Legislative vacancy

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The legislative vacancy ( lat. Vacatio legis , vacatio = liberation, to be liberated) describes the period between the promulgation of a legal norm and its entry into force. The legislative vacancy describes a period of time that extends into the future, while the retroactive effect of a law refers to the entry into force at a point in time before its promulgation.

State law

Austrian law

The term is mainly used in Austrian law and Switzerland .

Unless otherwise specified in the constitution or the law, laws and other legal norms come into force on the day after their promulgation, as stipulated in Article 49, Paragraph 1 of the Federal Constitutional Law . For example, a law that is announced (promulgated) on July 5th in the Federal Law Gazette for the Republic of Austria can come into force on July 6th; however, a later date can also be specified in the law. This will be necessary if the new regulation is so complex that it takes longer to implement in practice.

An insufficiently measured legislative vacancy can lead to the unconstitutionality of the relevant legal norm in Austria .

German law

The period of the legislative vacancy is specified within the framework of federal legislation by the provisions of Article 82 (2) of the Basic Law , according to which it is initially up to the legislature to designate the date of entry into force. If this designation is missing, then according to Article 82, Paragraph 2, Sentence 2 of the Basic Law, the law comes into force fourteen days after the Federal President has promulgated the law in the Federal Law Gazette. In the justification for draft bills of the German Federal Government , the considerations on which the determination of the entry into force is based, for example for the implementation in organizational, technical and budgetary terms (Section 43 (1) No. 6 GGO ), must also be presented.

During the vacatio legis, legal norms can be reviewed by the Federal Constitutional Court by way of an abstract norm review as soon as they have gained validity, which in any case applies as soon as the law has been drawn up and announced in the Federal Law Gazette.

At the level of the federal states there are provisions corresponding to Article 82 (2) of the Basic Law, such as B. in Hesse with Art. 121 of the Hessian State Constitution, the content of which corresponds to the constitutional regulation.

Regulations in other countries

Some constitutions, e.g. B. the Slovene, expressly stipulate that a legislative vacancy with a certain minimum duration is observed in order to give those subject to the law the opportunity to find out about the new legal situation and to adapt to it.

Canon Law

Catholic canon law also knows a legislative vacancy, called vacatio legis in canon law . This is in can. 8 CIC / 1983 regulated. According to this, universal church laws come into force three months after their promulgation (can. 8 § 1 CIC), particular laws one month after the day of their promulgation (can. 8 § 2 CIC).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Martin Schubarth : Legislative vacancy and constitution. - On the delayed (non) enforcement of the new General Part of the Criminal Code . AJP 2005, 1039 ff.
  2. ^ Constitutional Court (VfGH) ruling of June 16, 2011, G18 / 11
  3. ↑ Joint Rules of Procedure of the Federal Ministries ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. As of September 1, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bmi.bund.de
  4. ↑ Details from Gregor Bier: Introduction to Canon Law. In: Clauß Peter Sajak : Practical Theology. Module 4. Schöningh, Paderborn 2012 (UTB; 3472), ISBN 978-3-8252-3472-0 , p. 147 f.