Constitutional reality

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With constitutional reality are in the legal and political and historical science , partly, building on the constitutional theory of Carl Schmitt (1928), the realities within a political system called.

This descriptive view must be differentiated from the political order normatively prescribed by the constitution , because the formal role of the actors in a state can differ greatly from their real behavior, their rights and their influence. This can be clearly illustrated by the British political system : Formally, the head of state , i.e. the queen, has all sovereign rights of rule . In reality, the Parliament ( lower house ) and the Prime Minister elected by it are the actual bearers of power in the British state, which is why the constitutional text and constitutional reality differ greatly here .

Furthermore, the term is an important analytical tool in research on constitutional history , since the above-described facts must also be assumed for many historical state structures. For example, the political system of the Holy Roman Empire can not be adequately understood solely from constitutional sources. Other historical sources are to be consulted in order to grasp the political and social reality against the background of the traditional legal bases.

Examples from Austria

• Formally, the powers of the Austrian Federal President are very extensive. The constitution or the Federal Constitutional Act (B-VG) provides that he can dismiss the Federal Chancellor , the entire Federal Government (but not an individual minister) and dissolve the National Council . Yet this does not occur in constitutional reality. The Federal Chancellor, to whom only a few individual provisions are dedicated in the Federal Constitution, has a far greater political significance.
• The provincial governors' conference is an informal meeting of the nine provincial governors that is not provided for by the constitution . In addition to the Bundesrat, it is the most important political body for state cooperation as well as federalism in the Austrian political system .
• The Austrian model of social partnership .
• The Heiligenblut Agreement is a political agreement that was made between the then finance minister as a representative of the federal government and representatives of the federal states and municipalities. However, the agreement is not legally binding.

literature

• Wilhelm Hennis : Constitution and constitutional reality. Mohr (Siebeck), 1968.
• Erhard Denninger (ed.): Freedom, democratic basic order - materials on the understanding of the state and constitutional reality in the Federal Republic . Suhrkamp pocket book science, 1977, ISBN 978-3-518-27750-8 .
• In the name of freedom! Constitution and constitutional reality in Germany 1849 - 1919 - 1949 - 1989. Catalog for the exhibition at the DHM Berlin, Sandstein, Dresden 2008, ISBN 978-3-940319-47-0 .
• Franz Ronneberger : Constitutional Reality as a Political System . In: Der Staat , 1968, pp. 409-429, JSTOR 43639941

Web links

• Jutta Limbach : Constitutional claims and constitutional reality in the German unification process (PDF), lecture on the "Osnabrück Peace Day", the anniversary of the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, on October 24, 1996 in the Marienkirche. Osnabrück Yearbook Peace and Science 1997, pp. 83–91
• Human rights and constitutional reality in the GDR (PDF), Scientific Services of the German Bundestag , elaboration from April 24, 2009
• Constitution and constitutional reality , event organized by the Hanns Seidel Foundation , October 14, 2011