- Frankfurt Constitution
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German Empire
Deutsches Reich← 
1849 →
Flag Imperial Coat of arms The German Empire in 1849, consisted of the area of the
German Confederation.Capital Frankfurt Government Hereditary Monarchy Emperor - 1849 Frederick William IV1 Imperial Vicar - 1849 Archduke John[1] Legislature Frankfurt National Assembly History - Revolution of 1848 1848 - Constitution of the German Empire 27/28 March 1849 - Frankfurt National Assembly dissolved 31 May 1849 - German Confederation restored 1850 1: Frederick William IV was offered the imperial crown, but refused to "pick up a crown from the gutter".[2] The Constitution of the German Empire (Verfassung des Deutschen Reiches) of 1849, more commonly known as the Frankfurt Constitution or Paulskirchenverfassung (Constitution of St. Paul's Church), was an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to created a unified German state under an Emperor. It is called by its more common names in order to distinguish it from the successful Constitution of the German Empire of 1871, initiated by Otto von Bismarck.
The 1849 Constitution was proclaimed by the Frankfurt Parliament, during its meeting in the Paulskirche church on 27 March 1849, and came in effect on 28 March,[3] when it was published in the Reichs-Gesetz-Blatt 1849, p. 101-147. Thus, a united German Empire, as successor to the German Confederation, had been founded de jure. De facto, however, most Princes on German soil were not willing to give up sovereignty and resisted it, so it did not succeed on land, with the German Confederation being restored a year later. On the other hand, this first and democratic German Empire, with its small Reichsflotte (Imperial Fleet) founded a year earlier, fought the First War of Schleswig at sea with the Battle of Heligoland. The fleet's black-red-gold war ensign was one of the first instances of the official use of the modern republican Flag of Germany.
After long and controversial negotiations, the parliament had passed the complete Imperial Constitution on 27 March 1849. It was carried narrowly, by 267 against 263 votes. The version passed included the creation of a hereditary emperor (Erbkaisertum), which had been favoured mainly by the erbkaiserliche group around Gagern, with the reluctant support of the Westendhall group around Heinrich Simon. On the first reading, such a solution had been dismissed. The change of mind came about because all alternative suggestions, such as an elective monarchy, or a Directory government under an alternating chair were even less practicable and unable to find broad support, as was the radical left's demand for a republic, modelled on the United States.
The people were to be represented by a bicameral parliament, with a directly elected Volkshaus (House of commons), and a Staatenhaus (House of States) of representatives sent by the individual confederated states. Half of each Staatenhaus delegation was to be appointed by the respective state government, the other by the state parliament. Sections 178 and 179 called, at one and the same time, for public trials, oral criminal proceedings, and jury trials for the "more serious crimes and all political offenses."[4] The introduction of the jury trial was followed by its adoption by the overwhelming majority of German states,[5] and continued with the German Empire Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz (GVG) of 27 January 1877,[6][7] and would last until the Emminger Reform of 4 January 1924 during the Weimar Republic.[8]
The constitution's text opens with § 1 Sentence 1: „Das deutsche Reich besteht aus dem Gebiete des bisherigen deutschen Bundes.“ (The German Empire consists of the area of the German Confederation).
Contents
Gallery
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Schematic set-up of the Imperial Constitution
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War Ensign as used by the Reichsflotte (Imperial Fleet), 1848–1852
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Frederick William IV toying indecisively with the imperial crown offered to him by the Frankfurt National Assembly
Literature
- Jörg-Detlef Kühne: Die Reichsverfassung der Paulskirche. Neuwied 1998, ISBN 3472030240.
- Karl Binding: Der Versuch der Reichsgründung durch die Paulskirche. Schutterwald/Baden 1998, ISBN 978-3-928640-45-9
References
- ^ elected by the Frankfurt National Assembly as Imperial Vicar of a new German Reich. The German Confederation was considered dissolved.
- ^ Encyclopedia Britannica Vol. 2 p. 1078.
- ^ Verfassung des Deutschen Reichs ("Paulskirchenverfassung") vom 28. März 1849
- ^ Casper, Gerhard; Zeisel, Hans (January 1972). "Lay Judges in the German Criminal Courts". Journal of Legal Studies 1 (1): 137. JSTOR 724014.
- ^ Casper & Zeisel 1972, p. 137.
- ^ Casper & Zeisel 1972, p. 138.
- ^ Wolff, Hans Julius (June 1944). "Criminal Justice in Germany". Michigan Law Review 42 (6): footnote 7, pp. 1069-1070. JSTOR 1283584.
- ^ Casper & Zeisel 1972, p. 135.
External links
Categories:- Former countries in Europe
- States and territories established in 1849
- States and territories disestablished in 1849
- 1849 in Germany
- Legal history of Germany
- Constitutions of former countries
- History of Frankfurt
- Revolutions of 1848
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