Imperial Constitution

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Reichsgesetzblatt (published on April 28, 1849) with the constitution of March 28, 1849, the day of the last vote in the Frankfurt National Assembly .

The term imperial constitution primarily refers to the constitutions of the German Reich . There was also an imperial constitution for the Austrian Empire from 1849. Constitutions of other countries can also be referred to in German as “imperial constitution” if the name in the original language suggests this. In German history one thinks of the Paulskirche constitution of March 28, 1849, which was not implemented, of the Bismarckian constitution of April 16, 1871 or the Weimar constitution of August 11, 1919.

The Holy Roman Empire had no constitution in the present sense . The constitutional order of the German Empire up to 1806 was partly laid down in the basic imperial laws such as the Golden Bull of 1356, partly it was determined by generally recognized legal principles and traditional customary law .

The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany today is the constitution of Germany .

Paulskirche constitution

The constitution of the Frankfurt National Assembly of March 28, 1849 was entitled Constitution of the German Empire . It is also called the Paulskirche constitution , after the Frankfurt Paulskirche , the place of assembly. In the German Revolution of 1848/49 , the individual German states had members elected to this assembly in April and May 1848 in order to work out a constitution for a newly founded German Empire. The Paulskirche constitution remained only a draft, as fear of revolution had subsided and the German princes refused to allow the draft to become a reality as a constitutional basis.

Bismarck's Imperial Constitution

Draft for the North German Federal Constitution, 1866
First and last page of the constitutional charter of 1871

After the German war between Austria and Prussia in 1866, Prussia and the other northern German states founded the first German federal state . This North German Confederation received a constitution that came into force on July 1, 1867. She had agreed on the alliance of the princes involved on the one hand and a constituent Reichstag , which had been specially elected for the agreement in February 1867. The constitution of the North German Confederation or North German Federal Constitution of April 16, 1867 was largely drafted in the Prussian State Ministry under Otto von Bismarck , the Prussian Prime Minister. The constitution provided for a federal council to represent the princes and a parliament elected by the people , which jointly passed laws . The aim was to avoid any federal centralism and to consolidate the Prussian hegemony in the North German Confederation. The Prussian king was the holder of the Federal Presidium and appointed the Federal Chancellor, the head of the executive .

During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/1871, the southern German states of Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden as well as Hessen-Darmstadt joined the North German Confederation. The corresponding November treaties between the states partly contained the draft of a new federal constitution or agreements on constitutional amendments and special rules for certain states ( reservation rights , such as a separate army for Bavaria in peacetime). In addition, the Federal Council and the Reichstag decided in December 1870 to name the Bund Deutsches Reich and the Federal Presidium as German Emperors . Often terms with a covenant persisted. The essential constitutional provisions (such as the rights of the state organs ) remained the same, the overall text was relatively little changed.

These changes have already been partially summarized in the constitution of the German Confederation or the German Reich. It was announced on December 31, 1870 in the Federal Law Gazette and came into force on January 1, 1871. In Art. 80 it declared a large number of North German federal laws for laws of the German Confederation. On May 4, 1871, a renewed constitution came into force, the constitution of the German Empire . Changes were especially some names, mostly from federal to Reich , and there was no way. 80 more, which would have even mentioned the federal laws. This constitution is usually meant when one speaks of the Bismarckian constitution .

Weimar Constitution

Book cover of the Constitution of the German Empire from 1919

The Bismarck constitution was de facto disregarded on November 9, 1918 , after Chancellor Max von Baden unconstitutionally transferred his office to the Social Democrat Friedrich Ebert . Ebert had the Council of People's Representatives call for elections for a new constituent assembly, the Weimar National Assembly . She drafted the Weimar Constitution (WVerf.), A substantially new text based on a draft by the liberal Interior Minister Hugo Preuss . It was drawn up on August 11, 1919 - this day was later solemnly celebrated as constitutional day on the initiative of the SPD , DDP and the center to honor the constitution - and it came into force on August 14, 1919. The official title was the Constitution of the German Reich , and the Weimar Constitution (WRV) is often used.

Other constitutions

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The constitution of the North German Confederation , in: LeMO - joint project of the German Historical Museum (DHM) and the House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany (HdG)

Web links