Constitution of the Kingdom of Bavaria from 1818

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Schematic representation of the constitution of 1818

The constitution of the Kingdom of Bavaria of 1818 was the second constitution of the Kingdom of Bavaria and was valid until the end of the monarchy in the November Revolution of 1918.

Emergence

On May 26, 1818, Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria - as the first of the five German kings - issued a new constitution "given to you from our free resolutions". Bavaria was the eighth state of the German Confederation to receive a written constitution. The background to their creation was to prevent Metternich's efforts to create a federal constitution. The constitution was unilaterally enacted by the king, but the king took an oath on the constitution, making it clear that he felt bound by it. In contrast to the Bavarian Constitution of May 1, 1808, the new constitution (formerly also referred to as "Constitution") regulated the question of popular representation more modern, but otherwise based on many points on the previous constitution.

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According to the monarchical principle , the king "united in himself all the rights of state authority", but exercised them "under the provisions laid down by him in the current constitutional document" (Title II § 1). The full separation of powers was not yet achieved, but the foundations were laid.

The “ Estates Assembly ” (called “Landtag” from 1848) was divided into two chambers (Title VII. From the sphere of activity of the Estates Assembly) . In the first chamber, the chamber of imperial councils , sat representatives of the high nobility and the clergy, as well as other persons appointed by the king. The second chamber was filled according to an indirect class electoral law , which provided for a census for the representatives of the cities (4th class) and simple landowners (5th class) . No law could be passed and no taxes could be levied without the consent of the Assembly of Estates. In addition, according to § 19, she had “the right to present to the king her common wishes and requests in the appropriate form in relation to all objects belonging to her sphere of activity” - a provision that contained the core of the right of legislative initiative and was in a special law in 1848 was formulated. Compared to modern constitutions there was no general, secret and direct right to vote , but this was further developed in 1848, 1881 and 1906 (see below).

The then comparatively progressive catalog of fundamental rights (Title IV. On general rights and duties) saw equal access to all public offices, security and freedom of the person, the right to inviolability of property, the right to a legal judge, freedom of conscience and, to a limited extent, freedom of the press , Equal burdens and freedom to emigrate . Title VII § 21 of the Constitution granted a right of petition .

Further development

Various electoral law reforms (apart from the repeal of certain paragraphs) were not reflected in the constitutional text, but were passed at the legislative level, but with the procedure necessary for constitutional amendments. With the law concerning the election of members of the state parliament of June 4, 1848, the active right to vote in the second chamber was extended to all male citizens of age who paid direct tax to the state and were not convicted of crimes (Article 5). To be elected as a Member of Parliament, you had to be 30 years of age (Article 7). With changes to the law, secret voting was introduced in 1881 and the electoral requirements were specified more precisely. The state election law of April 9, 1906 then introduced the direct election of members. The active and passive eligibility to vote for the second chamber now had men who were twenty-five years of age, had had Bavarian citizenship for at least a year, had paid the state a direct tax for at least a year and were not incapacitated, bankrupt or convicted of criminal offenses public poor relief received.

A state court was set up on March 30, 1850. Although this court was initially limited to ministerial charges, it was an important step on the way to institutionalizing constitutional justice in Bavaria.

When it joined the German Reich in 1871, extensive changes were necessary, for example to implement the Reich Justice Laws after 1877.

In October 1913, extracts from a legal opinion became known to the public, which classified the government of Prince Regent Ludwig in place of the nominal King Otto I as unconstitutional. A change in the Bavarian constitution therefore created the fundamental possibility of ending the reign in the event of a long-term illness of the king and allowing the next Wittelsbacher to ascend the Bavarian throne. Contrary to what is often claimed, the initiative for this constitutional amendment did not come from Prince Regent Ludwig, but from his ministers, particularly Finance Minister Georg Ritter von Breunig . After the Council of State and the two chambers of parliament had given their approval, the law to end the reign came into force on November 4, 1913. On November 5, 1913, Prince Regent Ludwig declared in a declaration signed by the Bavarian ministers that his reign was over and the throne was "finished", whereby King Otto I lost his rights as head of state. On the same day, the previous Prince Regent was named Ludwig III. proclaimed King of Bavaria.

Discussed since September 1917, an extensive constitutional reform was carried out on November 2, 1918 through an agreement between the Kgl. State government and all parliamentary groups closed, which contained the following points:

  • Introduction of proportional representation and women's suffrage ;
  • Expansion of the Chamber of Imperial Councils by legally defined representatives of certain professions while reducing the number of representatives of the royal family and limiting the powers to a double veto against decisions of the Chamber of Deputies.
  • Commitment of the ministers and the Bavarian parliamentary representatives to the trust of the Chamber of Deputies (parliamentarization).

King Ludwig III. agreed on the same day to convert the constitutional into a parliamentary monarchy . The proclamation of the republic on November 7th came before this.

After the revolution of 1918 , the short-lived basic state laws of January 4 and March 17, 1919 were followed by the Bamberg Constitution of 1919, which concluded the transition from the Kingdom to the Free State of Bavaria .

literature

  • Alfons Wenzel: Bavarian constitutional documents. Stamsried, 3rd edition, 2000.
  • Karl A. von Drechsel: The Reichsräte der Krone Bayern, Munich 1954 (= Folk genealogical contributions from Bavaria, Franconia and Swabia 1, supplement to The family researcher in Bavaria, Franconia and Swabia ), pp. 89-109.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Max Döllner : History of the development of the city of Neustadt an der Aisch until 1933. 1950; 2nd edition, Ph. CW Schmidt, Neustadt an der Aisch 1978, ISBN 3-87707-013-2 , p. 392.
  2. ↑ Albrecht: Prince Regent Time . Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-50451-5 , p. 412 (1047 p., Limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ^ Supreme declaration on the reign of November 5, 1913.
  4. ↑ 36th Landtag of the Kingdom of Bavaria (1912–1918)