Constitution (Bavaria)
The Bavarian constitution from 1. May 1808 was the first constitutional basis of the Kingdom of Bavaria and was the first one stands independent parliament introduced in a German state.
Emergence
Elector Maximilian IV. Joseph of Bavaria - ruler of Electoral Palatinate Bavaria since 1799 and parts of Franconia and Swabia from 1803 - officially accepted the title of "King Maximilian I of Bavaria" on January 1, 1806 and was proclaimed king in Munich . This and the necessary reorganization of the new state prompted the enactment of the constitution of 1808, the scope and scope of which increased significantly, especially after Bavaria joined the Rhine Confederation . It was created under the aegis of the leading minister Maximilian von Montgelas . An important aspect of the Bavarian constitutional plans was the need to integrate the areas newly gained after secularization and mediatization into the new Bavarian state. It was also the intention to forestall a feared constitution by Napoleon .
According to a draft constitution from 1806, it was also a task of the future constitution to create a (Bavarian) national feeling.
content
The constitution for the Kingdom of Bavaria with its six titles and 45 paragraphs came into force on October 1st, 1808. It was based on the constitution of the Kingdom of Westphalia drawn up by French lawyers , but also summarized the reforms carried out in Bavaria up to that point and provided the basis for their further development through "Organic Edicts" and other enforcement regulations.
The aim of the preamble was the unification and concentration of the state.
The abolition of all special constitutions, privileges, inheritance and landscape corporations of the individual provinces was important for the shaping of the internal relations of the country. The aim was to combine the large number of different types of territories that were dissolved in the new Bavarian state into one state and to govern according to uniform principles of social and administrative law.
The "main provisions" of the constitution contained the basic rights guaranteed by the king as an organ of the new state: equality of all citizens before the law (equal tax liability, equal access to all state offices, abolition of serfdom , which, however, no longer had any special meaning in Bavaria had), security of person and property , freedom of conscience and religion , freedom of the press within the framework of certain censorship laws . Further "titles" of the constitution dealt with the legal position of the royal family vis-à-vis the state, the state administration and the organization of authorities with ministries, central (= district) and sub-authorities. There were also provisions on civil servants, the independence of judges, a new court system and the creation of uniform provisions on criminal and civil law for the entire kingdom and finally the military .
Completely new was the fourth "title" deemed no longer composed of stalls national representation . Active and passive voting rights should only be given to the 200 “land owners, merchants or manufacturers” in each district who paid the highest property taxes there.
Rating
Because of this strict census suffrage and because the national representation never met, Ernst Rudolf Huber spoke of a sham constitutionalism . Nevertheless, tendencies were laid out in the constitution that later facilitated the development of Bavaria into a constitutional monarchy in contrast to Prussia or Austria , for example .
Further development
The constitution of the Kingdom of Bavaria of 1818 replaced the constitution in the post-Napoleonic period .
literature
- Elisabeth Fehrenbach : From the Ancien Regime to the Congress of Vienna . Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 2001, pp. 87-90, ISBN 3-486-49754-5 .
- Karl Möckl : The Bavarian Constitution of 1808 . In: Eberhard Weis (Hrsg.): Reforms in Rheinbündischen Germany (= writings of the historical college . Vol. 4). Oldenbourg, Munich a. a. 1984, ISBN 3-486-51671-X , pp. 151-167
