Imperial Court (Austria)

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Reichsgericht was the name of the public law court of the kingdoms and countries of Austria-Hungary represented in the Reichsrat , which existed from 1869 to early 1919. According to the Constitutional Law of 1867 , the Court of Justice, with its seat in Vienna , already exercised some of the functions that are performed by the Constitutional Court in the Republic of Austria .

Legal basis

The so-called December constitution , enacted in the wake of the Austro-Hungarian compromise of 1867 for the Austrian half of the empire, came into force on December 22, 1867, comprised six basic laws, including the constitutional law on the establishment of an imperial court on the initiative of the constitutional committee of the Reichsrat . In thought, one resorted to provisions in draft constitution from 1848/1849, which had already provided for an imperial court.

Competencies

The Reichsgericht had the task

  • Resolve conflicts of jurisdiction between different regional authorities or between courts and administrative authorities,
  • to recognize violations of the constitutionally guaranteed political rights (i.e. essentially the rights guaranteed in the state constitution on the general rights of citizens ) by the administrative authorities,
  • about claims against the kingdoms and countries represented in the Imperial Council as a whole or against one of them, if these claims could not be brought before the ordinary courts.

The Reichsgericht was not responsible for deciding on charges by members of the Reichsrat against ministers and on criminal charges against ministers. For this purpose, a state court was provided in 1867 , which never took action.

activity

The Reichsgericht had its seat in Vienna (1., Nibelungengasse 4). It began operating on June 21, 1869. It consisted of a president (the first incumbent was Karl von Krauss , former Minister of Justice) and a vice-president, both appointed by the Kaiser without an official proposal , as well as twelve competent members and four substitutes, also appointed by the Kaiser. The two chambers of the Reichsrat , the manor house and the house of representatives , had the right to propose three members for six members and two substitutes each. All appointments were for life.

In 1913 the Tyrolean Karl Grabmayr von Angerheim was appointed (last) President of the Imperial Court by the Kaiser. On November 23, 1918, when the monarchy had already disintegrated, the court announced that there would be public sessions in the official Wiener Zeitung from December 9 to 17, during which a. Galician affairs had been negotiated. Ten days later the December session was adjourned indefinitely without giving any reason .

For the territory of the state of German Austria , the tasks of the Reichsgericht were transferred to this new court as its first president on the basis of the law of January 25, 1919 on the establishment of a German-Austrian constitutional court , which was announced on January 30, 1919 and thus came into force Paul Vittorelli was appointed by the State Council, the executive committee of the National Assembly. The other areas of the former Cisleithanien cases were handed over to the respective successor states. Karl Grabmayr was appointed President of the new Administrative Court by the State Council .

literature

  • Johann von Spaun: The Imperial Court. The laws and ordinances relating to the same, including legal materials and an overview of the relevant judicature and literature . Manz, Vienna 1904.
  • Karl v. Grabmayr: Memories of a Tyrolean politician 1892–1920. From the estate of the author who died in 1923 . Wagner, Innsbruck 1955 (Schlern writings 135)
  • Friedrich Lehne: Legal protection in public law: State Court, Reichsgericht, Verwaltungsgerichtshof , in: Verwaltung und Rechtswesen (Die Habsburgermonarchie 1848-1918. 2), Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1975, pp. 663–715, ISBN 3-7001- 0081-7 .
  • Kurt Heller: The Constitutional Court. The development of constitutional jurisdiction in Austria from the beginning to the present . Publishing house Austria: Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-7046-5495-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ RGBl. No. 143/1867 (= p. 397)
  2. ↑ a b 1867 to 1918 - forerunners in the monarchy: Reichsgericht - Staatsgerichtshof . Section under the History: Overview page on the Constitutional Court website.
  3. ↑ daily newspaper Wiener Zeitung , Vienna, no. 271, November 23, 1918 p.1
  4. ↑ daily newspaper Wiener Zeitung , Vienna, no. 279, December 3, 1918 p.6
  5. ↑ StGBl. No. 48/1919 (= p. 78)