Constitution of the Saarland

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The constitution of the Saarland ( short: SVerf) is the state constitution of the German federal state Saarland .

Basic data
Title: Constitution of the Saarland
Abbreviation: SVerf
Type: State Law
Scope: Saarland
Legal matter: Constitutional law
References : BS Saar No. 100-1
Issued on: December 15, 1947
( Official Journal p. 1077)
Entry into force on: December 17, 1947
Last change by: Art. 1 AA dated June 15, 2011
(Official Journal p. 236)
Effective date of the
last change: 		August 1, 2012
(Art. 2 Amendment Act of June 15, 2011)
Please note the note on the applicable legal version.

history

Emergence

Constitution of the Saarland

After the Second World War , France originally intended to split off the entire area on the left bank of the Rhine from Germany . However, these plans were rejected at the Allied Foreign Ministers' conferences. As a result, France tried to separate the Saarland from Germany and to integrate the Saarland economy into the French economy ( see also: History of the Saarland ).

By order of the military governor Grandval , a constitutional commission was elected on May 23, 1947 through the appointment of 20 commissioners . This worked out a draft constitution, which, however, was not accepted by the French occupying powers .

The military government therefore submitted a memorandum to the commission, which should be taken into account in the constitution. The Saarland should:

  • economically and monetarily linked to France
  • therefore adapt to France in terms of customs and currency law
  • be spun off from Germany and given political autonomy
  • leave foreign relations and defense to France
  • a French high commissioner with ordinance and supervisory law to ensure economic connection

These points have been included in the preamble to the Constitution:

Preamble to the Saarland constitution of December 15, 1947 (OJ p. 1077)
The people of the Saar, called upon to reorganize their community life culturally, politically, economically and socially after the collapse of the German Reich, permeated by the knowledge that its existence and its development through the organic integration of the Saarland into the economic area of ​​the French Republic can be secured, relying on an international statute that will establish the basis for his own life and his resurgence, his future is based on the economic connection of the Saarland to the French Republic and the monetary and customs unit with it, which include:
the political independence of the Saarland from the German Reich, the national defense and the representation of Saarland interests abroad by the French Republic, the application of the French customs and currency laws in Saarland, the appointment of a representative of the government of the French Republic with the right to issue ordinances to ensure customs - and monetary unit and a supervisory power to guarantee the observation of the Statute, a judicial organization that ensures the uniformity of case law within the Statute. The state parliament of the Saarland, freely elected by the people, has therefore, in order to give binding expression of this will and - after overcoming a system that degraded and enslaved human personality, to anchor freedom, humanity, law and morality as the foundations of the new state, whose mission it is to build a bridge to the understanding of the peoples and to serve the peace of the world in awe of God, adopted the following constitution: [...]

A constituent assembly was elected on October 5, 1947 , which drafted a constitution based on the preliminary work of the constitutional commission. The constitution of the Saarland was passed on November 8, 1947 by the Constituent Assembly of the Saarland in Saarbrücken . Dated December 15, 1947, it came into force on December 17, 1947 when it was published in the Saarland official gazette .

Affiliation with the Federal Republic of Germany

On October 23, 1955, after a vigorous election campaign, a referendum was held on the future of the country, with the Saarlanders voting against the Saar Statute . On October 27, 1956, the Saar Treaty was concluded in Luxembourg , whereupon the area came to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1957 as the tenth Land (excluding Berlin) .

This development was also reflected in the constitution, which was amended by Laws No. 548 of December 20, 1956 (OJ p. 1657) and No. 640 of July 1, 1958 (OJ p. 735). Among other things, the preamble, which the Saarland based closely on the French Republic , was deleted without replacement. Numerous formulations have been adapted to the versions customary in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Content and structure

The constitution is divided into 3 main parts, which in turn are divided into sections. Be managed:

1. Main part of fundamental rights and obligations

  1. The individual
  2. marriage and family
  3. Education, instruction, popular education, cultural maintenance, sport
  4. Churches and religious communities
  5. Economic and social order
  6. Protection of the natural foundations of life, animal welfare

2. Main part tasks and structure of the state

  1. Basics section
  2. Elections and referendums section
  3. Section Organs of the People's Will ( Saarland State Parliament , Saarland State Government , Saarland Constitutional Court )
  4. The legislation
  5. Finance
  6. Administration of justice
  7. Administration and officials
  8. Local self-government

3rd main part final and transitional provisions

literature

  • Peter Krause : The constitutional development in Saarland since 1980 . In: Yearbook of Public Law of the Present . New Series, Vol. 51, 2003, pp. 403-457.
  • Werner Thieme: The Development of Constitutional Law in Saarland from 1945 to 1958 . In: Yearbook of Public Law of the Present. New Series, Vol. 9, 1960, pp. 432-462.
  • Rudolf Wendt / Roland Rixecker: Constitution of the Saarland , commentary. Published by the members of the Constitutional Court of the Saarland, Alma Mater publishing house, Saarbrücken 2009, ISBN 978-3-935009-37-9 ; also as PDF .

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Tonia Koch : The preamble makes the difference. On the state constitution of the Saarland and its history. In: Deutschlandfunk , January 23, 2013; Building democracy on the Saar. In: Landtag-Saar.de.
  2. ^ Constitution of the Saarland. From December 15, 1947. In: Jura.Uni-Saarland.de.