Constitution of the State of Thuringia
The constitution of the state of Thuringia regulated the state structure of the state of Thuringia at the time of the Weimar Republic . It came into force on March 11, 1921 and comprised 73 articles in eight sections.
history
Prehistory and origin
On May 1, 1920, the state of Thuringia was founded from seven small states. These were the Free State of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach , the Free State of Saxony-Meiningen , the Free State of Saxony-Gotha , the Free State of Saxony-Altenburg , the Free State of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt , the Free State of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen and the People's State of Reuss . These states emerged from the former monarchies after the monarchs abdicated between November 9 and 25, 1918. As a result, Reuss older line and Reuss younger line merged into one state on April 4, 1919 and the Free State of Coburg dissolved the union with the Free State of Gotha and joined Bavaria on July 1, 1920 .
Some of the predecessor states had long constitutional traditions, for example Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach had had their own constitutions since 1816, Saxony-Hildburghausen since 1818, Saxony-Coburg-Saalfeld and Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt since 1821 and Saxony-Meiningen since 1824. Only the Russian principalities, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen and Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg were still without constitutions in 1825, but introduced them after the revolution of 1848 .
The establishment of Thuringia as a free state in 1920 made a new constitution necessary for this state as a whole, since Article 17, paragraph 1 of the Weimar constitution stipulated that every German country must adopt a free state constitution. Just two weeks after the state was founded on May 12, 1920, the provisional constitution of the state of Thuringia came into force. It comprised 76 articles and was drawn up by the People's Council . It was put into effect by the Council of State, to which Arnold Paulssen , Hofmann and Carl von Brandenstein belonged. A first change to this preliminary constitution was made on November 4, 1921 when Article 73 was changed. It stated that the state parliament may amend the draft constitution with a simple majority until November 12, 1920. This period was extended to March 31, 1921. The constitution of the state of Thuringia finally came into force on March 11, 1921. It was a slightly modified version of the draft, which had been valid since 1920 and had been worked out by Eduard Rosenthal . The constitution was put into force in Weimar with the signature of the leading ministers of state Arnold Paulssen, Carl Freiherr von Brandenstein and August Frölich .
De jure , the constitution was valid from 1921 until a new state constitution was passed on December 20, 1946. De facto, the constitution lost its function with the introduction of the law on bringing the states into line with the Reich on March 31, 1933.
Changes
Changes were made in 1926 and 1929. On December 21, 1926, Article 6 was changed. Paragraph 1 stipulates that the state parliament must have at least 53 members. In paragraph 2 it was stipulated that in future a party would no longer have to receive 12,000 votes, but rather 15,000 votes for a seat in the state parliament. Paragraph 3 was added. He regulated the mechanism in the event that fewer than 53 MPs came about when the state election results were counted according to the 15,000-vote rule.
On May 3, 1929, Articles 6, 9 and 33 were changed. In Article 6, the mode in paragraph 3 was changed again. In Article 9, Paragraph 2, it was added who represents the members of the electoral review court (in the event of a contestation of a state election result) if they cannot take part in the court. A paragraph has been added to Article 33 which requires a committee to be heard in the event of the introduction of an emergency law. One member of every party represented in the state parliament should belong to this committee.
content
The constitution is divided into eight sections with 73 articles.
The first section of national territory. State authority. comprises articles 1 to 4 and defines the scope of the constitution. The first article defines Thuringia as a free state and a member state of the German Reich . The second article names the states from which Thuringia was formed and grants the possibility to change the state border by law. The third article stipulates that all state power emanates from the people and that the state parliament and state government have to carry out the will of the people. The right to vote includes the Article 4 for all men and women of German nationality over 20 years who have their primary residence in Thuringia.
The second section of the state parliament. regulates the basis, structure and powers of the Landtag and includes Articles 5 to 23. The Landtag is the legislative power , provides the state government and oversees the administration (Article 5). Its members are determined by a state election with a legislative period of three years. The proportional representation system applies (Article 6). Only those who have been resident in Thuringia for six months before the election can become a member of the state parliament (Article 7). In voting, the MPs are not bound by their parties and are only bound by the national welfare and their conscience (Article 10). The state parliament has a quorum if at least 50% of the MPs are present. For a constitutional amendment, however, at least two thirds of the MPs must be present, of which at least two thirds must agree in order for a constitutional amendment to become legally binding (Article 14). In principle, the meetings are public (Article 15). The Landtag may dissolve if this is decided by a referendum or at least 50% of all MPs (Article 16), but new elections must take place immediately afterwards and the Landtag has a quorum again no later than 70 days after its dissolution (Article 17). Article 23 stipulates that if there is any doubt about the legality of the authorities' actions, a committee of inquiry must be formed in the state parliament.
