And the Kaiser abdicates: The German Revolution November 1918-August 1919Bouton, S. Miles (Stephen Miles)
History
And the Kaiser abdicates: The German Revolution November 1918-August 1919
Bouton, S. Miles (Stephen Miles)
Germany -- History -- Revolution, 1918; Germany -- Politics and government
It reserves to itself further the right to enact uniform civil and
criminal codes and procedure, and to legislate regarding the press,
associations, the public health, workmen and their protection,
expropriation, socialization, trade, commerce, weights and measures, the
issue of paper currency, banks and bourses, mining, insurance, shipping,
railways, canals and other internal waterways, theaters and
cinematographs. "In so far as there is necessity for uniform
regulations," the Reich may legislate concerning the public welfare and
for the protection of the public order and security.
The Reich reserves further the right to establish basic principles of
legislation affecting religious associations, schools, manufacture, real
estate, burial and cremation. It can also prescribe the limits and
nature of the laws of the lands (states) affecting taxation, in so far
as this may be necessary to prevent a reduction of the national income
or a prejudicing of the Reich in its commercial relations, double
taxation, the imposition of excessive fees which burden traffic, import
taxes against the products of other states when such taxes constitute an
unfair discrimination, and export premiums.
The constitution takes from the states the power to collect customs and
excises. The federal government is empowered to exercise a direct
control in the various lands over all matters falling under its
competence. Not only are all the things enumerated above, and many more,
reserved to the Reich, but there is no provision conferring expressly
any powers whatever on the lands. Nor is there any provision reserving
to the states powers not expressly reserved to the Reich or expressly
prohibited to the states. Article 12, the only provision along this
line, states merely that "so long and in so far as the Reich makes no
use of its law-giving powers, the lands retain the right of legislating.
This does not apply to legislation reserved exclusively to the Reich."
Article 13 provides that "the law of the Reich takes precedence over the
law of the lands." In case of a disagreement between state and federal
government as to whether a state law is in conflict with a federal law,
an issue can be framed and placed before a federal supreme court. Preuss
and some of his supporters wanted a provision expressly conferring upon
the Supreme Court at Leipsic such power to rule on the constitutionality
of legislation as has been assumed by the United States Supreme Court,
but their views did not prevail.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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