Law on provisional imperial power
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Law on provisional imperial power |
| Type: | Imperial Law |
| Scope: | German Empire |
| Legal matter: | State organization law |
| Issued on: | February 10, 1919 ( RGBl. No. 33 p. 169) |
| Entry into force on: | February 10, 1919 |
| Expiry: | August 14, 1919 (Art. 178 sentence 1 G of August 11, 1919 , RGBl. No. 152 pp. 1383, 1417) |
| Please note the note on the applicable legal version. | |
The law on provisional imperial power of February 10, 1919 ( RGBl. P. 169) regulated government power in the transition phase from the German Empire to the Weimar Republic . On August 14, 1919, it was repealed by the Weimar Constitution (Art. 178 Sentence 1 WRV).
On November 9, 1918, the last Imperial Chancellor , Max von Baden , handed over the chancellorship to the SPD chairman, Friedrich Ebert . This was not constitutional, but Ebert was considered a guarantor for peaceful development until the state was reorganized. On November 10, 1918, a revolutionary government called the Council of People's Representatives took office, chaired by Ebert and USPD politician Hugo Haase .
The Weimar National Assembly was elected on January 19, 1919 and met in Weimar on February 6. The law on provisional imperial power adopted on February 10, 1919 comes from the liberal Interior Minister Hugo Preuss .
The first paragraph of the law says that the National Assembly should adopt a constitution and "urgently needed" imperial laws. So it initially acted as a parliament . A state committee served as a substitute for the later Reichsrat to represent the states .
According to Section 6, the “business of the Reich” was conducted by a Reich President . Its function is reminiscent of that of the emperor before, but with the restrictions that had already been made in October 1918 on the constitution of the time. For example, war and peace are to be decided by imperial law, not, as before, by the head of state. The ministers appointed by the Reich President (the “Reich Ministry”, Section 8) required the confidence of the National Assembly.
The law largely anticipated the later constitutional order. On this basis, Ebert was elected President of the Reich on February 11, 1919 by the National Assembly. Ebert then set up the Scheidemann cabinet with Philipp Scheidemann as "Reich Minister President". A new Reichstag was elected in June 1920.
