State constitution (Austria)
In Austria, state constitutions are the basic laws of the federal states , which regulate their internal organization, their relationship with one another and their relationship to the federal state.
history
The state constitutions of the Austrian federal states were created between 1918 and 1922. Their predecessors were the state regulations (in Tyrol the state constitution still bears this name today) in the Austrian Empire, but these were not constitutions in the true sense of the word. Some of the constitutions were based directly on the former provincial regulations (e.g. the Constitution of Styria ), but there were also constitutions of a new style, such as the Vorarlberg state constitution . The first amendments were made in the 1920s, as the state constitutions had to be brought into line with the federal constitution . After their repeal between 1934 and 1945, they were reinstated. Most of the federal states amended their state constitutions in the 1970s and 1980s in order to adapt them to modern requirements and, for example, to incorporate basic social rights .
Position in the graded structure of the legal system
In the tiered structure of the Austrian legal system , federal and state law are in principle equally important. The only exception here is constitutional law . According to Art. 99 Para. 1 of the Federal Constitutional Law (B-VG), the state constitutions may not contradict federal constitutional law. The constitutional and competence jurisdiction lies solely with the Constitutional Court .
content
The state constitutions in principle regulate those areas in which the simple legislative competence also lies with the states. In addition, there is usually a general part that regulates the extent of the country's territory, the national languages, the symbols of the country and the like.
The individual constitutional laws
state | Short title | Type | abbreviation | Long title | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Burgenland | State constitutional law | LVG | L-VG | Provincial constitutional law of September 14, 1981 on the constitution of Burgenland (L-VG) | LGBl. No. 42/1981 |
Carinthia | Carinthian State Constitution - K-LVG | LVG | K-LVG | Provincial constitutional law of July 11, 1996, which enacts the constitution for the province of Carinthia (Kärntner Landesverfassungs - K-LVG) | LGBl No. 85/1996 |
Lower Austria | Lower Austria state constitution 1979 | LVG | Lower Austria LV | LGBl. 0001 | |
Upper Austria | Oö. State constitutional law | LVG | Oö. L-VG | Oö. State Constitutional Law (Upper Austria L-VG) | LGBl. No. 122/1991 |
Salzburg | State Constitutional Law 1999 | LVG | L-VG | State Constitutional Law 1999 - L-VG | LGBl. No. 25/1999 |
Styria | State Constitutional Law 2010 | LVG | L-VG | State Constitutional Law 2010 (L-VG) | LGBl. No. 77/2010, 3/2011, 8/2012 |
Tyrol | Tyrolean regional regulations 1989 | LVG | TLO | Provincial Constitutional Act of September 21, 1988 on the Constitution of the State of Tyrol (Tyrolean State Order 1989) | LGBl. No. 61/1988 |
Vorarlberg | State constitution | LVG | LV | Constitutional Act on the Constitution of the State of Vorarlberg (State Constitution - LV) | LGBl. No. 9/1999, 33/2001, 14/2004, 43/2004 |
Vienna | Vienna City Constitution | LVG | WStV | Constitution of the federal capital Vienna (Vienna City Constitution - WStV) | LGBl. No. 28/1968, 15/10/1968 |
literature
- Wilhelm Brauneder: Austrian constitutional history. Manz, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-214-14875-3 .