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67-398: From 1922 to 1933, and again from 1951 Germany had had board level codetermination laws, inspired by collective agreements between worker unions and management. The 1919 Weimar Constitution said that, “Workers and employees shall be called upon to cooperate in common with employers, and on an equal footing, in the regulation of salaries and working conditions, as well as in the entire field of

134-507: A national assembly that was to act as Germany's interim parliament and draft a new constitution. Because conditions in Berlin were still unsettled, the delegates met at Weimar . Ebert wanted the victorious Allies to be reminded of Weimar Classicism , which included the writers Goethe and Schiller , while they were deliberating the terms of the Versailles Treaty . The initial draft of

201-553: A Commission on Codetermination ( Mitbestimmungskommission ), which in 2005, came to no conclusion about possible reforms of the law. Different members disagreed with one side wanting to reduce worker influence and the other side increase it. Weimar Constitution The Constitution of the German Reich ( German : Die Verfassung des Deutschen Reichs ), usually known as the Weimar Constitution ( Weimarer Verfassung ),

268-466: A balance between the executive and legislative branches under either a monarch or the people as sovereign. During July 1919, the National Assembly moved quickly through the draft constitution with most debates concluded within a single session and without public discussion of the issues. On 31 July the assembly adopted the new constitution by a vote of 262 to 75 with 1 abstention. Friedrich Ebert,

335-534: A free and democratic institution ceased to exist following the passage of the Enabling Act of 1933 which granted Chancellor Adolf Hitler the power to draft and enforce laws as he pleased. The main rights, duties and responsibilities of the Reichstag were defined in the Weimar Constitution . (All references to constitutional articles can be found in the footnoted English translation). Each voter had one vote, which

402-464: A full 60,000 votes, there was one seat from the district list that had contributed the most residual votes. Any additional remaining votes were carried over to the national level where a party again received one seat (from the national list) per 60,000 votes. A number of additional rules were added to this basic procedure. The most important was that a party could win seats only if it had received 30,000 or more votes in at least one district. Furthermore,

469-480: A list of candidates at the Reich level. A district received one seat for every 60,000 votes cast for a list, with the first 60,000 votes going to the first candidate on the list (as ranked by the party), the second 60,000 to the second candidate, and so on. Residual votes were transferred to the level of the electoral association. There, the remaining votes from the districts making up the association were added together; for

536-408: A national list could deliver only as many seats as the party had already received in total at the lower levels. These provisions disadvantaged small parties without a regional focus. They nevertheless also resulted in a large number of parties being represented in the Reichstag. Beyond the 30,000 vote hurdle there was no minimum threshold (such as the 5% threshold of second votes in modern Germany) for

603-459: A party to enter the Reichstag. The following is a list of constituencies as they existed from 1924 onwards. The Reichstag president and his deputies (the Presidium ) were elected by Reichstag members at the beginning of the legislative period. According to parliamentary custom, a representative of the strongest party in the Reichstag was usually elected president. The Presidium was supported by

670-518: A prospective successor before confidence can be withdrawn. Under the Weimar Constitution, the vote of no confidence often resulted in difficulty forming new coalitions and a degree of parliamentary instability that in the end was fatal to the Republic. The government (cabinet) formulated decisions by majority vote; in the case of a tie, the president's vote was decisive. The Reichstag could accuse

737-533: A similar law was passed in 1951 but only applied to coal and steel companies. (It remains in force and applies from 1,000 employees on in these branches' companies.) It applies to all German capital companies, including public companies ( Aktiengesellschaft ), cooperatives ( eingetragene Genossenschaft ), private limited companies ( Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung ) and partnerships ( Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien ) if they have over 2000 employees. Employees and national unions have equal representation on

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804-414: A system of party-list proportional representation . All citizens who had reached the age of 20 were allowed to vote, including women for the first time, but excluding soldiers on active duty. The Reichstag voted on the laws of the Reich and was responsible for the budget, questions of war and peace, and confirmation of state treaties. Oversight of the Reich government (the ministers responsible for executing

871-413: A vote of two-thirds of the Reichstag. Rejection of the measure by the voters would act as a re-election of the president and cause the Reichstag to be dissolved. If a state failed to fulfil its obligations under the constitution or Reich law, the president could use armed force to compel the state to do so under a Reichsexekution . Article 48 gave the president the power to take measures – including

