Bavarian constitutional history
A consideration of Bavarian constitutional history encompasses two dimensions: In the narrower sense of a constitutional law, it begins in 1808 with a first “constitution”, which was followed in 1818 by the “constitution for the Kingdom of Bavaria”, and leads through the “Bamberg constitution” from 1919 to the one that is still valid today "Constitution of the Free State of Bavaria". In the broader sense of a constitutional event (E. R. Huber) there was also a constitutional history in the pre-constitutional period.
Pre-constitutional era
Since 1180 the state rulership over Bavaria was with the Wittelsbacher . In 1623 the Wittelsbachers succeeded in obtaining the electoral dignity .
A first Bavarian parliament, the Landesdefensionkongress , met in December 1705 in Braunau am Inn, which was then still Bavarian.
In 1806 Bavaria was proclaimed a kingdom as an ally of Napoleon .
Constitution 1808
The Bavarian Constitution of 1808 was the first written constitution of the Kingdom of Bavaria. It guaranteed basic rights and was the first to introduce a modern parliament in a German state. However, since the rights of participation were limited, some research also speaks of a sham constitutionalism . The focus was on social reforms, including restricting the privileges of the nobility and introducing general religious freedom. The feudal system and the guilds were abolished and thus freedom of trade guaranteed. For the first time there were also ministers for interior, foreign, financial, judicial and war policy.
The 1818 Constitution
The constitution of the Kingdom of Bavaria of 1818 was imposed by the king , in line with the monarchical principle . It did not establish democracy in the modern sense, but it was able to bring about a sustainable cooperation between the king and the state parliament and thus to realize a constitutional monarchy . The Bavarian state organization under Maximilian von Montgelas (1759–1838) had already undergone numerous reforms that prepared the ground for the new constitution. This remained in force - with a few modifications - for around a hundred years. A number of important changes were not reflected in the constitutional text, but were implemented partly at the legislative level (legislative initiative of the state parliament, constitutional jurisdiction, electoral law) and partly through constitutional practice.
The change to a parliamentary monarchy on the basis of the constitutional reform decided on November 2, 1918 no longer came about as a result of the November 7 overthrow.
The 1919 Constitution
After both the Paulskirche constitution of 1848 and the imperial constitution of 1871 left the Bavarian constitution relatively untouched, the factual and legal end came with the November Revolution of 1918 in 1918. King Ludwig III. fled, Kurt Eisner proclaimed the republic on the night of November 8, 1918. On November 12th in the Anifer Declaration, King Ludwig III gave birth . the Bavarian state officials of their oath of allegiance. In the state elections in January 1919, the Bavarian People's Party BVP and the majority SPD emerged victorious. Eisner's USPD , on the other hand, suffered a devastating defeat with only 2.5% of all votes. Kurt Eisner, however, was shot on the way to the constituent session of the new state parliament, with his resignation speech in his pocket, whereupon after another shootout in the state parliament an anarchist-socialist-oriented central council took power, which proclaimed a soviet republic in April .
As a result, the state government under Johannes Hoffmann and the state parliament fled to Bamberg, where the constitution was initiated, which was concluded on September 15, 1919. After the Reichswehr and Bavarian troops dissolved the Soviet republic, the new constitution - the so-called Bamberg constitution - guaranteed stable political conditions until 1933. Until the National Socialist seizure of power , Bavaria was ruled by bourgeois coalition governments under Prime Ministers Kahr , Lerchenfeld , Knilling and Held . The latter forced the Reich government under Adolf Hitler to resign in March 1933 and appointed a Reich governor. The synchronization laws of March and April 1933 and the "Law on the Reconstruction of the German Empire" of January 1934 meant the temporary end of Bavarian statehood.
The creation of the Constitution of the Free State of Bavaria from 1946
After municipal elections had already taken place at the beginning of 1946, Wilhelm Hoegner (SPD) was commissioned to form a preparatory constitutional committee to which seven politicians from the CSU, SPD and KPD belonged. The advisory role of the constitutional law teacher Hans Nawiasky had an influential effect . The Americans did not oppose the preliminary draft, so that the state constituent assembly elected in June 1946, in which the CSU had an absolute majority, was able to adopt the preliminary draft with more than two thirds of the votes without any significant changes. The referendum pushed by the Americans resulted in an approval of over 70% of the electorate. After being issued by Prime Minister Hoegner and promulgated, the still valid constitution of the Free State of Bavaria came into force on December 8, 1946.
literature
- Bernhard Kempen: Bavarian constitutional law. In: Becker / Heckmann / Kempen / Manssen: Public Law in Bavaria. 3rd edition, Munich 2005, p. 1 ff.
- Law and politics in Bavaria between the time of the Prince Regent and National Socialism. The memories of Philipp Loewenfeld. Edited by Peter Landau and Rolf Rieß (= Münchner Universitätsschriften). Ebelsbach 2004. (Loewenfeld was - on behalf of Kurt Eisner - one of the authors of the Bamberg constitution.)
- Karl Möckl : The modern Bavarian state. A constitutional history from enlightened absolutism to the end of the reform epoch (= documents on the history of state and society in Bavaria . Dept. III: Bavaria in the 19th and 20th centuries . Vol. 1). Beck, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-7696-9965-3 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Elisabeth Fehrenbach : From the Ancien Regime to the Congress of Vienna. Oldenbourg, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-486-49754-5 , p. 88
- ↑ 36th Landtag of the Kingdom of Bavaria (1912–1918) .