Clausula antiborussica

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The German Empire 1871–1918, with Prussia in blue surface color

Clausula antiborussica (Latin for "clause directed against Prussia") is a term from German constitutional history . When the Kingdom of Prussia became a member state in the federal North German Confederation in 1867and in the newly founded German Empire in1871, it was far larger than the other member states combined. A clausula antiborussica was a rule according to which Prussia should be less involved in federal legislation than it would have corresponded to its population.

The rule concerned the representation of Prussia in the Federal Council , during the Weimar period in the State Committee and the Reichsrat . The National Socialists centralized the Reich legislation and in 1934 repealed the Reichsrat and its participation in legislation and administration. This made the rule obsolete. In 1947 Prussia was dissolved by the Control Council Act No. 46 .

North German Confederation and German Empire

The Federal Council was an organ that passed laws together with the Reichstag. The number of votes for the individual countries was specified in the Bismarckian constitutions . It was based on the distribution of votes in the inner council of the former Federal Assembly in the German Confederation. Since the number of votes for the individual federal states were already graduated in the German Confederation, and since each state should have at least one vote, Prussia received relatively few votes from the Federal Council: 17 out of 61 (from 1911). The Chancellor was appointed by the German Emperor and the Prussian King : However, the Chancellor only managed the affairs of the Federal Council and, as Chancellor, had no vote himself.

The position of Prussia was nevertheless very strong in the state as a whole:

  • In the Reichstag, Prussia was represented by deputies roughly corresponding to its population. However, every constituent state should have at least one constituency, so that the smallest constituent states were definitely advantageous over Prussia and other larger constituent states.
  • According to the constitution, the Prussian king was always the German emperor who appointed the chancellor.
  • The Reich Chancellor was almost always Prussian Prime Minister and Prussian Foreign Minister at the same time. So he had a great influence on the Federal Council.
  • Many Reich State Secretaries were Prussian ministers at the same time.
  • Prussia had enough votes to reject a constitutional amendment as a single state in the Bundesrat.

The strong connection between the Empire and the largest member state meant that Prussia increasingly lost its independent character as a member state.

Weimar period

Map of the German Empire 1919–1933

In February 1919, after the end of the Empire, Germany initially received a provisional constitutional order with the law on provisional imperial power . The member states were represented in a state committee . According to § 2 each Free State had at least one vote, but could not be represented by more than a third of all votes.

For the Weimar Constitution (WRV), the same rule was initially provided for the Reichsrat in the government draft . The constitutional committee, however, advocated that the limit be raised from one third to two fifths (40%) (Art. 61 WRV).

In a departure from the fixed number of votes in the constitution of 1871, Article 61 (1) WRV now provides for one vote for every 1 million (from 1921: every 700,000) inhabitants in order to establish formal legal equality for all countries. In Art. 63 WRV, however, a clausula antiborussica was added in order to limit the influence of the most populous country, Prussia: The countries were represented in the Reichsrat by members of their governments. However, half of the Prussian votes were to be appointed by the Prussian provincial administrations in accordance with a state law. Such a state law should according to Art. 168 WRV issued by July 1, 1921. The Prussian law on the appointment of members of the Reichsrat by the provincial administrations of June 3, 1921 then stipulated that the 12 Prussian provinces and the city of Berlin each received 1 vote. The holders of this vote were to be elected by the provincial committees and, in Berlin, by the magistrate. The authorized representatives from the Prussian provinces had a free mandate. Her vote was not bound by any instruction from the provincial administrations. This repeatedly meant that the majority of the provincial representatives voted against the government representatives and the Prussian votes canceled each other, so that the decisive influence in the Reichsrat passed to the undivided voting Bavaria.

Originally, the drafts of the Imperial Constitution had provided that Prussia would be divided into several member states in order to enable a functioning federalism. This has been neglected so that the dualism Empire Prussia remained, but this time without the compounds from before 1918. Under the leadership of Hans Luther were proposals for a reform of the Empire developed. One motive was to overcome the different casting of the Prussian votes in the Reichsrat. According to the proposals, Prussia was to form an empire together with other northern and central German states . Such plans failed, among other things, because of the resistance of Bavaria.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Law on the repeal of the Reichsrat of February 14, 1934, RGBl. I p. 89
  2. ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber : German constitutional history since 1789. Volume V: World War, Revolution and Reich renewal: 1914-1919 . W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart et al. 1978, pp. 1079, 1194.
  3. ↑ The Constitution of the German Empire (“Weimar Constitution”) of August 11, 1919, RGBl. 1919, p. 1383. verfassungen.de, accessed on August 28, 2019
  4. ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: German constitutional history since 1789. Volume V: World War, Revolution and Reich renewal: 1914-1919 . W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart et al. 1978, p. 1194.
  5. ↑ Law on the representation of the states in the Reichsrat of March 24, 1921, RGBl. I p. 440
  6. ↑ GS p. 379
  7. ↑ Valentin Schröder: Weimar Republic 1918-1933. Reich organs: Reichsrat July 25, 2014
  8. ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: German constitutional history since 1789. Volume VI: The Weimar Imperial Constitution. W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart [ua] 1981, pp. 386-389.
  9. ↑ Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (ed.): The protocols of the Prussian State Ministry 1817–1934 / 38 Acta Borussica, new series, 1st row. Hildesheim, Zurich, New York 2002, p. 8