Assembly of the Kingdom of Hanover

The Leineschloss , seat of the meeting of the estates; Steel engraving by Hoffmeister after Osterwald , around 1858

The state assembly of the Kingdom of Hanover was the Parliament of the Kingdom of Hanover . Their seat was the Leineschloss in Hanover .

prehistory

In the Electorate of Braunschweig-Lüneburg there were no uniform states . Based on the territorial fragmentation of the nominally still existing Duchy of Braunschweig-Lüneburg and the adjoining principalities, the electorate was able to gradually unite a large number of landscapes with respective estates. During the largest territorial expansion of the electorate there were 7 landscapes. Due to the elector's distance from government, who increasingly ruled in London , the estates were able to develop a life of their own. The estates are mainly composed of the landed nobility. In addition, the Evangelical Church was represented by its prelates and the cities by representatives of their magistrates.

After the surrender of Hanover in 1803 in the Artlenburg Convention as part of the Napoleonic Wars , most of the electorate was dissolved in the Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807 or 1810 . Here the imperial estates of the Kingdom of Westphalia existed as a parliament.

At the Congress of Vienna in 1814, the Kingdom of Hanover was established as the successor state to the Electorate of Braunschweig-Lüneburg . On August 12, 1814, a general diet was convened from all regions of the kingdom. This was the first Reich-wide assembly of estates in Hanover. It consisted of 10 deputies from the old spiritual founders, 43 knightly, 29 municipal and 3 non-noble deputies. Herbord Sigismund Ludwig von Bar was president of this provisional general assembly of estates for the Kingdom of Hanover .

Constitution of 1819

Federal Act of 1815

By joining the German Confederation , Hanover had undertaken, in accordance with Section 13 of the German Federal Act , to give itself a so-called state constitution . With the constitution of December 7, 1819, this obligation was complied with and the assembly of estates of the Kingdom of Hanover was established. In addition to the assembly of estates of the empire, the estates of the landscapes continued to exist as provincial estates. Provincial affairs did not fall within the competence of the assembly of estates but of the provincial estates.

The meeting of the estates consisted of two chambers:

The noble landowners and representatives of the church were represented in the first chamber. The cities were represented in the second chamber. While in the previous states of the Landscapes only the magistrates determined the representatives, now half of the deputies were elected by the citizenships. Both chambers were equal.

The assembly of estates had the right to approve (or refuse) taxes and had to be consulted when passing laws. They also had the right to turn to the monarch with bills. The sovereignty and the right to legislate (or change the constitution) rested with the king.

Constitution of 1833

The first chamber of the Estates Assembly asked the government in 1831 that the King should pass a new constitution and allow the Estates Assembly to take part in the deliberations. But it was only under the impact of the French July Revolution of 1830 and the associated turmoil in Germany that King Wilhelm IV issued a new constitution on September 26, 1833, the Basic Law of the Kingdom of Hanover , the sixth chapter of which regulated the estates.

First chamber

According to this constitution, the first chamber consisted of

the royal princes, sons of the king, and the heads of the branches of the royal family,
the Duke of Aremberg , the Duke of Looz-Corswarem and the Prince of Bentheim , as long as they remain in possession of their media territories ,
the Hereditary Marshal of the Kingdom,
the Counts of Stolberg-Wernigerode and Stolberg-Stolberg because of the County of Hohnstein ,
the Hereditary Postmaster General, Count of Platen-Hallermund ,
the abbot of Loccum monastery ,
the abbot of St. Michaelis in Lüneburg ,
the president of the Bremen knighthood as director of the Neuenwalde monastery ,
the Catholic bishop or bishops of the kingdom,
two respected evangelical clergymen to be appointed for the duration of the state parliament,
Majorate lords who have been given personal hereditary voting rights by the sovereign rulers ,
four members appointed by the king. One of these members is appointed for life, the other three are appointed for the duration of the Landtag,
the deputies of the knighthoods to be elected for the duration of each state parliament, namely:

from the Calenberg-Grubenhagen knighthood eight,
from the Lüneburgische seven,
from the Bremen and Verdenschen six,
from the Hoya and Diepholzische three,
from the Osnabrück knighthood, including Meppen and Lingen, five,
from the Hildesheim knighthood four,
from the East Frisian two.

Regarding the major rulers (who have personal hereditary voting rights), it was limited to major rulers who earn at least 6000 thalers annual income from a manor located in the kingdom and real estate .

