When the rules were established, the numbers of the count, viscount and baron councilors were not to exceed one fifth of the total numbers of the men with that rank (At the first Imperial Diet, there were 14 counts, 70 viscounts and 20 barons; at the twenty-first Imperial Diet, there were 17 counts, 70 viscounts and 56 barons.)
設立時は、伯子男爵議員の定数は、各爵位を有する者の総数の5分の1を超えない範囲とされた（第1回帝国議会において伯爵14名、子爵70名、男爵20名、第21回帝国議会において伯爵17名、子爵70名、男爵56名）。