Constitution of the Kingdom of Westphalia
The Constitution of the Kingdom of Westphalia of November 15, 1807 was the constitution of the Kingdom of Westphalia .
In the Kingdom of Westphalia, like the other Napoleonic model states, constitutions were enacted based on the French model . The constitution of the Kingdom of Westphalia is the oldest constitution in Germany. It was the model for the constitutions of the other Napoleonic states (e.g. the highest organizational patent for the constitution of the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt ). The constitution was enacted by royal decree of December 7, 1807 and published in the law bulletin.
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The constitution describes the integration of the kingdom into the Napoleonic order. The kingdom is part of the Rhine Confederation (Art 5). King is Jérôme Bonaparte , the brother of Napoléon Bonaparte (Art. 6 ff.). The metric system is also introduced (Art. 17). The Civil Code is also introduced (Art. 45 ff.).
A number of modernizations of the law are codified. Thus the equality of all subjects before the law is decreed (Art 10), the privileges of the nobility are reduced (Art. 12) and serfdom is abolished (Art 13).
The government is to be formed from four ministers (5th title) who are responsible for individual specialist departments. In addition, a State Council consisted of 16 to 20 people. The Imperial Estates of the Kingdom of Westphalia , the Parliament of the Kingdom and its committees also participate in the legislative process (Art 25 ff.).
The administrative division of the kingdom into departments, districts, cantons and municipalities is described in Art. 34ff. described.
Implementation of the Constitution
The constitutional institutions began their work in most cases in the course of 1808. However, the activities of the constitutional organs were in part at odds with the social reforms intended by the constitutional giver Napoleon. The imperial estates of the kingdom, in which the landowning nobility had a strong influence, repeatedly made use of their right to block government reform laws. Other constitutional organs were also dominated by the formerly privileged nobility, such as the departmental colleges, whose task, among other things, was to elect the justices of the cantons and to propose candidates for the municipal councils to the king.
In order to enforce the reform policy against the resistance of the nobility, the Westphalian bypassed constitutional organs, especially from 1810. Thus the imperial estates were no longer convened after 1810. The king ruled by decree. The electoral colleges were also no longer consulted. Even the magistrates of the peace and municipal councilors to be appointed after the first wave of appointments in 1808 were appointed by royal decrees at the suggestion of the administrative and judicial officials without involving the electoral colleges. In the areas of the Electorate of Hanover attached to the Kingdom in 1810, the electoral colleges were not included in the selection process.
However, the royal government monitored compliance with the rights of the municipal councils, which were the lowest representative body attached to the executive officials.
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- Text of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Westphalia
- Jochen Lengemann : Parliaments in Hesse 1808–1813. Biographical handbook of the Imperial Estates of the Kingdom of Westphalia and the Estates Assembly of the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt. Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1991, ISBN 3-458-16185-6 ( Die Hessen-Bibliothek ).
- Nicola-Peter Todorov: L'administration du royaume de Westphalie de 1807 à 1813. Le département de l'Elbe. Editions universitaires, Saarbrücken, 2011, ISBN 978-613-1-54964-9 .
