House Law (Prussia)

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The relationship between the members of the formerly ruling House of (Hohen-) Zollern has been regulated by the family in their own documents, contracts and house laws since time immemorial . Outstanding are:

  • House contract of the Franconian line from 1341,
  • Order of Burgrave Frederick V of 1372,
  • Dispositio Achillea from 1473,
  • House and succession contract from 1599,
  • Treaty of Gera 1603,
  • House contract from 1692,
  • Fideikomißverordnung from 1710,
  • Family contracts of 1752,
  • Royal Edict of December 1808,
  • Constitution for the Prussian state of January 31, 1850,
  • House Law of June 21, 1920.

These treaties primarily regulate the indivisibility of the hereditary lands, the succession in primogeniture and property issues in the delimitation of private assets from state assets in the ruled countries, but also internal family problems such as the question of equality in choosing a spouse. The house law itself was enacted by the head of the family, but could only be enforced with the consent of all princes of legal age. The law was then drafted by the Minister of the Royal House to become final.

The voluntarily practiced house observation did not allow the members of the formerly sovereign family (princes and princesses) to freely and independently make decisions that they would have made outside of their limited family community. Compliance with the regulations was particularly important for apanaged family members. House observance also regulated the question of assuming public offices, the right to public opinion on political events, public political profiling, membership in associations and clubs: it was not the individual prince who decided for himself, but the head of the house.

scope

Kings, royal wives and widows, princes, wives and widows of princes, as long as they remain in the widowhood, and all unmarried princesses are members of the house and subject to house law. When marrying a consort who is not a member of the house, princesses leave the royal house and become members of the consort's house.

All matters concerning the royal house and its members have been dealt with since a cabinet order by Friedrich Wilhelm III. of January 11, 1819 by the Ministry of the Royal House (called House Ministry ) with its seat in the Dutch Palace , Unter den Linden 36, Berlin. At the same time, the ministry established the ordinary place of jurisdiction for the family. The house minister was (until 1918) also registrar for births, marriages and deaths.

Current meaning

After the abolition of the monarchy in 1918/19, the house law became obsolete and was partly replaced by an inheritance contract that the former Crown Prince Wilhelm had concluded with his second son Louis Ferdinand with the participation of the former Emperor Wilhelm II . The validity of this contract was initially confirmed by the Federal Court of Justice in 1998, but after a constitutional complaint by Michael, Louis Ferdinand's second eldest son , the Federal Constitutional Court rejected this judgment by decision of March 22, 2004, because it interfered with freedom of marriage under Article 6 Paragraph 1 Basic Law (GG) and the abolition of the monarchy as a form of government is incompatible. In order to regulate the inheritance, the members of the House of Hohenzollern still have legally compliant inheritance contracts and other regulations that are generally available to regulate the succession .

According to the house law, the oldest male descendant who comes from an equal marriage and is not morganatically married inherited . This regulation was valid for the throne of Prussia and until the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court by the inheritance contract partially still applied to the family property.

Wilhelm von Prussia , the eldest son of the last Crown Prince, had married unequally in 1933 and thus fell out of the line of succession.

The abolition of the Prussian and German monarchy and the subsequent dissolution of Prussia, the "throne" is Prussia no longer real political significance.

Head of the family

Until his death in 1941, Wilhelm II was head of the Hohenzollern family. From 1941 until his death in 1951 he was followed by his eldest son, the former Crown Prince of the German Empire and Wilhelm of Prussia . From 1951 until his death in 1994, his second son Louis Ferdinand was head of the family.

The current head of the Prince of Prussia family (and thus of the House of Hohenzollern ) is Georg Friedrich Prince of Prussia .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Decision of the Federal Constitutional Court of March 22, 2004
  2. ↑ Judgment of the BGH on the succession in the Prussian family ( Memento of the original of March 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mohr.de
  3. ↑ (Ref .: 1 BvR 2248/01)