Constitution Amendment Act
The constitution amendment act was the constitution of the Free City of Frankfurt valid from 1816 to 1866 .
History of origin
Frankfurt am Main had been a self-governing city since 1220 and became a Free Imperial City in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in 1372 . Due to its importance as the electoral and coronation city of the emperors , it was not mediatized like most other imperial cities after the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss 1803 , but retained its independence. Only in the Rhine Confederation Treaty of July 12, 1806 did the imperial city fall to the Principality of Aschaffenburg , which Napoleon had awarded the last Archbishop of Mainz , Carl Theodor von Dalberg , and which in 1810 became the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt .
Dalberg introduced numerous reforms in his state, which were largely welcomed by the liberal Frankfurt bourgeoisie. He strived for a model state shaped by the principles of the Enlightenment and, in his short reign, abolished serfdom and compulsory labor , reformed the school and educational system and in 1806 issued a decree on the emancipation of Jews . On August 16, 1810, he enacted a constitution based on the French model, and in 1811 he introduced the Civil Code .
After the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig on October 18, 1813, the bourgeoisie turned against the French occupation, which was perceived as foreign rule. Dalberg had already left the Grand Duchy on September 30, 1813. He retired to Regensburg and thanked on October 28th in favor of Napoleon's stepson Eugène de Beauharnais , who, however, could no longer take up his post as Grand Duke. After the last fighting on October 31, 1813, the French army withdrew from Frankfurt on November 1.
On November 6th, the Allies entered Frankfurt. As early as December 1813, Freiherr vom Stein , who was entrusted with the civil administration in the recaptured areas, demanded that the city of Frankfurt and its former area be declared a free German city and reinstated in its old constitution. On December 14th the Allies decreed that the city of Frankfurt, separated from the so-called Grand Duchy, should temporarily resign to its own former municipal constitution.
There was resistance to this, as the city was claimed by the Kingdom of Bavaria and had already been promised by Emperor Franz I of Austria. But Nassau also demanded sovereignty over Frankfurt. Only after tough diplomatic negotiations did the Congress of Vienna decide on June 9, 1815 in Article 46 of the Congress Act: La ville de Francfort, avec son territoire, tel qu'il se trouvait en 1803, est déclarée libre et fera partie de la Ligue Germanique . Since there was no longer an empire or an emperor, the former Free Imperial City was now called the Free City and, like the other German states, was a completely independent state under international law. At the time, this was in the Prussian interest because it did not want a second southern German power besides Austria and favored a neutral Frankfurt as the seat of the German Confederation. On July 9, 1815, the city received its sovereign rights.
In the meantime, the future constitution of the Free City was wrestled. In 1814 three different drafts were published by commissions appointed for this purpose, as well as another draft constitution recommended by Freiherr vom Stein on July 19, 1814.
None of the four drafts were accepted at the Congress of Vienna. Rather, the latter decided in Section 46 of the Act of Congress that a constitution was to be established, the institutions of which were to be founded on the equal claims of those who confess the Christian confessions to all civil and political rights in all relations of government and administration . On January 15, 1816, the Senate appointed a commission of 13 members to draw up a supplementary act to the old Frankfurt city constitution . This commission included respected citizens, including Anton Kirchner , to whom the liberal elements of the constitution are largely to be thanked. The head of the commission was the Syndicus Johann Büchner .
On June 29, 1816, the commission submitted its draft to the Senate. She had processed 96 entries submitted to her in it.
On July 18, 1816, out of 5,000 citizens entitled to vote, 2,700 voted for the draft, only 47 against. Protests by the nobility, Catholics and Jews were rejected because of this large majority. On October 18, 1816, the constitution amendment act was conjured up in a solemn citizens' meeting on the Römerberg . October 18, the anniversary of the Battle of Nations and the constitutional supplementary act, has been celebrated annually since then as Frankfurt's national holiday. The constitution remained in force with various changes until the annexation of the Free City of Frankfurt by Prussia in 1866.
content
The constitution amendment file with its 52 articles restored essential parts of the old council constitution that had been valid since the Fettmilch uprising from 1614 to 1806, whereby the role of the council now fell to the Senate of the Free City of Frankfurt . The previous privileges of the patricians expired. The three main constitutional bodies were the Legislative Body , the Permanent Citizens' Representation and the Senate . They were intertwined with each other and with the administration of justice, so that the principles of the separation of powers were not strictly adhered to.
Articles 1 to 4: preamble
In the first articles, the constitutional supplementary act described the basis of the state constitution of Frankfurt: privileges, contracts - especially the civil contract - imperial resolutions, imperial court decisions, ordinances and customs as well as Article 46 of the Vienna Congress Act. Article 2 contained the oath of loyalty and obedience to the free city and the Senate, to be taken by every citizen and bystanders , and precise observation of the city constitution as well as the oath of the Senate that he could only take over the city regiment entrusted to him according to the regulations of the old city constitution and this Acts, including the citizens with their rights and freedoms, as much as it is up to him to protect and protect . Article 3 enumerated the laws and ordinances of the Dalberg period that had been abolished by the acts, set the age of majority at 21 years and restored the old family entails.
