Dalmatian Diet
The Dalmatian Landtag ( Croatian Dalmatinski sabor ) was the Landtag of the Crown Land (Kingdom) of Dalmatia in the Austrian Empire and in Cisleithanien , the western part of Austria-Hungary , from 1861 to 1918.
founding
The Dalmatian state parliament, like the state parliaments in the other Austrian crown lands, was set up in 1861 by the so-called February Patent , a constitution issued by Emperor Franz Joseph I , which included the state and state election regulations for the Kingdom of Dalmatia. This state order was essentially in effect until 1918.
In the case of Dalmatia, the question of whether there should be an independent Dalmatian state parliament or whether Dalmatia should be part of the Triune Kingdom of Croatia and the representative body should be the Croatian Sabor had previously been discussed . In this discussion, the Autonomists prevailed against those in favor of an association. In addition to Vienna's interest in power politics, the decisive factor here was that more than half of the MPs in the first Dalmatian state parliament were Italian-speaking. Even after the question had initially been decided, it remained regularly the subject of deliberations in the state parliament. In contrast to Dalmatia, the Kingdom of Croatia was not part of the Austrian but of the Hungarian state in the new real union Austria-Hungary created with the so-called equalization .
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Composition and choice
The state parliament had 43 members. Due to their function, members were the Roman Catholic Archbishop and the Orthodox Bishop of Zara / Zadar . The other 41 MPs were elected in four curiae:
- 10 MPs determined the highest taxed citizens in the districts
- 3 MPs sent the trade and industry chambers , of which the trade and industry chamber Zara , the trade and industry chamber Spalato and the commercial and industrial chamber Ragusa each a
- 8 MPs were chosen by the cities
- 20 MPs elected the rural communities
The 10 mandates of the most highly taxed persons are distributed among the districts as follows:
| circle | Number of MPs | Number of voters (1861) |
|---|---|---|
| Zadar district | 4th | 158 |
| Split district | 3 | 110 |
| Dubrovnik district | 2 | 74 |
| Kotor district | 1 | 74 |
| total | 10 | 416 |
The census , the minimum tax payment that was a condition of the right to vote, was 100 guilders per year (in Kotor 50 guilders).
The cities of Zara / Zadar, Sebenico / Šibenik , Spalato / Split, Makarska , Ragusa / Dubrovnik and Curzola / Korčula each sent one representative. The cities of Lesina / Hvar and Cittàvecchia / Starigrad and the cities of Perasto / Perast and Castelnuovo / Herceg Novi each elected a joint deputy. A census also applied here. In addition to the city dwellers, who had the right to vote based on their tax payments, certain well-qualified professional groups (e.g. teachers, senior civil servants, clergy, captains), the so-called intelligent voters, also had the right to vote.
The Spalato / Split Chamber of Commerce and Industry appointed a representative. The chambers of Ragusa / Dubrovnik and Cattaro / Kotor sent a joint representative to the state parliament.
There was also a census for the election of the 20 members of the rural communities, from which only the intelligent voters were excluded. The census was a relative one: the two thirds of taxpayers with the highest tax burden were eligible to vote. The choice was made as an indirect choice. One voter was elected for every 500 inhabitants. The electors of a constituency then determined the representative (s).
| No. | Constituency | Number of MPs |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zagreb, Rab and Pag | 2 |
| 2 | Šibenik and Skradin | 2 |
| 3 | Benkovac , Obrovac and Kistanje | 3 |
| 4th | Drniš , Knin and Vrlika | 1 |
| 5 | Split, Trogir and Omiš | 2 |
| 6th | Brač , Hvar and Vis | 2 |
| 7th | Sinj | 2 |
| 8th | Imotski | 1 |
| 9 | Vrgorac , Makarska , Metković | 1 |
| 10 | Dubrovnik, Cavtat | 1 |
| 11 | Korcula, Ston , Orebić , Pelješac | 1 |
| 12 | Kotor, Risan , Budva and Herceg Novi | 2 |
Working method and skills
The first session of the state parliament took place on April 6, 1861. The Landtag should meet once a year for a Landtag session. However, there have been years with multiple or no sessions. A total of 44 sessions took place, which typically lasted a few days. The longest session lasted over 2 ½ months in 1863, the shortest ended after a day.
Appointed by the emperor Landtagspräsident was also chairman (governor) of the selected by Parliament National Committee ( Zemaljski odbor , provinciale Giunta ), the country's government. The state committee consisted of four members (plus substitutes) (from 1902: five) and the chairman.
The competences of the Landtag lay in the legislation on school policy, social welfare and economic issues. Resolutions required the approval ( sanction ) of the emperor as sovereign of Dalmatia, which had to be obtained through the governor (see below) and the Imperial and Royal Government in Vienna, and the announcement in the Provincial Law Gazette (see below) to become law. The state parliament had its own budget law for the state budget.
From 1861 to 1873, the Dalmatian Landtag elected the Dalmatian MPs in the House of Representatives of the Reichsrat in Vienna; after that they were directly elected. From 1861, Dalmatia had five members in the Imperial Council, nine from 1873 and eleven from 1896; From 1873 onwards they were elected according to the applicable male suffrage, from 1896 onwards by all male citizens, but with different voting weights, and in 1907 and 1911 by all male citizens with the same voting weights.
