Reservation rights (German Empire)
In the German Empire of 1871, reservation rights were the special rights of the kingdoms of Bavaria , Württemberg and Saxony , the Grand Duchy of Baden and the Hanseatic cities of Bremen , Hamburg and Lübeck . The term reservation rights is not mentioned in the Imperial Constitution of 1871 itself. In addition to the same membership and sovereignty rights for all countries , which followed the "principle of general legal equality of the member states " ( ER Huber ), the states mentioned had special membership rights ( Prussia is also to be mentioned here) and special sovereign rights. The otherwise existing powers of the Reich for legislation and legal supervision were restricted or modified by them.
Special membership rights
- Prussia: Right of the Prussian crown to the empire.
- Bavaria : Deputy Chair in the Federal Council , Chair in the Federal Council Committee for Foreign Affairs (which never met), permanent seat in the Federal Council Committee for the Land Army and the fortresses .
- Saxony : Permanent seat in the Federal Council committees for foreign affairs as well as for the armed forces and the fortresses.
- Württemberg : permanent seat in the Federal Council committees for foreign affairs as well as for the armed forces and the fortresses.
Special sovereign rights
- Baden: State law regulation of the beer and spirits tax .
- Bavaria: State legal regulation of beer and spirits tax; state regulation of settlement and home law; provincial legal reservation in the field of real estate insurance; independent organization and management of the postal and telegraph systems and the income generated from them. The rights to which the Reich was entitled in the area of railways were not applied in Bavaria - with the exception of rules relating to military railways . Right of the Bavarian king to command the Bavarian army in peacetime (based on the military convention of November 1870). Bavaria also retained the right to have its own embassies at home and abroad.
- Saxony: Limited special rights in the field of military administration in peacetime, the Saxon king was chief (not commander-in-chief ) of the Saxon army , right of the Saxon king to appoint officers below the general ranks .
- Württemberg: State law regulation of beer and spirits tax; independent organization and management of the postal and telegraph systems and the income generated from them; independent administration of the railway system; independent rights in the field of military administration based on the military convention of November 1870. The chief of the troops of the Württemberg army was the king of Württemberg .
- Hanseatic cities: Operation of free ports outside the common customs borders . This regulation was based on the constitution of the North German Confederation .
The concession of these rights helped to induce the southern German states to conclude the constitutional treaties of November 1870. These reservation rights were guarded with suspicion as a sign of state independence in the states south of the Main and made a decisive contribution to overcoming the psychological hurdle of suddenly being ruled by Prussia.
literature
- Ernst Rudolf Huber : German constitutional history since 1789 . Vol. 3. Stuttgart 1963
- Jeserich, Pohl, Unruh (eds.): German administrative history. Stuttgart 1983-1987.
