Baden Constitution (1818)
The constitution of the Grand Duchy of Baden drawn up by Karl Friedrich Nebenius was signed by Grand Duke Carl on August 22, 1818 in Bad Griesbach in the Black Forest . It was considered one of the most modern constitutions in the German Confederation because of the guarantees of fundamental rights and a liberal right to vote for 2/3 of male adults . Even if it fell behind many of the achievements of the constitutional edicts of the time of the Rhine Confederation during the restoration , it was largely based on the idea of freedom of the code civil , which the Baden land law had been modeled as early as 1810 . Along with the southern German states of Württemberg (constitution of 1819) and Bavaria ( constitution of 1818 ) and Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (constitution of 1816) , Baden was one of the first federal states whose form of government was the constitutional monarchy . In 1819, however, the Karlovy Vary resolutions revoked the fundamental rights guaranteed in the constitution.
features
The Baden Constitution can be seen as the implementation of Art. 13 of the Federal Act , in which the establishment of “state constitutions” for the area of the German Confederation was promised. Its structure with two chambers is based on the Charte constitutionnelle of the French king ( Louis XVIII. ) From 1814. Approaches to the implementation of the separation of powers devised by Charles de Montesquieu and other state philosophers of the Enlightenment can be recognized. While the second chamber of the Baden state parliament, which was traditionally referred to in the constitutional document as the assembly of estates, in principle represented the citizens, the first chamber remained (as was common in the "upper houses" of the time, the archetype for this was the English "House of Lords") largely reserved for the nobility and others endowed with privileges. The two chambers had to agree to a new change in the law; the monarch had a fundamental right of veto.
The constitution of Baden guaranteed the right to representation of the people demanded by the national and liberal movement in Germany and at least opened up the possibility of political participation for the members of the two chambers. For the time, the rights went far. About 17% of the total population had the right to vote. The convening of the state parliament and the right to initiate legislation were the responsibility of the Grand Duke, but the chambers had the decisive right to approve taxes. As was common in other countries at the time (e.g. in the USA or, to an even greater extent, in England), electoral restrictions favored v. a. Owning and dignitaries (the additional preference for the educated middle class can be seen as southwestern German peculiarity well). The indirect right to vote was only granted to male citizens with local rights in their constituency.
A catalog of civil rights was anchored in the Baden constitution. This catalog of fundamental rights contained progressive rights such as equality before the law, which correlates with the independence of the courts, the release from the basic burdens and basic obligations of serfdom, the abolition of privileges in the occupation of a state office, a uniform tax liability, the freedom of property, as well freedom of conscience and freedom of worship. An evaluation of the Baden constitution and its place in the constitutional history of the state must also take into account its influence on opinion formation. The second chamber in particular can be seen as a forum for discussion, whose role for the political public should by no means be underestimated.
Provisions of the constitution in detail
§ 26. The estates are divided into two chambers.
§ 27. The first chamber consists of:
1. from the princes of the grand ducal house,
2. from the heads of the noble families,
3. from the regional bishop and a Protestant clergyman with the rank of prelate appointed for life by the Grand Duke,
4. from eight members of the manorial nobility,
5. out of two members of the state universities,
6. From the persons appointed by the Grand Duke as members of this Chamber regardless of their status or birth.
§ 28. The princes of the house and the class gentlemen join the meeting of the estates after they have reached the age of majority. Of those noble families which are divided into several branches, the head of each branch of the family which is in the possession of a noble authority is a member of the first chamber.
During the minority of the owner of a class lordship, his voice is idle.
The heads of the noble families, to whom the Grand Duke bestows the dignity of the high nobility, enter the first chamber as hereditary estates, like the noblemen. However, they must have a hereditary family or fiefdom according to the rights of the firstborn and the ruler inheritance, which is included in the property and gradient tax, after deduction of the debit capital, at least 300,000 guilders.
Section 33. The second chamber consists of 63 deputies from the cities and offices according to the distribution list attached to this constitutional document.
§ 34. These representatives are elected by elected electors.
Section 37. Any citizen who is not excluded by Section 35 can be appointed as a Member of Parliament, regardless of place of residence
1. Belongs to one of the three Christian confessions,
2. has reached the age of 30, and
3. is entered in the land, house and trade tax cadastre with at least a capital of 10,000 guilders, or an annual lifelong annuity of at least 1500 guilders from a family or fiefdom possession or a fixed salary or church mortgage of the same Receives amount as state or church servant, also in these two last cases pays at least some direct tax from property.
Regional officials, civil servants and landlords, pastors, physicians and other clerical or secular local servants cannot be elected as members of the electoral districts to which their district belongs.
literature
- Wolfram Siemann : From confederation to nation state. Germany 1806–1871. Munich 1995, pp. 40-42.
Web links
Demarcation
Later there were two other constitutions of Baden :
- The 1919 constitution of the Republic of Baden
- The constitution of the state of Baden ("Südbaden") from 1947
Individual evidence
- ↑ Federer, Julius. "About the idea of freedom in the Civil Code and Baden Landrecht." German legal journal 1.1 (1946): 7-9. Web.
- ^ Frank Engehausen: Brief history of the Grand Duchy of Baden 1806-1918 . Ed .: lpb Baden-Württemberg. 3. Edition. G. Braun Buchverlag, 2012, ISBN 978-3-7650-8328-0 , p. 41 .
- ↑ Becht, Hans-Peter (1997): Elections, election campaigns and “political public” as triggers and indicators of political change in Baden. 1818-1871, in: Gerhard A. Ritter (ed.), Elections and election campaigns in Germany. From the beginnings in the 19th century to the Federal Republic, Düsseldorf, pp. 17-62, here p. 18.
- ↑ Hedwig Richter (2017), Modern Elections. A history of democracy in Prussia and the USA. Hamburg: Hamburger Edition, pp. 94–111.
- ↑ a b Frank Engehausen: Brief history of the Grand Duchy of Baden 1806-1918 . Ed .: lpb Baden-Württemberg. 3. Edition. G. Braun, S. 38-39 .