand for this submission to the electors should be made. In Great Britain what may be termed a kind of local referendum with regard to the "Adoptive Acts" was set up by the Parish Councils Act of 1894. There is a growing demand in the United States for the general introduction of direct legislation by means of the referendum, and in several places the system is practiced.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's in 1921 could point to no national referendum in Britain at all, only a "kind of local referendum" under the Parish Councils Act of 1894; the United Kingdom has since held three UK-wide votes, on staying in the European Community in 1975, on the alternative vote in 2011, and on leaving the EU in 2016, when 51.9 per cent voted to leave. Switzerland still works much as described, though the threshold for demanding an optional referendum was raised from 30,000 signatures to 50,000 in the 1970s, and until 1971 the "mass of the electors" excluded women entirely at federal level. The "growing demand in the United States" bore fruit: roughly half the states now allow citizen initiative or popular referendum, and measures such as California's Proposition 13 in 1978 reshaped state finance. The device is also now familiar in a form the entry never imagines rom counting, from Quebec's sovereignty votes to independence and constitutional plebiscites worldwide.
Written for this edition, 2026.