history of europe 1918-45 Flashcards
(13 cards)
Paris Peace Treaties
Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye: Austria September 10, 1919
Treaty of Versailles: Germany June 28, 1919
Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine: Bulgaria November 27, 1919
Treaty of Trianon: Hungary June 4, 1920
Treaty of Sèvres: Turkey August 10, 1920
Briand-Kellogg Pact
obligatory peaceful settlement of disputes, sanctions for breaches and prohibition of war as a means of foreign policy
decline of international cooperation
—Japanese invasion of Manchuria 1931
— Italian invasion of Abyssinia 1936
— Germany leaving the League in 1933
— Anti-Comintern Pact (1936): Japan and Germany, Italy later joins
— Pact of Friendship and Alliance (’Stahlpakt’) between Italy and Germany
— Munich Agreement 1938: incorporation of Austria and Sudetenland
characteristics of the B-VG
— parliamentary democracy; main power lied in the National Council → Federal Council left with only suspensive veto
— rule of law: Administrative Court and Constitutional Court
— Federal President had mostly representative functions
— some points of contention (Federal President, Federal Council) resolved by compromise.
— no agreement on fundamental rights: Retention of the Basic Law on the General Rights of Nationals of 1867 (until today!) → „constitutional torso“
— no agreement on the distribution of competences between the federation and states: Retention of the legal situation of 1867 (very few competences of the federal states - is Austria really a federal state?) → — weak federalism!
Geneva Protocol for the Reconstruction of Austria 1922
= an agreement concluded between the government of Austria and the governments of Great Britain, France, Italy and Czechoslovakia, providing for a gradual reconstruction of Austrian economy under League of Nations supervision
Schober-Curtius Plan
Germany and Austria plan customs union to strengthen the economy: no internal tariffs, common external customs border - but no common bodies (no supranational organisation)
→ In 1931, PCIJ declares that the customs union would be compatible with the Paris Treaties of 1919 - but not with the Geneva Protocols of 1922!
→ Lausanne Protocol 1932: Austria receives another League of Nations loan in 1932
Constitutional Revision of 1929
1. Federal President is elected directly by the people, receives significantly more powers
— supreme command over the federal army
— appoints and dismisses Chancellor and, on his proposal, ministers
— dismisses entire federal government
— convenes or dissolvesNational Council
— elected for six years
— may issue emergency ordinances
— removal only by decision of the Federal Assembly by referendum
- only projected: Conversion of the Federal Council into a “Council of the Länder and the corporative groups” (“Stände”)
May Constitution
= formal break with B-VG and establishment of authoritarian corporative state, with the newly founded Fatherland Front as the new state-party
→ enacted as an emergency decree initially
→ main ideological pilar as Catholic social teaching
→ Enabling Act 1934 giving government legislative power
→ Federal President to be elected by mayors of municipalities
decrees issued under Hitler
- (“Reichstag Fire Decree 1933”): Restriction of fundamental rights, persecution of communists
- (”Enabling Act 1934”):
government is given the right to pass laws itself, parliament has rendered itself meaningless - „Gleichschaltung“ of the German Federal Countries, Reichsrat is abolished
theory of Ernst Fraenkel about NS law
Ernst Fraenkel (emigrated lawyer) writes “the dual state” (1941) in US exile:
→ rule of law still works in some areas (“normative state”),
→ in other areas, however, complete arbitrariness (“prerogative state”)
→ **normative and prerogative state exist side by side, seemingly without noticing each other
NS jurists
— National Socialist jurisprudence developed in Kiel School → program edited by civil law scholar Karl Larenz
— many jurists adapted to the political climate and contributed actively to the ideology in jurisprudence → eg. Carl Schmitt
characteristics of NS law
- law before was interpreted in conformity with National Socialist ideology and statements of the Führer: ‘unrestricted interpretation’ → much more effective then new legislation
- any judicial review of the Führer’s decisions were forbidden!
- whether a norm was found useful depended on whether it was useful for the Volksgemeinschaft: analogies were particularly important, used for general clauses
- instead of lawfulness (Gesetzmäßigkeit), rightfulness (Rechtmäßigkeit): obligations always take precedence over rights
NS criminal law
- punishment of the perpetrator rather than the crime
- broadening range of sentences
- priority of deterrence over rehabilitation
- strengthening position of prosecutor
-limitation of appeals. - the prohibition of retroactive punishment (Rückwirkungsverbot) and analogy (Analogieverbot) in criminal law abolished in favour for the punishment according to the common sense of the people (’gesundes Volkempfinden’)
