Prussian Police Administration Act
The Prussian Police Administration Act of June 1, 1931 laid down the concept of police uniformly for the entire Prussian state and pointed the way for the further systematization of German police law.
The change in the definition of the police from the Middle Ages to modern times
According to the prevailing opinion today , the term police includes those activities that are characterized by the fact that they serve to avert dangers to public safety or order. It is the result of a long historical development process.
Police comes from the Greek word politeia (πολιτεία), which described the entire state administration. As a policeman in the 15th century, it found its way into the official German language and, in its original meaning, described a state of good order in the community (welfare of the state). The Reich Police Regulations of 1530, 1548 and 1577 and the State Police Regulations were based on this. In order to maintain a state of “good police”, they contained comprehensive regulations for almost all areas of life of the subjects. In the absolutist German territorial states, police power became the epitome of the absolute state power to which the prince was entitled. The liberal-minded Enlightenment turned against this broad definition of the police and the monarch's police violence that goes with it . In 1770, the constitutional lawyer Johann Stephan Pütter demanded : “... The task of the police is to ensure that impending dangers are averted; Promoting welfare is not really the job of the police. ”His theories found expression in the Prussian General Land Law from 1794. It codified civil law , criminal law and large parts of public law in a single code. With regard to police law, Section 10, Title 17, Part II, contained the following provision: "The office of the police is to take the necessary steps to maintain public peace, security and order and to avert danger to the public or individual members of the same".
On the basis of this definition, the Law on Police Administration of March 11, 1850 contained special legal provisions. With its Kreuzberg judgment of June 14, 1882 , the Prussian Higher Administrative Court limited police powers to the area of hazard prevention. In other German states, such as Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg, the police penal codes issued between 1839 and 1871 mainly contained provisions relating to the prevention and prosecution of criminal offenses in addition to the security provisions.
Origin of the law
According to Article 9 No. 2 of the Weimar Constitution (WRV) , the Reich had the legislative competence for the protection of public order and security, "as far as there is a need for the adoption of uniform regulations." The Prussian Police Administration Act, however, was not made uniform by the Reichstag Valid for the entire German Reich , but issued by the Prussian Landtag with validity only for the Free State of Prussia , because the Reich had not made use of its legislative rights and therefore the states had retained the right to legislate (Art. 12 WRV).
The results of the case law of the Prussian Higher Administrative Court have been taken up and systematized by police science and are reflected in the body of law. The genesis of the law is closely linked to the person of Wilhelm Arnold Drews . As President of the Prussian Higher Administrative Court and advisor to the Minister of the Interior, he had lasting influence on Prussia's police reform policy.
In the years 1928 to 1931, thanks to the preparatory work of Wilhelm Drew by the speakers of the Prussian Minister of the Interior , Christian Kerstiens and Robert Kempner , the set of regulations was finalized. It came into force on October 1, 1931 , following publication in the Prussian Collection of Laws (p. 77).
After 1949, the law again formed the basis of police law in the federal German states and thus also for the model draft of a uniform police law of 1977. In the former Prussian areas of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the law remained formally valid until March 31, 1966, in the state of Berlin until August 31, 1975 and in Saarland even until December 31, 1989. The origins of the state police laws that were subsequently enacted also go back to the Prussian Police Administration Act.
The regulations of police matters in the GDR were based on the Prussian Police Administration Act until June 30, 1968.
Structure of the law
In material terms, the law contains the principles of police law developed in the German Empire , which were largely adopted unchanged after 1918.
- Section I: Holders of Police Force (Section 1)
- Section II: The police authorities (Sections 2–8)
- Section III: The police supervisory authorities (§§ 9-13)
- Section IV: Duties of the police authorities (§§ 14-17)
- Section V: Persons obligated to police: those who disrupt activities, those who disrupt property, those who do not disturb (§§ 18-21)
- Section VI: Local jurisdiction (§§ 22-23)
- Section VII: Police Regulations (Sections 24–39)
- Section VIII: Police orders (§§ 40-52)
- Section IX: Means of coercion by the police authorities (Sections 55-57)
- Section X: other orders from the police authorities (Section 58)
- Section XI: The police penal orders (§§59-69)
- Section XII: Claims for damages from police orders (§§ 70-73)
- Section XIII: Transitional and Final Provisions (Sections 79-84)
The general police clause regulated in Section 14 (1) can be found almost word for word as the basis of authorization for police security measures in all current police laws of the federal states and has the following wording: "The police authorities have to take the measures necessary according to their dutiful discretion in order to benefit from the To ward off dangers to the general public or to the individual, which threaten public safety or order. ”This provision contains both a description of tasks and an authorization for the police authorities to intervene. The "protection of public security" is aimed at damage that endangers the existence of the state or its institutions, life, health, freedom or honor of the individual or property in general. The “protection of public order” includes all norms that guarantee a prosperous, humane and civic coexistence. The term "dutiful discretion" gives the police a certain amount of leeway, which can be particularly relevant in dangerous situations that are not defined as such in the laws or for which no precise behavior is prescribed in the laws or service instructions. The police action must be appropriate and necessary.
literature
- Erich Klausener , Christian Kerstiens , Robert Kempner (eds.): The Police Administration Act of June 1, 1931. Text edition with source material and brief explanations. Berlin: Publishing house for law and administration, 1931.
- Karl Friedrichs: Police Administration Act. Comment. Berlin, 1932.
- Christian Kerstiens: Police Administration Act with implementing provisions. Berlin: C. Heymann, 1934.
- Wilhelm Franzen: Teaching Commentary on the Police Administration Act, Vol. 2. Bamberg, 1934.
- Andreas Schwegel: 70 years of the Prussian Police Administration Act . In: Archives for Police History 2001, pp. 79–89.
Web links
- Stefan Naas : The emergence of the Prussian Police Administration Act of 1931. A contribution to the history of police law in the Weimar Republic. Mohr Siebeck, 2003. Table of contents .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans Lisken , Erhard Denninger : Handbuch des Polizeirechts, Munich 1992, A 50
- ^ Hans Schneider: Police law. Prussian Police Administration Act and other provisions on police in the federal and state levels. Munich and Berlin: CH Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1950.
- ↑ cf. Prussian Police Administration Act in the new version applicable to the area of responsibility of the police based on the announcement of November 27, 1953 . GV. NW. 1953, p. 403.
- ↑ Willi Kruse: Law on regulatory authorities with the law on organization and responsibility for the police, the law on police administration and the law on administrative enforcement. Hamburg: Verlag Deutsche Polizei GmbH , 1957.
- ^ Prussian Police Administration Act of June 1, 1931 as amended. d. G. No. 1012 of November 13, 1974 (Official Journal p. 1011). Saarland University , accessed on August 11, 2020.
- ↑ Ralph Glücksmann: Prussian Police Administration Act Commentary, 1st edition 2005.
