Historical dictionary of Weimar Republik

CONSTITUTION

Constitution: translation

When the National Assembly* convened in Weimar on 6 February 1919, the first order of business was the writing of a constitution. Hugo Preuss,* appointed Interior Minister on 13 February, submitted a draft document to the Assembly. But deliberations were arduous, complicated chiefly by the continued existence of Germany's federal states (Lander). Although mon-archism* had been abolished throughout Germany, many states—for example, Bavaria,* Prussia,* and Saxony*—had long histories that inspired considerable local patriotism. Preuss, Professor of Constitutional Law at Berlin sHandel-shochschule, wished to radically restructure the states and diminish their im-portance. But opposition grew so acute that he was forced to offer a plan that, while it removed privileges associated with taxation, transportation, and military affairs, left theLanderfundamentally unchanged. Added to the several defects enumerated next, the inability to institute a truly unitary state was a fundamental constitutional flaw that tormented the Republic throughout its existence.
Between February and July 1919 every clause in the Preuss draft was debated twice in the Assembly s twenty-eight-member Constitutional Committee. Par-ticularly outstanding in their contribution to the final result were the DDP's Conrad Haussmann* (Committee Chairman) and Erich Koch-Weser,* Wilhelm Kahl of the DVP, and Clemens von Delbrück of the DNVP. TheLanderretained a voice in the national legislature through creation of a second chamber, theReichsrat, made up of state representatives. While not as strong as the oldBun-desrat, theReichsrathad a key role in advising on legislation. At the Consti-tution's core was the first legislative chamber, or Reichstag,* which enacted legislation and controlled the executive.The country was divided into thirty-seven electoral districts, in which the political parties produced lists of candi-dates, and one Reichstag mandate was allowed for each 60,000 votes received by a party. Surplus votes from all districts were pooled to elect additional del-egates from party lists; thus no vote was wasted in Weimar s system of pro-portional representation. Yet, as explained later, this attempt to ensure balanced democracy probably weakened the Republic.
The Constitution created an executive with both a President and a Chancellor. The President, popularly elected every seven years with the option of indefinite reelection, nominated the Chancellor, whose tenure required the confidence of the Reichstag. To avoid parliamentary absolutism, the President was given power through Article 48 to enforce the Republic s laws, even in the face of opposition on the part of state governments and the Reichstag (he could dissolve the latter). Article 48 provided also for proclamation of a state of emergency by the President if and when "public security and order" were endangered. In such circumstances constitutional guarantees impacting individual rights, inviolability of the home, secrecy of communications, free speech and assembly, free asso-ciation, and private property could be suspended. When General Wilhelm Groener,* a key advocate for the Republic, learned of this article, he gleefully wrote Paul von Hindenburg*: "An ordinance is being prepared... which will give theReichswehrministersuch wide powers in those areas designated by theReichspräsidentthat one may speak of them as dictatorial" (Gordon). Only Oskar Cohn,* an Independent Socialist, possessed sufficient clairvoyance to warn against giving such power to the President. Outrageous use of Article 48 during 1930-1933 underscored key weaknesses in the Constitution; yet the Re-public might have collapsed in the turmoil of 1923 without the emergency pre-rogative.
Since Reichstag elections normally occurred once every four years, the Con-stitution provided for the direct democracy of plebiscites. In theory, a conflict between the chambers, or between the legislature and the President, could be settled by a plebiscite. Moreover, if 10 percent of the electorate petitioned for legislation that the Reichstag rejected, the bill would be placed before the public for plebiscitary decision. Although every attempt to organize a plebiscite failed, the campaigns surrounding them helped poison the Republic s political atmosphere (seeYoung Plan). Eberhard Kolb has argued that the Constitution s pro-vision for plebiscites underscored the deputies fear of a fully parliamentary system.