Parties
Two parties were formed in the state parliament: until 1870 the autonomists (also called talijanaši 'pro-Italians') had the majority. They stood up for the independence of Dalmatia. In addition to the ethnic Italians, who made up about 6% of the population, these were mainly civil servants of Croatian, Serbian or German origin. In 1870 the Croatian " National Party " (Narodna stranka) achieved a majority in the state parliament. The Narodnjakten sought the union of Dalmatia with Croatia. In the National Party, Serbs and Croats worked at first. For example, the first parliamentary president appointed by the National Party, Stefan Ljubiša, was a Serb.
The National Party split in 1873, 1879 and 1892. The split in 1879, when the Serbian MPs split off and founded the Serbian Party (Srpska Stranka), was particularly serious. The Croatians stayed behind in the National Party. Since 1889 the national party called itself the Croatian National Party (Hrvatska narodna stranka). In 1892 six members of the Croatian National Party split off to form the right-wing party (Stranka prava), which represented a radical anti-Austrian position. In 1905 the two Croatian parties reunited to form the Croatian Party (Hrvatska stranka) (see Croatian-Serbian Coalition ).
The language dispute
Even if, according to the census of 1880, 93.5% of the population stated Croatian, 5.8% Italian and 0.7% German as their mother tongue, the language of the upper class in 1861 was Italian . Since 1816 school instruction in Dalmatia was in Italian. Even the Narodjak newspaper "Il Nazionale" published articles mainly in Italian, as the leadership of the National Party itself only had an imperfect command of the Croatian language and usually used the official language, Italian. (In German legal texts of the monarchy and in German-language media, the Italian place names remained in use until 1918.)
In its first session in 1861, the state parliament decided that speeches should also be possible in Croatian and that the resolutions should be published in both languages. However, since Italian was the language that all MEPs understood, Croatian contributions should be briefly summarized in Italian at the end.
In September 1871, the state parliament adopted a bill that both languages should be official languages with equal rights. However, this law received no imperial sanction because the emperor saw the powers of the state parliament exceeded. With a decree of March 1, 1872, Croatian was equated with Italian as the official language of administration and courts.
On July 21, 1883, the state parliament decided with a majority of the national party that the Croatian language should be the only negotiating language in the state parliament. It should still be possible to speak in Italian in the state parliament.
On the other hand, it was a long way to use Croatian in education, justice and administration. Since 1866 there was a commission of the state parliament with the aim of converting the school system to Croatian instruction. In 1884/85 only three of the 329 schools in Dalmatia taught in Italian.
The Landtag and the governors
The monarch and his Imperial Government in Vienna were in Dalmatia appointed by the emperor, in the state capital Zara / Zadar resident governor ( "in Dalmatia from 1861 to 1868 with the official title state leader represented the Kingdom of Dalmatia"). The office held:
- Lazarus Freiherr von Mamula (1861–1865, previously from 1859 civil and military governor of the province of Dalmatia)
- Franz Freiherr von Philippovich (1865–1867)
- Johann Wagner (1867–1869)
- Gabriel Freiherr von Rodich (1870–1881)
- Stephan Freiherr von Jovanović (1881–1885)
- Ludwig Freiherr von Cornaro (1886)
- Karl von Blažeković (1886–90)
- Emil von David (1890–1902)
- Erasmus von Handel (1902–1905)
- Niko (laus) Nardelli (1906–1911)
- Mario Graf Attems (1911-1918)
In the name of the emperor, after consultation with Vienna, the governor appointed the president of the state parliament (called governor ), who chaired the sessions of the state parliament and the state committee; the governor was head of the state administration in the country ( called state administration ) and exercised a certain right of supervision over the state administration (generally called autonomous administration ) and passed on the legislative resolutions of the state parliament on approbation to Vienna. As head of the Reich administration, he was the head of the Lieutenancy's authority for various competencies that the state as a whole had reserved for itself and for which no separate authorities had been set up, and in this regard acted as a representative of the relevant department or the entire government.
State Law Gazette
The laws passed by the state parliament as well as the ordinances of the governor and the state committee were published in the state law gazette for the Kingdom of Dalmatia.
The first state law to appear here on July 25, 1863, was the law concerning the abolition of premiums for killing predatory animals . As the last, on November 1, 1914, a law of May 17, 1914 was announced that carts must always drive on the left on public, non-Aryan roads (Aryan roads = state roads); until then, driving to the right was mandatory.
literature
- Alexander Bucynski: The Dalmatian state parliament. In: Adam Wandruszka , Peter Urbanitsch (ed.): The Habsburg Monarchy 1848–1918. Volume 7: Helmut Rumpler , Peter Urbanitsch (eds.): Constitution and parliamentarism. Volume 2: The regional representative bodies. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-7001-2871-1 , pp. 1951–1989.
Individual evidence
- ↑ RGBl. No. 20/1861 of February 28, 1861 (= p. 69)
- ↑ RGBl. No. 20/1861, Appendix II k) (= p. 215) .
- ^ Historical legal sources, presented by the Austrian National Library
- ↑ LGBl. For Dalmatia No. 26/1914, p. 45 ff (EReader, ALEX Online ).
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