The third section, referendum and referendum. includes Articles 24 to 27 and regulates when and how referendums may take place. Referendums must take place if at least 10% of the electorate (around 100,000 people) demand the amendment, introduction or abolition of a law, a constitutional amendment or the dissolution of the state parliament. In the case of a referendum , an amended draft law must also be submitted to the state government. If this is then accepted by the state parliament, the referendum will not take place. In the case of referendums, laws on taxes to the state or the remuneration of its employees are excluded. Referendums and referendums are only accepted if at least 50% of those eligible to vote participate and at least 50% of them vote yes.
The fourth section legislation. includes Articles 28 to 33 and regulates the legislative process. Laws can be introduced by the state parliament or the government and passed by the state parliament or through a referendum (Article 28). Article 33 allows the state government to enact “emergency laws” in urgent cases. This is possible if the state parliament does not have a quorum (e.g. because it has been dissolved). The only thing that these laws are not allowed to violate the constitution is that they are not subject to any further regulations. If the state parliament meets again and has a quorum, it must immediately vote on the emergency law and thereby confirm or repeal it.
The fifth section The state government. comprises Articles 34 to 47 and regulates the rights and obligations of the government . The members of the government are elected by the state parliament (Article 35). The cabinet is sworn in by the President of the State Parliament with the oath: You vow to devote all your energy to the well-being of the people, to conscientiously fulfill the duties of the office entrusted to you and to carefully observe the laws, in particular the Reich and State Constitution. A reference to God was not included in this oath (Article 37). The state parliament can withdraw confidence in the state government or an individual minister by at least one third of the members requesting this and then at least half of the members agreeing to it. Government members are not allowed to engage in any other activity for which they receive remuneration. In the constitution, this applies in particular to activities on company boards and supervisory boards (Article 44). A Prime Minister is not provided for in the Thuringian constitution. The state government only elects a minister who chairs the meetings and represents the state externally (Article 45).
The sixth section of the State Court. comprises Articles 48 to 54 and regulates the control of the executive by the judiciary . The State Court of Justice has its seat in Jena and is headed by the President of the Thuringian Higher Regional Court in Jena. It decides on state parliament charges against members of the state government and can either acquit them, disapprove of them or remove them from office. The State Court of Justice can also decide on constitutional disputes if this is requested by the Landtag or the government.
The seventh section, finance. includes Articles 55 to 62 and regulates the state government's handling of the budget. Every year the government has to draw up a budget and plan and report income and expenditure for one year (Article 55). Government bonds may only be included in exceptional cases where there is a special need (Article 59). The state parliament must approve the purchase and sale of state property such as land worth over 50,000 marks (Article 61). In addition, the constitution stipulates that state assets should be preserved and enlarged (Article 62).
The transitional and final provisions include Articles 63 to 73 regulating various problems between the seven predecessor states and the legal successor, the state of Thuringia. This applies, for example, to the sponsorship of the University of Jena (Article 68) and the like.
Comparison with the 1993 constitution
In 1993, the re-established state of Thuringia again gave itself a constitution. However, there are significant differences between the two constitutions. The first 43 articles of the 1993 constitution are devoted to fundamental rights, national goals and the organization of the community. Such content is completely absent in the 1921 constitution, as it was already laid down in the Weimar constitution for the entire Reich of 1919 and in the Weimar Republic there was imperial law over land law (even today, federal law over land law, which is why the first 43 articles of the constitution of 1993 have more of a symbolic meaning and only supplement the Basic Law in individual cases). Articles 44 to 103 of the 1993 constitution are divided into eight sections and regulate the structure of the state, with some parallels to the 1921 constitution. Articles 1 to 4 of the old constitution roughly correspond to articles 44 to 47 of the new constitution. The structure of the other sections in the new constitution is similar to that in the old constitution, although their content differs greatly in some cases. In the old constitution, the Landtag has an extremely strong position, which is opposed to a weaker position of the government. In addition, the Chief Minister of State has only very few powers. In the current constitution, the government with the prime minister is stronger compared to the old order, while the state parliament is weaker. In addition, a government needs a parliamentary majority to govern, while minority state governments were the rule during the Weimar Republic. The Prime Minister can now put together his cabinet according to his will, whereas in the past the ministers were determined and elected by the Landtag.
literature
- Bernhard Post, Volker Mahl, Dieter Marek: Thuringia Handbook - Territory, Constitution, Parliament, Government and Administration in Thuringia 1920 to 1995 . Verlag Hermann Böhlaus successor, Weimar 1999, ISBN 3-7400-0962-4 .