Second chamber

The second chamber consisted of

ten clergy and scholars
37 members of the cities and municipalities
38 members of the landscapes

The ten clergy and scholars are composed as follows:

three deputies from the parishes of the Münsterkirche St. Bonifatius in Hameln , St. Cosmas and Damian in Wunstorf , Sankt Alexandri and Beatae Mariä Virginis in Einbeck , the Bardowiek monastery and the Ramelsloh monastery ,
three members appointed by the king,
a deputy from the University of Göttingen ,
two deputies to be elected by the Protestant Royal Consistory,
a deputy of the cathedral chapter of Hildesheim ,

In addition, the cities and municipalities elected 37 members. In addition to two deputies from the royal seat of Hanover, there was one from each of the cities of Göttingen , Northeim , Hameln , Einbeck , Osterode , Duderstadt , Münden , Lüneburg , Uelzen , Celle , Harburg , Stade , Buxtehude , Verden , Nienburg , Osnabrück , Goslar , Hildesheim , Emden , North , empty . Each of the following constituencies sent one MP:

Moringen , Uslar , Hardegsen , Dransfeld and Hedemünden ,
Münder , Pattensen , Neustadt am Rübenberge , Springe , Wunstorf , Eldagsen , Bodenwerder and Rehburg ,
Clausthal and Zellerfeld ,
the remaining five mining towns, including Herzberg , Elbingerode and Lauterberg ,
Lüchow , Dannenberg and Hitzacker ,
Soltau , Walsrode , Burgdorf and Gifhorn ,
the Hoyaic spots,
the Diepholzischen spots,
Quakenbrück and Fürstenau and the Fleckens Melle,
Meppen , Lingen and Haselünne ,
Alfeld , Peine and Bockenem ,
Elze , Gronau , Sarstedt and Dassel ,
Aurich and Esens ,
Schüttorf , Nordhorn and Neuenhaus and the patch of Bentheim;

The 38 other deputies were elected by the landowners of the places not listed above:

five from the principalities of Calenberg , Göttingen and Grubenhagen ,
from the county of Hohnstein ,
from the principality of Lüneburg five,
from the Bremen marshes five,
from the Bremische Geest and the Duchy of Verden three,
from the land of Hadeln including the town of Otterndorf two,
from counties Hoya and Diepholz three,
from the Principality of Osnabrück three,
two from the Duchy of Arenberg-Meppen and the Lower County of Lingen ,
from the Principality of Hildesheim three,
from the Principality of East Friesland five,
from the county of Bentheim one.

This confirmed the Assembly's right to tax approval, which had existed since 1819, made new laws dependent on their approval and authorized them to bring charges against ministers who were unconstitutional. However, this constitutional constitution only remained in force for four years.

The constitutional conflict of 1837

King Ernst August, who had already protested against the constitution as heir to the throne, abolished the estates on November 30, 1837 and declared it to be repealed on November 1, 1837, a few months after his accession to the throne, he had refused from the start. This step attracted considerable attention not only in Hanover, but in all of Germany and was in particular the trigger for the famous protest of the Göttingen Seven . As early as 1840, Hanover received a constitution again that contained important liberal provisions, such as For example, the ministers' responsibility to the assembly of estates was absent, which, however, was largely similar to the one that was repealed.

The 1840 constitution

According to this constitution, the first chamber was composed largely analogously to the chamber of 1833. Changes: The number of respected Protestant clergymen to be appointed for the duration of the state parliament was reduced to one. The director of the royal domain chamber and the presidents of the higher tax and treasury college became members of the chamber by virtue of office. Also new were the members of the treasury elected in the provincial landscapes, who had to be noble members of a knighthood. The king could also appoint a nobleman as a member.

The composition of the second chamber was also very similar to the previous regulation. The cities had one less mandate, the other areas one more.

The revolution of 1848

In Hanover, too, the liberals gained the upper hand as part of the March Revolution . The king was forced to issue a new constitution by decree of September 5, 1848. This changed in particular the composition of the First Chamber, into which representatives of the trade and industry were elected.

The meeting of the estates now received extensive budget rights and the right to initiate legislation .

With the victory of the reaction , the monarch wanted the old conditions to be restored in Hanover as well. However, the meeting of the estates resisted and refused to approve the change in the law. With a decree of August 4, 1855, the king restored the constitution and the electoral law of 1840 without the approval of the estates.

End of the kingdom

After the defeat in the German War , the independence of the Kingdom of Hanover ended. It was incorporated into Prussia as the province of Hanover . This also ended the mandate of the estates. The provincial parliament of the Province of Hanover was then elected to represent the people.

Members

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Sabine Kempf: Elections to the assembly of estates in the Kingdom of Hanover 1848 - 1866: suffrage, electoral politics, election campaigns and voting decisions; Frankfurt am Main 2007; ISBN 3-631-55873-2

Web links

Individual evidence

^ Michael Wrage: The State Council in the Kingdom of Hanover 1839-1866. Lit Verlag, Münster 2001, ISBN 978-3-8258-5401-0 , p. 5 Preview in the Google book search

[1] Michael Wrage: The State Council in the Kingdom of Hanover 1839-1866. Lit Verlag, Münster 2001, ISBN 978-3-8258-5401-0 , p. 5 Preview in the Google book search