938-578: The Communist Party of Germany , which together had a majority in the Reichstag following the Reichstag election of 31 July 1932 . In 1933 the National Socialists used the two constitutional articles, along with the ability to transfer the legislative function from the Reichstag to the government through an Enabling Act , to establish a dictatorship . Following the banning of the left-wing parties and

1005-542: The Wilsonian principle of the self-determination of peoples. Articles 68 to 77 specified how legislation was to be passed into law. Laws could be proposed by a member of the Reichstag or by the Reich government and were passed on the majority vote of the Reichstag. Proposed legislation had to be presented to the Reichsrat, and the latter body's objections were required to be presented to the Reichstag. The Reich president had

1072-413: The economic freedom of the individual. The Reich protected labor, intellectual creation, and the rights of authors, inventors, and artists. The right to form unions and to improve working conditions was guaranteed to every individual and to all occupations, and protection of the self-employed was established. Workers and employees were given the right to participate, on an equal footing with employers, in

1139-456: The 1951 law, however, employees choose their representatives rather than being chosen by the national union; this had the effect of weakening union power. However, employees can use codetermination to protect themselves against wage cuts, layoffs and restructuring, and for this reason, it is believed that wage structure in Germany is remarkably stable. Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder established

1206-548: The Council of Elders ( Ältestenrat ). The body consisted of the Reichstag president, the deputy presidents and a total of twenty-one members appointed by the Reichstag parties. Those appointed usually included the party chairmen. The Council of Elders was chaired and convened by the president or his deputies. The body was responsible for reaching agreement among the parties on agendas and work plans. These agreements were not, however, legally binding. The Council of Elders also determined

1273-674: The Federal Republic of Germany ( West Germany until 1990, then reunited Germany ) and the Constitution of the German Democratic Republic ( East Germany ). The constitution's title was the same as the Constitution of the German Empire that preceded it. The German state's official name was German Reich ( Deutsches Reich ) until 1949. After the end of World War I , the government of Imperial Germany collapsed during

1340-499: The German states was likewise a citizen of Germany. Germans had the right of mobility and residence, and the right to acquire property and pursue a trade. They had the right to emigrate and to government protection against foreign authorities. The "traditional development" ( volkstümliche Entwicklung ) of foreign language communities in Germany was protected, including the right to use their native language in education, administration, and

1407-407: The Reich president in constitutional articles 48 and 25 (emergency decrees and dissolution of parliament) made possible the so-called presidential cabinets ( Präsidialkabinette ) from 1930 onward, when the Reich president and the Reich government largely did the legislative work instead of the Reichstag. The practice was reinforced by the electoral successes of the anti-republican Nazi Party and

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1474-412: The Reich was allowed to either legislate or prescribe fundamental principles, notably "taxation and other revenues in so far as they are claimed in whole or in part for its purposes". With the exceptions of the subjects for which the Reich government had exclusive jurisdiction, the states could pass legislation for their respective territories as they saw fit. Reich law superseded or nullified state law in

1541-519: The Reichsrat by votes corresponding in number to its population". The Republic of German-Austria had been established after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary from the predominantly German-speaking regions of the former empire. Hugo Preuss publicly criticised the Triple Entente 's decision in the Treaty of Versailles to prohibit the unification of " Greater Germany ", saying that it was a contradiction of

1608-595: The Reichstag. While parties of the political center dominated in 1919 (the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Centre Party and German Democratic Party (DDP)), the party spectrum of the Weimar Republic was characterized by fragmentation and, towards the end, increasing radicalization (the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the Nazi Party (NSDAP)). % of votes / # of members The powers given to

1675-470: The Weimar Constitution provided for the orderly transition to the new constitution and stipulated in some cases when the various provisions of the new constitution were to take effect. In cases where legislation had yet to be passed (such as the laws governing the new Supreme Judicial Court), the articles stipulated how the constitutional authority would be exercised in the interim by existing institutions. The section also stipulated that new bodies established by

1742-417: The chairmen of the committees and their deputies as well as certain other organizational issues. In spite of its limited powers, the Council of Elders had considerable importance for the functioning of parliament. In essence, its tasks were comparable to those of the Ältestenrat in the modern German Bundestag . Between 1919 and 1933 there was one election to the constituent National Assembly and eight to

1809-419: The chancellor and, on the chancellor's recommendation, the members of the cabinet. The chancellor determined the political guidelines of his government and was responsible to the Reichstag. The chancellor and ministers were compelled to resign in the event the Reichstag passed a vote of no confidence . It was not, however, a constructive vote of no confidence , which requires that there be a positive majority for

1876-512: The company. The head of the supervisory board is always a shareholder representative who has two votes in case of a deadlock. (Coal and steel industry companies' co-determination goes even further with full parity and a neutral tie-breaking member, instead) Under the Codetermination Act, the supervisory board must have 12, 16 or 20 members depending on the company's size. Two or three seats will usually be reserved for union representatives.