Articles 5 to 7: Citizens
According to Article 5 of the Constitutional Act, the sovereignty of the city rested on the entirety of the Christian citizenship . According to Article 6, citizenship could only be acquired by those who had assets of at least 5000 guilders . However, at the request of the Senate, the legislative body reserves the right to dispense with outstanding talent .
Article 7 certain that Christian inhabitants of a protected without citizenship status sojourners could acquire without political rights, if they could have at least 500 guilders assets. As before 1806, the residents of the Frankfurt rural communities ( neighbors ) and the Jews were regarded as subjects of the state with limited civil rights. It was not until 1818 that the villagers, and the Jews in 1824, were given equal rights to citizens under private law .
Articles 8 to 17: Legislative body
The Legislative Body consisted of 85 members. 20 of these were provided by the Senate (until 1856) and 20 were the permanent representatives of the citizens, while 45 were determined by the citizens through indirect voting. To this end, they elected an electoral college of 75 citizens every year, to which nine deputies from the rural communities had come since 1823. It was not until 1853 that rural residents were given the right to vote. With the reform of the electoral law of 1866 direct elections were introduced, but there were no more elections before the Prussian annexation.
The Legislative Body was elected annually and its session usually lasted six weeks. He was responsible for legislating, approving and collecting taxes, approving the budget and overseeing the state budget. The executive committee of the Legislative Body consisted of the President, two Vice-Presidents and a secretariat of four legal scholars.
The 75 electors were chosen following a complicated procedure under Article 11 of the Act. The citizens elected 25 electors in three departments in each of the 14 quarters from 170 to 270 houses on certain days . The first section included nobles, scholars from all faculties, civil servants, landlords, rentiers , officers, teachers and non-guild artists . The second division comprised bankers, wholesalers and small traders, innkeepers, certified accountants and commercial clerks, sworn brokers, shopkeepers and all innkeepers who did not belong to any guild . In the third section, all professional craftsmen and artists as well as the other citizens voted who did not belong to either of the other two sections and who do some other legally permitted trade and food there . The electoral committee then elected in a meeting in the Römer with an absolute majority of votes 45 citizens from all classes of the entire local Christian citizenship, ... in whose righteousness and knowledge they trust . Members of the Senate and the permanent citizens' representation were excluded from the right to stand as candidates, as well
- who was not yet 30 years old,
- who was in the paid service of a private person,
- anyone who has been punished for an embarrassing crime or is still under investigation,
- all fallites , unless someone has reported his insolvency in court or has secretly established estates or decency agreements with his creditors before he has paid his creditors in full, that is, without deduction or discount.
Articles 18 to 24: Senate and Mayor
The Senate of the Free City of Frankfurt was the executive branch of the Free City of Frankfurt and the successor to the Council of the Imperial City Constitution. Like this one, it consisted of three banks with 14 members each. Unlike before 1806, however, the predominance was no longer with the patrician inheritance , especially the aristocratic societies Alten Limpurg and Zum Frauenstein .
The first senate bank was the bank of the lay judges , which included the four municipal syndici . Its members complemented each other according to the principle of anciency from the second bank, the bank of the senators , which consisted of nobles, scholars, military people, merchants and other respected citizens or deserving senators of the third bank. The third bank consisted of 12 guild and two non- guild council members. The members of the second and third banks were co-opted by an electoral body of six senators and six members of the legislature using the balloting procedure .
The two mayors were also elected annually by ballot. The senior mayor presided over the Senate and was in charge of foreign relations and the military. He always came from the jury's bench. The younger mayor from the Senatorial Bank was in charge of the police, the guild system and civil rights affairs and was his colleague's representative.
Articles 27 to 34: Justice
The city judicial administration consisted of the judicial colleges and the judicial offices. The highest judicial college was the higher appeal court in Lübeck . The appellate and criminal court with its six appellate judges was elected by the jury and the senator's bench in the Senate. In civil disputes, it formed the second instance to the city court , which consisted of a director, a deputy director and four judicial councilors. Civil disputes were heard in the first instance before the city court; it was also the supreme guardianship court and the marriage court for Protestants. The judicial colleges also included the curatorial office of three senators, responsible for guardianship matters, and the police court for administrative offenses.
The judicial offices were the embarrassing interrogation office responsible for criminal investigations under the chairmanship of the younger mayor, the city office and the land office , which were responsible for minor civil law cases below 300 guilders value in dispute in the city district or in the rural district, as well as the mortgage, transcription and currency authorities and that Fiscalat .
