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Direct Legislation in the German Länder, 1919–32

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Lee S. Greene
Lee S. Greene
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin
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Extract

Among the experiments in government which have taken place in post-war Germany, one of the most varied in form is to be found in the theory and practice of direct legislation. The referendum, initiative, and a type of recall exist in national, state, and local governments. The experience of the German people with these constitutional practices has been treated occasionally in studies of the national and municipal governments, and this note is designed to perform a similar service with regard to the German states.

Studies of the constitutional convention at Weimar seem to indicate that direct legislation was adopted for the national constitution without a great deal of study. The Germans had, however, been acquainted with the idea of direct legislation for some time, and a proposal for its use had found expression in the Erfurter Program of the Social Democratic party. The provisional arrangements for the national government during the revolutionary period included machinery for an appeal to the electorate in cases of disagreement between the ordinary organs of government. But the widest use of the various forms of direct legislation is first to be found in the provisional constitutions of the states.

Type
Foreign Governments and Politics
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , June 1933 , pp. 445 - 454
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1933

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References

1 See Wells, Roger H., “The Initiative, Referendum, and Recall in German Cities”, National Municipal Review, Jan., 1929, pp. 29–36Google Scholar.

2 See Drucksache, Deutsche Nationalversammlung; also Heilfron, , Die Deutsche Nationalversammlung im Jahre 1919 (Berlin)Google Scholar.

3 Kautsky, Karl, Das Erfurter Program in seinem grundsätzlichen Teil (Stuttgart, 1899), p. 256Google Scholar.

4 Triepel, , Quellensammlung zum deutschen Reichsstaatsrecht (Tübingen, 1931)Google Scholar.

5 Provisions for direct legislation appeared in the first and second Bavarian provisional constitutions (1919), the provisional constitutions of Lippe (1919), Saxony (1919), Brunswick (1919), and Schaumburg-Lippe (1919), and in the constitutions of the small states now incorporated into Thuringia. See Piloty, Robert, “Die Bayerische Verfassung v. 14. Aug., 1919”, in Jahrbuch des öffentlichen Rechts (Tübingen, 1920), pp. 129–163Google Scholar (hereafter abbreviated as JöR); Jacobi, Erwin, “Die Wandlung der Verfassung und Verwaltung in Sachsen”, JöR (1920), pp. 163–171Google Scholar; Koellreuter, , “Die vorläufige Verfassung Braunschweigs” JöR (1921), 418, 419Google Scholar; ibid., “Die verfassungsrechtliche Entwicklung in Oldenburg, Braunschweig, Anhalt, usw.”, JöR (1921), 409–438; ibid., “Die staatsrechtliche Neugestaltung Thüringens,” in Handbuch des deutschen Staatsrechts (Tubingen, 1929), pp. 141–143. See also statute collections of states concerned.

6 Art. 4. References are to articles of constitutions.

7 Art. 7.

8 Sec. 11.

9 Sec. 16.

10 Sec. 10.

11 In the remainder of the note, the constitutions of the former Thuringian states will not be considered.

12 Sec. 10.

13 Sec. 9.

14 Sec. 23. Complete constitutional texts are found in Ruthenberg, Otto, Die Verfassungsgesetze des deutschen Reichs und der deutschen Länder (Berlin, 1926)Google Scholar. Discussions of direct legislation in the states are found in Kaisenberg, “Die formelle Ordnung des Volksbegehrens u. des Volksentscheids in Reich u. Ländern”, in Handbuch der deutschen Staatsrechts (Tubingen, 1931)Google Scholar; Hartwig, , Das Volksbegehren u. der Volksentscheid im deutschen u. österreichischen Staatsrecht (Charlottenburg, 1930)Google Scholar.

15 Art. 13.

16 Sec. 69.

17 Anhalt, 42; Bremen, 4 (provided one-third of the Bürgerschaft agrees); Hamburg, 53; Oldenburg, 35; Saxony, 35; Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 44 (the ministry may use the referendum also without having used the veto); Schaumburg-Lippe, 44; Lippe, 20.

18 Bavaria, 77; Baden, 23; Württemberg, 43, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 22; Hesse, 13. It appears that Thuringia belongs in this group.

19 Arts. 63–69.

20 Sec. 35.

21 Sec. 42.

22 Sec. 44.

23 Sec. 42.

24 Sec. 4.

25 Sec. 22. Mecklenburg-Strelitz apparently has no statute to enforce constitutional provisions regarding direct legislation.

26 Art. 42.

27 Arts. 57, 58.

28 Sec. 43.

29 Sec. 77.

30 Sec. 23.

31 Sec. 67.

32 This statement is based on an examination of the statute books.

33 Compare Kaisenberg, “Dieformelle Ordnung,” etc.

34 Hesse, 12; Prussia, 6.

35 Anhalt, 9.

36 Sec. 25.

37 Anhalt, 11; Hesse, 24; Saxony, 9; Lippe, 11; Wurttemberg, 16.

38 Anhalt, 11; Saxony, 11; Lippe, 27.

39 Sec. 18. A minority (one-third) of the Bürgerschaft may also call such a referendum if the Senat has resigned (Sec. 53).

40 Art. 36.

41 Art. 14.

42 Art. 14.

43 Sec. 45.

44 Sec. 10.

45 Sec. 45.

46 Sec. 77.

47 Compare Kaisenberg, “Die formelle Ordnung,” etc., p. 207; Schmitt, Carl, Volksentscheid und Volksbegehren (1927), p. 22Google Scholar; Glum, , “Die Grenzen der Volksgesetzgebung nach Art. 73 der Reichsverfassung”, in Juristen Woche (1929), pp; 1099 ff.Google Scholar

48 Sec. 4.

49 For example, Lippe, Art. 23.

50 Where no other references are given, the writer has depended upon Hartwig, op. cit., and upon information secured from the files of the Leipziger Neueste Nachrichten.

51 Leipziger Neueste Nachrichten, Marc h 23, 1932; Dresdner Anzeiger, April 18, 1932.

52 Leipziger Neueste Nachrichten, August 3, 1931.

53 Bremer Nachrichten, May 23,1932.

54 Nachricten für Stadt und Land, April 18, 1932.

55 Münchner Neueste Nachrichten, June 30, 1931.

56 Berliner Tageblatt, April, 1931; Neue Leipziger Zeitung, April 27, 1931.

57 The writer has been unable to obtain accurate information as to the results of the referendum in Brunswick (1931). Its success was considered unlikely.

58 Leipziger Neueste Nachrichten, Feb. 6, 1931.

59 Ibid., Feb. 8, 1931.

60 Ibid., Feb., 1931.

61 Berliner Tageblatt, May 1, 1931.

62 Die Rote Fahne, July 22, 24, 1931.

63 Deutscher Reichsanzeiger und Preussischer Staatsanzeiger, Sept 5, 1931.

64 Compare von Jahn, Heinrich, “Verfassung und Verwaltung in Bayern, 1919–1926”, in Jahrbuch des öffentlichen Rechts, Band XV, pp. 1–50Google Scholar; Kölnische Zeitung, Jan. 22, 1924.

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