1943-418: The confidence of the respective state parliament. Articles 20 to 40 described the national parliament, the Reichstag , which was seated in the capital, Berlin. The Reichstag was composed of representatives elected by the German people by an equal and secret ballot open to all Germans over 20 years of age. Proportional representation principles governed Reichstag elections. Members of the Reichstag represented

2010-528: The constitution take the place of obsolete bodies (such as the National Assembly) where those bodies were referred to by name in old laws or decrees. It was mandated that public servants and members of the armed forces take an oath on the constitution. Reichstag (Weimar Republic) The Reichstag of the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) was the lower house of Germany's parliament; the upper house

2077-640: The constitution was written by the lawyer and liberal politician Hugo Preuss , who headed the Ministry of the Interior. He based his draft in large part on the Frankfurt Constitution of 1849 which was written after the German revolutions of 1848–1849 and intended for a unified Germany that did not come to pass at the time. He was influenced as well by Robert Redslob's theory of parliamentarianism, which called for

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2144-491: The constitution, members – except for the Prussians who were provincial representatives – were considered to be bound by the instructions of their respective state governments. Government ministers were required to inform the Reichsrat of proposed legislation or administrative regulations to permit the Reichsrat to voice objections. Article 61 stated that " German Austria , after union with the German Reich, shall be represented in

2211-505: The demise of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazi Germany . The preamble to the Constitution reads: The German people united in every respect and inspired by the determination to restore and confirm the Reich in liberty and justice, to serve peace at home and peace abroad, and to further social progress, has given itself this constitution. The first part of the constitution specified

2278-487: The early days of the German revolution of 1918–1919 . In the following months, the far left parties that fought to establish a soviet republic were defeated by those of the moderate left that wanted a parliamentary republic. The victorious parties, led by Friedrich Ebert of the Social Democrats (SPD), scheduled an election on 19 January 1919 – in which women for the first time had equal voting rights with men – for

2345-483: The economic development of the forces of production.” The coal and steel industry had required half worker and half shareholder seats on the company supervisory board, but outside these sectors, the Works Constitution Act 1952 merely required one third representation. By 1976, and given the success of worker participation, the governing social-liberal coalition decided that this should be raised. The 1976 Act

2412-413: The entire nation and were bound only to their own conscience. Members served for four years. The Reichstag could be dissolved by the Reich president, and new elections had to be held not more than 60 days after the date of dissolution. Members of the Reichstag and of the state parliaments were immune from arrest or investigation of a criminal offense except with the approval of the legislative body to which

2479-577: The event of a conflict. Adjudication of conflicts between a state and the Reich government fell under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Judicial Court. States were required to have a republican constitution and its authorities to enforce Reich law. Each state parliament ( Landtag ) was to be elected by equal, secret, direct and universal (both men and women) ballot according to the principles of proportional representation . Each state government (the "state ministry") could serve only so long as it had

2546-503: The first president of Germany , signed the Weimar Constitution on 11 August 1919, and it became effective on the 14th. A federal election was held on 6 June 1920 for the new Reichstag . The Weimar Constitution was divided into two main parts or chapters. They in turn were divided into seven and five sections respectively. In all, there were 181 articles in the constitution. Some of the more noteworthy provisions are described below, including those provisions which proved significant in

2613-469: The government. In private schools operated by religious communities, religious instruction could take place in accordance with the religious community's principles. Constitutional provisions about economic affairs were given in Articles 151 to 165. One of the fundamental principles was that economic life should conform to the principles of justice, with the goal of achieving a dignified life for all and securing

2680-562: The group of eligible voters expanded considerably, from 14,441,400 in 1912 (the last Reichstag election under the Empire ) to 37,362,100 in 1919, primarily because women had been given the right to vote and the voting age was lowered from 25 to 20. Those who could not exercise the right to vote were active duty soldiers, people living in a sanatorium or nursing home and those in criminal or pre-trial detention. Citizenship had to have been obtained at least one year before election day. The election date

