Emergency Act
As emergency laws are laws called for a crisis situation in which a State may seek the opinion of the authority that the state of emergency declared, can not be governed by the ordinary constitutional procedures. The way out is seen in delegating certain powers to the government or individuals. The concept of emergency law can be used both for the state of emergency, in which state organs are authorized to enact emergency laws, and for all of the laws enacted in a state in this way. Emergency law and emergency legislation have long been controversial, and critics fear in particular the misuse of the instrument to build an autocratically governed state.
Emergency laws are often an attempt to create rules during a functioning democracy that come into force in certain cases that are also previously defined. Examples are the emergency laws in Germany, the emergency provisions of the Austrian Federal Constitution or the emergency law of Switzerland and its cantons.
Some claim that a government or a country must be prepared for crisis situations and that the democratic opinion-forming process is too slow, too inflexible and disruptive for this. On the other hand, emergency laws often override democratic rights and lead to abuse of power , such as the Enabling Act ( law to remedy the needs of the people and the Reich ) of March 24, 1933, through which Adolf Hitler was empowered without the consent of the Reichstag and Reichsrat as well as to enact laws without countersigning the Reich President .
It also doubts whether there is any point in enacting laws in the event that the state breaks down. Then, strictly speaking, there would be no one left who could monitor compliance with these laws. For example, the German emergency laws created a right of resistance against anyone who wants to abolish the constitutional order .
