BY E. L. PIESSE, B.SC, LL.B. 19' 



1913. 



60. M. Sainte-Lague then passes to methods which are 

 based on the consideration, not of the error for each 

 elector, but of the error for each member ; a less valid 

 basis, as he considers, for the apportionment of seats. A 

 member should represent vl'tn = Q electors; if he has been 

 elected by party A he represents pjx, whence the error for 

 him is pIx — vjm,. 



Applying the method of least squares to these errors,. 

 M. Sainte-Lague finds that if each party secures at least 

 one member, the seats are to be allotted by using divisors 

 whose approximate values are 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 ..., 

 one seat having been allotted to the largest party before 

 applying the rule. 



If, in place of considering the error for each member,, 

 we consider the error for each party {x — jmijv), the 

 method of least squares leads us to the rule of the largest 

 remainders, also known as the Swiss rule. 



Finally, M. Sainte-Lague applies several tests to com- 

 pare the rule of least squares with the rule of D'Hondf, 

 and concludes that the former rule leads to fairer results 

 than the rule of D'Hondt. 



61. For the assistance of those who may wish to become 

 acquainted with the views of French and Belgian writers 

 on the principal rules proposed in recent years for par- 

 titioning seats among parties district by district, I have 

 compiled the following list of references to the various 

 rules. These are the principal rules; but there are many 

 others, and these may be found in the reports of MM. 

 Benoist and Groussier. 



Systeme des moyennes, or rule of Dietz, adopted in the 

 Projet de loi portant modificatiov aux lots organiques sur 

 V election des Deputes, passed by the French Chamber of 

 Deputies in July, 1912. (Each party gets, in the first 

 place, as many seats as it has whole quotas of votes, the 

 quota being the number of votes in the district divided 

 by the number of seats. If there is a seat unallotted, th© 

 number of votes for each list is divided by one more than 

 the number of seats already allotted, and the seat is given 

 to the list which gives the largest quotient, and so for 

 any other unallotted seats.) Groussier, p. 27 et sqq. 

 Lachapelle, pp. 114-6. 



D'Rondt rule (systeme du diviseur electoral). Benoist, 

 pp. 19, 43 et sqq. Flandin, pp. 11 et sqq. Goblet 

 d'Alviella, pp. 5-8. Lachapelle, pp. 94-98, 107-117,, 

 208-217. La Chesnais Ch. VII. and App. I. Macquart, 

 pp. 548-551. Moch, passim. Sainte Lague, p. 534 et sqq. 

 (see § 57 above). Van den Heuvel. 