2747-414: The individual rights of Germans, the principal tenet being that every German was equal before the law. Men and women had "in principle" the same civil rights and duties. Privileges based on birth or rank – that is, the German nobility – were abolished. Official recognition of the titles of nobility ceased, except as a part of a person's name, and creation of noble titles was discontinued. A citizen of any of

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2814-556: The interwar period, failed to prevent Adolf Hitler from setting up a Nazi dictatorship using the constitution as a cover of legitimacy. Although it was de facto repealed by the Enabling Act of 1933 , the constitution remained technically in effect throughout the Nazi era from 1933 to 1945 and also during the Allied occupation of Germany from 1945 to 1949. It was then replaced by the Basic Law for

2881-402: The judicial system. Other specific articles stated that: Articles 119 to 134 guided Germans' interaction with the community and established, among other provisions, that: The religious rights of Germans were enumerated in Articles 135 to 141. Residents of Germany were granted freedom of belief and conscience. Free practice of religion was guaranteed and protected by the state. No state church

2948-466: The law. Extraordinary courts were prohibited and military courts allowed only during wartime and aboard warships. The section required that laws be promulgated to establish a Supreme Judicial Court and administrative courts to adjudicate disputes between citizens and administrative offices of the state. The law to set up the Supreme Judicial Court ( Staatsgerichtshof für das Deutsche Reich )

3015-404: The laws) also resided with the Reichstag. It could force individual ministers or the entire government to resign by means of a vote of no confidence, and under Article 48 of the constitution it could rescind emergency decrees issued by the Reich president . The Reich president could dissolve the Reichstag under Article 25 of the constitution, but only once for the same reason. The Reichstag as

3082-466: The methods by which the Reich government administered the constitution and laws, particularly in the areas where the Reich government had exclusive jurisdiction – foreign relations, colonial affairs, defence, taxation and customs, merchant shipping and waterways, railroads and so forth. Articles 102 to 108 established the justice system of the Weimar Republic. The principal provision mandated judicial independence  – judges were responsible only to

3149-416: The military, extensive emergency powers, and appointed and removed the chancellor, who was responsible to the Reichstag. The constitution included a significant number of civic rights such as freedom of speech and habeas corpus . It guaranteed freedom of religion and did not permit the establishment of a state church. The constitution contained a number of weaknesses which, under the difficult conditions of

3216-400: The operation of educational institutions within the Reich. Public education was provided by state institutions and regulated by the government, with cooperation between federal, state and local authorities. Primary school was compulsory (eight years), with advanced schooling available to age 18 free of charge. The constitution also provided for private schooling, which was likewise regulated by

3283-402: The organization of the various parts of the federal government. Section 1 consisted of Articles 1 to 19 and established the German Reich as a republic whose power derived from the people. The Reich was defined as the region encompassed by the German states; other regions could be incorporated into the Reich based on popular self-determination and corresponding Reich legislation. (Germany received

3350-428: The other seats will be workers, officials and appointees of other interest groups. Companies with equal representation on their boards must have a dedicated management board position for labor affairs. Codetermination allows employees and not only unions to influence the operations of firms and their surplus. While this law was in some ways an extension of the codetermination law of 1951, it differed in key ways. Unlike

3417-486: The person belonged. The same approval was required for any other restriction on personal freedom which might harm the member's ability to fulfil his duties. Articles 41 to 59 describe the duties of the president, including the qualifications for the office. They also explain his relationship to the national ministry (cabinet) and the chancellor . The president served a term of seven years and could be re-elected once. He could be removed from office by referendum following

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3484-418: The power to decree that a proposed law be presented to the voters as a referendum before taking effect. The Reichsrat was entitled to object to laws passed by the Reichstag. If the objection could not be resolved, the Reich president at his discretion could call for a referendum or let the proposed law die. If the Reichstag voted to overrule the Reichsrat's objection by a two-thirds majority, the Reich president

3551-461: The president, chancellor, or any minister of willful violation of the constitution or Reich law, with the case to be tried in the Supreme Judicial Court. Section 4 consisted of Articles 60 to 67 and established the Reichsrat (State Council). The Reichsrat was the means by which the states participated in legislation at the national level. The number of members was based on the states' populations, with

3618-412: The regulation of wages and working conditions as well as in economic development. The Reich reserved the right to "transfer to public ownership private economic enterprises suitable for socialization". It undertook to provide comprehensive insurance for health, maternity and old age. Workers were to be given legal representation on factory workers' councils. The final 16 articles (Articles 166 to 181) of

