Lex Bennigsen

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Rudolf von Bennigsen was an MP from the former Kingdom of Hanover. As a National Liberal, he was basically ready to work with Bismarck. However, he had initially tried a more extensive proposal.

The Lex Bennigsen (also: Amendment Bennigsen ) was a proposal in the constituent Reichstag of the North German Confederation. The national liberal MP Rudolf von Bennigsen introduced it during the constitutional deliberations. On 22./27. March 1867 the application was accepted. He changed the draft constitution that was being discussed at the time.

Specifically, the application of Art. 17 Clause 2 of the constitution of the North German Confederation of April 16, 1867 introduced:

" The orders and orders of the Federal Presidium are issued in the name of the Federation and require the countersignature of the Federal Chancellor to be valid, who thereby assumes responsibility. "

With the last subordinate clause, the motion introduced the ministerial responsibility of the Federal Chancellor . The application or the amendment to the draft was not a lex in the strict sense of the word, a law. However, it was parliamentary custom to name important regulations after the applicant.

meaning

The Federal Chancellor was responsible for the orders and orders of the Federal Presidium. While the monarch could still not be held personally responsible, the institute of countersignature now at least enabled (parliamentary) control of monarchical legal acts.

The Federal Chancellor continued to be appointed by the Federal Presidium (the Prussian King) (Art. 15 para. 1). However, it was not precisely defined what the accountability looked like.

The obligation to countersigns significantly enhanced the office of the Federal Chancellor, which was equivalent in importance to the later leading Reich Minister. The new, comprehensive administrative task also led to the establishment of an authority supporting the Federal Chancellor, the Federal Chancellery .

Further development

The German Imperium

The provision was also retained in Art. 17 Sentence 2 of the Constitution of the German Empire of April 16, 1871 (RV):

" The orders and orders of the emperor are issued in the name of the empire and require the countersignature of the imperial chancellor to be valid, who thereby assumes responsibility. "

Towards the end of the First World War , as part of the introduction of the parliamentary monarchy ( October reform ) through the law amending the Reich Constitution of October 28, 1918 ( RGBl. 1918, p. 1274) (cf. the changes to Art. 15 RV) Art. 17 RV the passage " who thereby assumes responsibility " deleted.

Weimar Republic

In Article 50 of the Weimar Imperial Constitution (WRV) it was then again stated:

" All orders and orders of the Reich President, including those in the field of the Wehrmacht, must be countersigned by the Reich Chancellor or the responsible Reich Minister in order to be valid. Responsibility is assumed by countersigning. "

The semi-presidential system of government of the Weimar Republic reserved executive powers for both the Reich President and the Reich Chancellor .

The Reich President could be accused according to Art. 59 WRV are personally held responsible; the countersigning member of the Reich government assumed political responsibility for the legal acts of the head of state.

The Reich Chancellor and the Reich Ministers required according to Art. 54 WRV (as also according to Art. 15 of the October Constitution of 1918) on their administration of the trust of the Reichstag. Each of them had to resign if the Reichstag expressly withdrew their confidence in them ( destructive vote of no confidence ).

Federal Republic of Germany

Article 58 sentence 1 of the Basic Law no longer contains the passage on responsibility:

" Orders and orders of the Federal President must be countersigned by the Federal Chancellor or the responsible Federal Minister in order to be valid. "

In the parliamentary system of government in the Federal Republic of Germany, executive powers were shifted away from the Federal President to the Federal Government , which is directly subject to parliamentary control.

While here, too, the Federal President can only be held personally responsible through the presidential charge according to Article 61 of the Basic Law , the countersigning member of the government continues to assume political responsibility towards the Bundestag for the orders and orders of the Federal President.

The Federal Chancellor is also still directly subject to parliamentary control; However, unlike in the Weimar Republic, Article 67 of the Basic Law now provides for a constructive vote of no confidence .

supporting documents

  1. ^ Karl Kroeschell : Legal History of Germany in the 20th Century , Göttingen 1992, p. 1. ISBN 3-8252-1681-0 ;
    Heinrich Otto Meisner: Bundesrat, Federal Chancellor and Federal Chancellery (1867–1871) , in: Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde (Ed.): Modern German Constitutional History (1815–1914) , 2nd edition, Königstein 1981, p. 78.
  2. ↑ Jörn Ipsen : Staatsrecht I. Staatsorganisationsrecht , 16th edition, Munich 2004, marginal number 514. ISBN 3-472-06053-0
  3. ↑ Heinrich Otto Meisner: Bundesrat, Federal Chancellor and Federal Chancellery (1867–1871) , in: Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde (Ed.): Modern German Constitutional History (1815–1914) , 2nd edition, Königstein 1981, p. 78.
  4. ↑ Werner Frotscher, Bodo Pieroth : Verfassungsgeschichte , 5th edition, Munich 2005, marginal number 462 ff. ISBN 3-406-53411-2
  5. ↑ Ernst Rudolf Huber (Ed.): Documents on German Constitutional History , Vol. III: German Constitutional Documents 1900–1918 , 3rd Edition, Stuttgart, Berlin, Cologne 1990, No. 206. ISBN 3-17-005060-5
  6. ↑ Konrad Hesse : Basic features of the constitutional law of the Federal Republic of Germany , 20th edition, Heidelberg 1999, Rn 665. ISBN 3-8114-7499-5

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