Although the Constitution was commended as an eminently democratic doc-ument, it contained major flaws reflecting the haste with which it was composed, the inexperience of its authors, and the reassuring presence of Friedrich Ebert* in the presidency. Although they are still open to debate, these flaws are as follows: (1) Proportional representation, assured by Article 22, deterred the in-tegration of diverse views into a reasonable number of parties; indeed, it invited rifts in preexisting parties. It also fostered the election of single-issue zealots possessing neither the ability nor the propensity to seek compromise between divergent viewpoints. Relatedly, Article 22 inhibited the building of local coa-litions that might have defeated extremists. Even as the committee deliberated, Friedrich Naumann* directed criticism to Preuss that a "parliamentary system and proportional representation are mutually exclusive." (2) In a naïve misreading of the American system, the Constitution provided for the popular elec-tion of a President. While this procedure succeeds in an environment dominated by two parties, it is perilous in a system based on numerous parties and splinter groups. When no single party can gain sufficient backing for its candidate, the tendency, as was demonstrated in the 1925 runoff election of Hindenburg, is to elect political outsiders possessing little genuine parliamentary experience. Had the Constitution left the President s election in the hands of the legislature, Hindenburg could not have stood for election in 1925. (3) The insufficiently limited powers of the President transformed the office into that of a pseudoem-peror. Given the tumult of 1919, perhaps it was inevitable that the President received such broad regulatory and emergency powers; such was the rationale for Article 25 ("The Reich President can dissolve the Reichstag" and call new elections), Article 53 ("The Reich Chancellor and on his proposal the Reich Ministers are appointed and dismissed by the Reich President ), and, of course, Article 48. But in improper hands such powers were excessive and damaging to the Reichstag. (4) Article 129 declared that "civil servants are appointed on life tenure, unless otherwise provided by statute
The vested rights of civil servants are inviolable. Because the imperial bureaucracy had not been purged during the November Revolution,* this provision stood as a major barrier to administrative reform and is perceived as one of the Assembly s cardinal errors. Any demagogic support on behalf of the claims of civil servants could thus be deemed a nonpartisan appeal to the public good and a defense of the Constitution.
The committee used forty sessions to debate the Constitution s 181 articles. The resulting draft then received three separate readings before the full Assem-bly. On 31 July it was passed by the 262 votes of those parties—SPD, Center, and DDP—that formed the Weimar Coalition*; the 75 votes cast in opposition were from the USPD, the DVP, and the DNVP. President Ebert adopted the Constitution on 11 August 1919, a date thereafter designated Constitution Day.
REFERENCES:Boldt, "Article 48"; Brecht,Political EducationandPrelude to Silence;Democratic Tradition; Harold Gordon,Reichswehr; Koch,Constitutional History; Kolb,Weimar Republic.

  1. constitution—мед.сущ. строение конституция генотип идиотип конституция телосложение Англорусский медицинский словарь....Англо-русский медицинский словарь
  2. constitution—химический состав...Англо-русский металлургический словарь
  3. constitution—строение...Англо-русский физический словарь
  4. constitution—будова...Analytical Chemistry (Eng-Ukr)
  5. constitution—constitution translation noun strong lawsrules of a countryADJECTIVE federal state democratic written Britain does not have a written constitution unwritten dr...Collocations dictionary
  6. constitution—constitution bersetzung Krperbau m POL Grundgesetz nu Verfassung fu constitution dun capital Vermgensbildung f crationem Bildung fu Grndung f constitution [kstitysj] S...Dictionnaire Francais-Allemand
  7. constitution—constitution bersetzung . Verfassung f Grundgesetz . Ernennung f Bestellung f Beauftragung f . Satzung f...Englisch-Deutsch Worterbuch gesetz
  8. constitution—constitution translation constitutionstrong constitution [knsttjun knsttu] noun [countable] . strong LAW the system of basic laws and principles that a em democratic c...Financial and business terms
  9. constitution—Constitution translation Seeem Basic Law....Historical Dictionary of Israel
  10. constitution—Constitution translation Italys Constitution was drafted by the Constituent Assembly between July and December . It became law on January . It has proved to be a remark...Historical Dictionary of modern Italy
  11. constitution—Constitution translation After the Union of Utrecht Unie van Utrecht it was not until that a modern written constitution was adopted in the recently formed Batavian Rep...Historical Dictionary of the Netherlands
  12. constitution—constitution translationSynonyms and related wordsBill of Rights act allocation allotment anatomy animus apportionment aptitude architectonics architecture arrangement ar...Moby Thesaurus
  13. constitution—constitution translation deutsch Konstitution fu espaol constitucin fu franais constitution fu italiano costituzione fu русский строение химическое nu...Multilingual plastics terminology dictionary
  14. constitution—[knsttjun]учреждениеконституция основной законуказ постановление декретустановление указстроение составконституция телосложениесклад ума нрав характер...Англо-русский большой универсальный переводческий словарь
  15. constitution—soil constitution...Англо-русский гидрогеологический словарь
  16. constitution—конституция основной закон учреждение устройство составление конституция телосложение склад состав...Англо-русский дополнительный словарь
  17. constitution—конституция...Англо-русский онлайн словарь
  18. constitution—конституция...Англо-русский онлайн словарь
  19. constitution—строение...Англо-русский политехнический словарь
  20. constitution—строение структура конституция телосложение...Англо-русский словарь биологических терминов