3685-476: The restriction that no state could have more than two-fifths of the total – a provision that limited only Prussia 's influence since it had three-fifths of Germany's population. Members of the Reichsrat were required to be members the state ministries, with the exception again of Prussia, half of whose members had to be appointed from among the Prussian provincial administrative authorities. Although not specified in

3752-413: The supervisory board with the stockholders, but the board’s chairman must be a stockholder who has a tie-breaking vote. The principle is to have almost equal representation between employee representatives and shareholder representatives on the supervisory board ( Aufsichtsrat ). Germany company law has two levels of boards of directors. The supervisory board then elects a management board which leads

3819-418: The terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which reduced its land area and population by 13% and 12% respectively, on 7 May 1919, while the constitution was being debated in the National Assembly.) Section 1 also established that generally recognized principles of international law were binding on Germany and gave the Reich government exclusive jurisdiction of: Articles 7 through 11 listed many more areas in which

3886-415: The use of armed force and/or the suspension of civil rights – to restore law and order in the event of a serious threat to public safety or security. Since Article 50 required all of the president's decrees to be counter-signed by the chancellor or "competent national minister", use of Article 48 required agreement between president and chancellor. The president was also required to inform the Reichstag of

3953-498: The use of such measures, and the Reichstag could nullify the decree. In 1933 President Paul von Hindenburg and Chancellor Adolf Hitler , using Article 48 as the basis for the Reichstag Fire Decree , legally swept away most of the key the civil liberties granted in the Weimar Constitution and thereby facilitated the establishment of a dictatorship. The president had supreme command over the military and appointed and removed

4020-535: Was cast on an electoral district ballot. The number of seats was determined by proportional representation . The number of Reichstag seats fluctuated because they depended on the total number of votes cast, with one seat allocated for 60,000 votes. In 1919 the Weimar National Assembly consisted of 421 members; in 1933 the last Reichstag had 647. In the election to the Weimar National Assembly,

4087-512: Was established. The exercise of civil and civic rights and admission to state office were independent of one's religious beliefs. Public declaration of religious beliefs was not required, and no one was forced to join in a religious act or swear a religious oath. Five articles from this section of the Constitution (Nos. 136–139 and 141) were incorporated into the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany (passed in 1949) and remain constitutional law in Germany today. Articles 142 to 150 guided

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4154-501: Was obligated to either proclaim the law into force or to call for a referendum. Constitutional amendments were proposed as ordinary legislation, but for such an amendment to take effect, it was required that two-thirds or more of the Reichstag members be present and that at least two-thirds of the members present vote in favor of the legislation. The Reich government had the authority to establish administrative regulations unless Reich law specified otherwise. Articles 78 to 101 described

4221-503: Was passed in July 1921. The second part of the Weimar Constitution laid out the basic rights and obligations of Germans. The German Civil Code of 1900, which included sections on personal rights and domestic relations, remained in effect. The constitution guaranteed individual rights such as freedom of speech and assembly to each citizen. They were based on the provisions of the earlier constitution of 1848 . Articles 109 to 118 set forth

4288-511: Was passed on May 4 after long consultations and debates in Parliament (the Bundestag ). This law was a political compromise between the Social Democrats and FDP coalition members; it reconciled views of individual employee participation in decision-making with the less conservative view of collective codetermination of labor. The 1976 law applies to all corporations with more than 2,000 employees;

4355-418: Was set by the Reich president. After November 1918 it had to be a Sunday or a public holiday, in accordance with a long-standing social democratic demand. The Reich was divided into 35 electoral districts (sg. Wahlkreis ) that were combined into 16 electoral associations (sg. Wahlkreisverband ). The parties drew up a list of candidates for each electoral district in which they were participating and also

4422-511: Was the Reichsrat , which represented the states. The Reichstag convened for the first time on 24 June 1920, taking over from the Weimar National Assembly , which had served as an interim parliament following the collapse of the German Empire in November 1918. Under the Weimar Constitution of 1919, the Reichstag was elected every four years by universal, equal, secret and direct suffrage, using

4489-422: Was the constitution that governed Germany during the Weimar Republic era (1919–1933). The constitution created a federal semi-presidential republic with a parliament whose lower house, the Reichstag , was elected by universal suffrage using proportional representation . The appointed upper house, the Reichsrat , represented the interests of the federal states. The president of Germany had supreme command over

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