Monetary Constitution
The monetary constitution is the central constitution about the currency of a state. Determined by sovereign law, the monetary constitution can be changed and reformed in any country and at any time .
It includes the right to coins (rights to issue currencies, their coins and banknotes ).
Development in Germany
During the Holy Roman Empire , the currency order at that time was set by regalia , see coin shelf .
The times of rival currencies were only broken with the establishment of state sovereignty. In the 19th century, the Banking Charter Act 1844 in the United Kingdom granted a currency monopoly .
In Germany, when the German Reich was founded in 1871, the banknote privilege was granted to the Reichsbank . But this was not a monopoly, since the private central banks of the states of Bavaria , Saxony , Württemberg and Baden remained in existence until 1935. A currency unit based on the gold mark was created in 1875 , but it was not until the beginning of the 20th century that the currency was declared legal tender .
After the hyperinflation , the Rentenmark was introduced in 1923. In 1924 the existing currency constitution was completely reformed and the Reichsmark was introduced. After the banking crisis in 1931, a banking supervisory authority was installed. During the Third Reich , the constitution was changed again to finance government spending. The independence of the Reichsbank was abolished, banking supervision intensified and the forced exchange economy tightened.
After the Second World War there was again a new currency constitution with the Deutsche Mark as currency and legal tender. According to Article 73, Paragraph 1, No. 4 of the Basic Law , currency, monetary and coinage is the responsibility of the Federation and is exercised by the Federal Government.
The foreign exchange management continued to apply until the Foreign Trade Act 1961, as did banking supervision until the Banking Act 1961. The German monetary constitution remained essentially unchanged between 1948 and the introduction of the euro . The mark was legal tender, other bodies than the Bank deutscher Länder and Bundesbank were prohibited from issuing currencies.
The monetary constitution of Germany found its way into the European Union with the Maastricht Treaty . For the EU member states of the euro zone , the euro is the legal tender without EU law illuminating this term. The European Central Bank has the exclusive right to authorize the issuance of banknotes and coins .
The right to mint coins lies with the individual member states of the EMU, but is subject to quantitative restrictions by the ECB. Therefore, all euro notes are the same, but the coins are minted with different symbols depending on the country.
The federal government's legal monopoly on the issue of divisional coins was reflected in Section 7 of the Coin Act of July 8, 1950, which stated: “The federal government minted the divisional coins in the mints of those countries that are responsible for this declare ready. ”This regulation continues to apply as amended in § 6 MünzG 2002 .
The Federal Republic of Germany has mints in Munich, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Hamburg and Berlin. In the meantime, only divisional coins are put into circulation. The profit, the so-called Schlagschatz , goes to the federal budget. So-called Kurant coins are no longer minted.
Development in Austria
Until December 31, 1988, Austrian minting law was held by the Austrian Main Mint . Since 1 January 1989, however, has due to the Coinage Act 1988 , the coin Austria assumed the duties of the Austrian Hauptmünzamtes. According to Sections 8 to 14 of the 1988 Scheidemünzengesetz, this also includes the right to coins. The Austrian Mint has been wholly owned by the Oesterreichische Nationalbank since it was founded .
Coin-free
Freedom of coinage means that every holder of coinage metals has the right to ask the state to strike these metals into coins and hand them over to them. The cost of embossing is imposed on the customer, the profit or loss due to the deviation of the nominal value from the metal value is also charged to the customer. This right to freedom of coins existed in the USA well into the 19th century ( free silver ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Helmut Kahnt, Bernd Knorr: Old dimensions, coins and weights. A lexicon. Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1986, licensed edition Mannheim / Vienna / Zurich 1987, ISBN 3-411-02148-9 , p. 390 (Coin law: state sovereign right to mint and issue coins or, in a broader sense, to issue money symbols).
- ↑ Bardo Faßbender, Christiane Wendehorst, Erika Wet, Anne Peters, Ralf Michaels, Christian Tietje, Hanno Merkt, Friedl Weiss, Jan Hein, Daniel Thürer: Paradigms in international law: Implications of the world financial crisis for international law , CF Müller Verlag , ISBN 978 -3-8114-5404-0 , p. 246.
- ^ Wilhelm Treue : Economic and technical history of Prussia , Verlag Walter de Gruyter , ISBN 978-3-11-009598-2 , p. 599.
- ^ A b Christoph Herrmann: Monetary sovereignty, currency constitution and subjective rights. Mohr Siebeck , ISBN 978-3-16-150008-4 , p. 387.
- ^ A b Christoph Herrmann: Monetary sovereignty, currency constitution and subjective rights. Mohr Siebeck, ISBN 978-3-16-150008-4 , p. 388.
- ↑ On the currency constitution based on the draft constitution for the European Union , Deutsche Bundesbank from November 2003.
- ^ Christoph Herrmann: Monetary sovereignty, monetary constitution and subjective rights. Mohr Siebeck, ISBN 978-3-16-150008-4 , p. 391.
- ↑ §§ 8 to 12 of the Scheidemünzengesetz 1988 , Federal Law Gazette No. 597/1998
