Jesuit Law
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Law concerning the order of the Society of Jesus |
| Short title: | Jesuit Law ( coll. ) |
| Type: | Imperial Law |
| Scope: | German Empire |
| Legal matter: | Special administrative law |
| Issued on: | July 4, 1872 ( RGBl. P. 253) |
| Entry into force on: | July 24, 1872 |
| Last change by: | § 1 G of March 8, 1904 (RGBl. P. 139) |
| Effective date of the last change: |
March 10, 1904 (§ 2 G of March 8, 1904) |
| Expiry: | April 19, 1917 (§§ 1, 2 G of April 19, 1917, RGBl. P. 362) |
| Please note the note on the applicable legal version. | |
The Jesuit Law of July 4, 1872 was part of the Kulturkampf 1871-1887 and banned the Jesuit Order from settling on the soil of the German Empire . Despite several attempts, it was not toned down until 1904 and abolished in 1917.
Content and consequences
The focus of the culture war effort was based on state laws. In addition to the so-called pulpit paragraph , the Jesuit law was one of the few laws applicable at the national level.
In contrast to the introduction of registry offices or the enforcement of the state school supervision ( school supervision law ) in Prussia , the Jesuit law served from the beginning to fight ultramontanism , as the Jesuits were seen as the spearhead of this Roman Catholic movement. This was preceded by regular public campaigns by the Old Catholics and the German Protestant Association . The liberal majority in the Reichstag had tightened a draft by the Bundesrat, that is, by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck . On July 4th the law governing the activities of the Jesuits and related orders was promulgated. It banned all religious branches on German soil and authorized the government to issue residence bans against individual Jesuits and to expel foreign Jesuits from the German Empire at any time.
Even if the Kulturkampf was promoted by many liberals , a number of liberal politicians voted against the law in the roll-call vote on June 19, 1872 , such as the national liberals Otto Bähr , Ludwig Bamberger and Eduard Lasker as well as from the progressive party Franz Duncker , Moritz Wiggers , Franz Wigard , Julius Dickert , Edward Banks , Ludwig Joseph Gerstner , Adolf Hermann Wilhelm Hagen , August Ludwig Hausmann , Carl Herz , Moritz Klotz , Julius von Kirchmann and Wilhelm Schaffrath . They rejected the Jesuit Law as an exception law, massive encroachment on fundamental rights and blatant discrimination against an individual group. A number of liberals stayed away from the vote, such as the progressive Franz Ziegler , Albert Haenel , Eugen Richter or the national liberal Karl Biedermann , who had previously expressed his negative opinion. The overwhelming majority of the National Liberals and a large part of the Progressive Party, however, agreed with Bismarck when he announced to the Reichstag : " We're not going to Canossa - neither physically nor mentally."
The law remained in force even after the Kulturkampf was largely over in the 1880s. As a result, the Center Party and other organizations repeatedly demanded the repeal of the law in vain. Inadvertently, the continued validity of the law contributed to strengthening the cohesion of the Catholic milieu .
It was not until 1904 that the law was softened and abolished in 1917. The motives lay in concessions to the Center Party, which in the meantime had become indispensable for the formation of a government.
Individual evidence
- ^ Reichstag protocols , 1872, pp. 1149–1150.
- ^ Karl Biedermann to Eduard Lasker on June 12, 1872
- ↑ Example of a petition for the repeal of the 1912 law
literature
- Gordon A. Craig : German History 1866-1945. From the North German Confederation to the end of the Third Reich . CH Beck, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-406-07815-X , p. 76.
- Thomas Nipperdey : German History 1866-1918. Power state before democracy . CH Beck, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-406-34801-7 , p. 374.
- Heinrich August Winkler : The long way to the west. German history 1806–1933 . Vol. 1, Bonn 2002, ISBN 3-89331-463-6 , p. 224.
- Reinhold Zippelius : State and Church . CH Beck, Munich 1997.