Articles 35 to 40: Church Constitution
While the Lutheran consistory had ruled the church during the time of the imperial city , the legal equality of the Christian denominations also required a new regulation of the church constitution. Article 35 of the supplementary constitution stipulates that every Christian as well as other ecclesiastical community, no matter how they are entitled to the protection of the state, are also subject to the supervision of the state and may not form a special state within the state. This supervision was given to the Senate, which re-established the Lutheran consistory that existed before 1806 . According to Article 36, it consisted of two Lutheran senators, the senior of the ministry of preachers , two Lutheran pastors and a lawyer consistorial councilor . With the exception of the matrimonial matters, which were now transferred to the city court, the responsibilities remained as regulated since 1728. Until the end of the Free City, the Lutheran consistory was also responsible for the supervision of the municipal high school , the model school and all Lutheran schools. Article 37 left the Reformed Church free to set up a consistory, which was also done on February 8, 1820 by decree of the Senate. Article 38 regulated the establishment of the Catholic Church and School Commission for Catholic Schools, Article 39 stipulated that the state had to provide for the endowment of the Lutheran and Catholic religious cult and school system based on the identified need. However, negotiations about this endowment dragged on, so that the two endowment documents were not issued until 1830. According to Article 40 of the constitution amendment act, the three denominations each had the right to elect a parish council.
Articles 45 to 49: Permanent citizen representation
The permanent citizen representation, made up of 51 members from all estates, was chaired by a senior elected from among their number . At her side stood a civil consultant and a legal registrar . The permanent representation of the citizens was responsible for the control of income and expenditure as well as the municipal accounting. The auditing of the accounts was the responsibility of the Stadtrechnungs-Revisionscolleg , also called Neunerkolleg , consisting of nine representatives .
Articles 50 to 52: final provisions
According to Article 50, constitutional amendments required a two-thirds majority in the Senate and in the legislative body. Article 51 described the procedure for the first occupation of the Senate and for holding the first elections, Article 52 the referendum to confirm the constitutional amendment.
literature
- Heinrich Friedrich Karl Bender: The Origin of the Constitution Supplementary Act of the Free City of Frankfurt from 1816 , Heller and Rohm, Frankfurt am Main 1848 ( digital version , PDF 19.6 MB)
- Frankfurt Historical Commission (ed.): Frankfurt am Main - The history of the city in nine contributions. (= Publications of the Frankfurt Historical Commission . Volume XVII ). Jan Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1991, ISBN 3-7995-4158-6 .
- The Free City of Frankfurt am Main and its surroundings. A guide for strangers and locals . Verlag der J. C. Hermannschen Buchhandlung, Frankfurt am Main 1843. Reprint from Verlag Haag and Herchen, Frankfurt am Main 1982, ISBN 3-88129-592-5 .
- Karl Heinrich Ludwig Pölitz : The constitution of the free city of Frankfurt am Main . Paragraph 116. In: Karl Heinrich Ludwig Pölitz: State studies and positive constitutional law (constitutional law) . 2nd corrected and enlarged edition. Hinrichs, Leipzig 1828, ( The political sciences in the light of our time 4), p. 559ff.
- Karl Heinrich Ludwig Pölitz: The European constitutions since 1789 up to the most recent time . Volume 1, 2: The entire constitutions of the German confederation . 2nd reorganized, corrected and supplemented edition. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1832, p. 1154ff.
Individual evidence
- ↑ laws and statutes collection of the Free City of Frankfurt 1, Vol., Pp 7-70
- ^ R. Schwemer, History of the Free City of Frankfurt , Frankfurt am Main 1910/18, Vol. 1, p. 21
- ^ Quoted from K. Pölitz, History of the Free City of Frankfurt , The Constitution of the Free City of Frankfurt am Main , item 116 in: Staatkunde und positive Staatsrecht (Constitutional Law) , Leipzig 1828, p. 559
- ↑ "The city of Frankfurt and its territory, as it was in 1803, will be declared a Free City and part of the German Confederation"
- ↑ Published under the title Constitution of the Free City of Frankfurt by Eichenberg in Frankfurt, 1814
- ↑ Presentation of the views and reasons which induced the undersigned, elected by the laudable citizenship to the commission of the XIII, to agree to the report drawn up by this commission , Frankfurt, near Brönner, in July 1816
- ↑ On the church constitution of the Free City of Frankfurt see also: Jürgen Telschow, Die alte Frankfurter Kirche. Law and organization of the former Evangelical Church in Frankfurt , Evangelical Regional Association Frankfurt am Main, 1979, ISBN 3-922179-00-2 as well as the contributions by Karl Dienst in: Roman Fischer (Ed.), From the Barfüßerkirche to the Paulskirche. Studies on Frankfurt History Volume 44 , Verlag Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 2000, ISBN 3-7829-0502-4
- ↑ Certificate concerning the endowment for the Evangelical Lutheran religious cult and document concerning the endowment for the church and school system of the local Catholic community