  21. constitution—n конституция основной закон сборник основных законов состав устройство учреждение...Англо-русский словарь Лингвистика-98
  22. constitution—constitution [knsttjun] nu учреждение устройство составление конституция основной закон конституция телосложение склад the constitution of ones mind склад умаstrong c...Англо-русский словарь Мюллера
  23. constitution—строение состав структура chemical constitution строение состав...Англо-русский словарь нефтегазовой промышленности
  24. constitution—сущ. учреждение см. глагол constitute Syn constituting establishing конституция основной закон abrogate a constitution adopt a constitution amend a constitution dra...Англо-русский словарь общей лексики
  25. constitution—устройство состав строение material constitution...Англо-русский словарь по патентам и товарным знакам
  26. constitution—chemicalстроение химическое n строение состав chemical constitution...Англо-русский словарь по пластикам
  27. constitution—n .strong конституция основной закон .strong указ установление .strong совокупность физических и психических особенностей человека телосложение склад генотипическое свойс...Англо-русский словарь по социологии
  28. constitution—strong конституцияstrong учреждение устройство состав monetary constitution soil constitution...Англо-русский словарь по экономике
  29. constitution—n конституция основной закон устав организации и т.п. to abide by the constitution придерживаться конституцииto abrogate the constitution отменять конституциюto abuse ...Англо-русский словарь политической терминологии
  30. constitution—n. конституция основной закон указ установление учреждение устройство составление телосложение комплекция...Англо-русский словарь редакция bed
  31. constitution—knsttjunконституция основной закон государственного устройства учреждение устройство состав...Англо-русский словарь экономических терминов
  32. constitution—сущ.emstrong конституция основной закон указ установление совокупность физических и психических особенностей человека телосложение склад генотипическое свойство человека ...Англо-русский социологический словарь
  33. constitution—состав строение структура...Англо-русский терминологический перечень по культуре тканей растений
  34. constitution—конституционный состав constitution diagram constitution of nucleus water of constitution...Англо-русский технический словарь
  35. constitution—сущ. пол. юр. конституция основной закон государства определяющий его общественное и государственное устройство избирательную систему принципы организации и деятельности ...Англо-русский экономический словарь
  36. constitution—конституция основной закон устав положение создание образование учреждение устройство состав constitution of the court draft constitution elective constitution mixed ...Англо-русский юридический словарь
  37. constitution—National Constitution...Англо-русский юридический словарь
  38. constitution—n конституця основний закон будова склад конституця будова тла...Англо-украинский словарь
  39. constitution—Конституця...Англо-украинский юридический словарь
  40. constitution—положення утворення створення заснування конституця основний закон статут склад комс тощоem Constitution Constitution Day constitutionmaking process constitution of a co...Англо-украинский юридический словарь
  41. constitution—n . конституця основний закон статут . ст. указ постанова draft проект конституц partys статут парт provisions of the положення конституц to adopt a прийняти конс...Англо-український дипломатичний словник
  42. constitution—заснування влаштовування склад установа заклад...Англо-український словник
  43. constitution—n конституця основний закон статут будова тла конституця склад of the air склад повтря....Англо-український словник Балла М.І.
  44. constitution—Конституця...Англо-український юридичний словник
  45. constitution—f конституция основной закон учреждение основание организация составление конституция телосложение строение структура состав конструкция constitution de lair состав...Большой французско-русский и русско-французский словарь
  46. constitution—chemical deutsch Konstitution fu espaol constitucin fu franais constitution fu italiano costituzione fu русский строение химическое nu Synonyms Formation organizati...Мультиязычный словарь по пластикам
  47. constitution—Istrong[knsttjun] n. конституция основной закон устав. ист. указ установление уложение особ. церковноеIIstrong[knsttjun] n. телосложение склад конституцияhe has a strong...Новый большой англо-русский словарь
  48. constitution—constitution I [knsttjun] ni . конституция основной закон устав . ист. iуказ установление уложение особ. церковноеi II [knsttjun] ni . телосложение склад конституция he...Новый большой англо-русский словарь II
  49. constitution—Istrong knsttjun n . конституция основной закон устав . ист. emуказ установление уложение особ. церковноеem IIstrong knsttjun n . телосложение склад конституция he...Новый большой англо-русский словарь под общим руководством акад. Ю.Д. Апресяна
  50. constitution—f конституция основной закон учреждение основание организация составление конституция телосложение строение структура состав конструкция constitution de lair соста...Новый французско-русский словарь
  51. constitution—f строение структура состав constitution dajustement constitution atomique constitution chimique constitution granulaire constitution mcanique constitution minralogique...Политехнический французско-русский словарь
  52. constitution—f строение структура конституция телосложение constitution asthniqueconstitution cyclothymiqueconstitution pileptiqueconstitution hypoparanoqueconstitution lymphatique...Французско-русский медицинский словарь
  53. constitution—f состав строение constitution de latomeconstitution chimiqueconstitution du cimentconstitution isotopiqueconstitution de la matireconstitution minralogiqueconstitution m...Французско-русский словарь по химии
  54. constitution—образование учреждение создание создание установление определение учреждение создание...Французско-русский экономический словарь
  55. constitution—f конституция основной закон устав учреждение основание назначение строение структура constitution avec appel lpargne publique учреждение образование акционерного...Французско-русский юридический словарь