Bayerisches Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt – Bavarian Law and Ordinance Gazette (1945-1949)

In the Bavarian Law and Ordinance Gazette all laws and the most important ordinances passed by the Bavarian state parliament and the Bavarian government are published.

The "Regierungsblatt" - Government Bulletin, 1800-1873

The precursor of the Law and Ordinance Gazette was the "Churbayerisches Intelligenzblatt" ("Electoral Bavarian news bulletin")that had been founded in 1766 and renamed into "Regierungs- und Intelligenzblatt" ("Government and news bulletin") from 1800 onward. In 1802 the news and the government part of the bulletin were continued separately. In 1818, after the news bulletin had been discontinued for a number of years, the government bulletin was divided into the "Gesetzblatt" (law bulletin) and the "Allgemeines Intelligenzblatt" (general news bulletin). The "Allgemeines Intelligenzblatt" however was soon renamed "Regierungsblatt" and was published under the name of "Regierungsblatt für das Königreich Bayern" (government bulletin for the kingdom of Bavaria) until 1873.

The government bulletin contained the announcements and ordinances of the state authorities that were not of fundamental importance, thus individual regulations and announcements by the ministries and central authorities, announcements of important events in the royal house, about state examinations, public-service news, changes of the gentry register ("Adelsmatrikel"), syllabi of the universities or price lists.

Gesetzblatt für das Königreich Bayern – Law Gazette for the Kingdom of Bavaria, 1818-1873

By ordinance of 29 December 1817 the "Gesetzblatt für das Königreich Bayern" (law gazette for the Kingdom of Bavaria) was established to complement the government bulletin. The law gazette was intended for the joint publication of all laws and ordinances of overriding importance (state constitution, basic structure of administrative organization, announcement of new legal codes, state treaties).The frequency of publication of the "Gesetzblatt für das Königreich Bayern" depended on the sessions of the state parliament. Since the parliament (up to 1848 called "Ständeversammlung" – state assembly) did not convene every year in the Vormärz era, the law gazette was published at an interval of several years at the beginning.

The issues of the Gesetzblatt für das Königreich Bayern available in bavarikon 1818-1873

Amalgamation to form the "Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt" -Law and Ordinance Gazette in 1874

Originally the government bulletin was intended for the publication of the individual ministries' ordinances, but the ministry of war and the ministry of culture started publishing their own ministerial or official bulletins in 1855 and in 1865 respectively. In 1872 also the ministry of the interior followed suit. By ordinance of 29 October 1873 therefore the law gazette and the government bulletin were merged to form the "Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt für das Königreich Bayern" (law and ordinance gazette for the Kingdom of Bavaria) with effect from 1 January 1874. The organ was henceforth published annually and, in addition to the laws passed by the state parliament, also contained ordinances and promulgations of the state ministry of the exterior, until the ministries of the exterior and of the interior established their own joint official gazette in 1905.

Name change 1918-1936

In accordance with the political changes the title of the law and ordinance gazette was changed several times. After Eisner's revolution it was thus called "Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt für den Volksstaat Bayern" (law and ordinance gazette for the people's state of Bavaria) from November 1918 to the beginning of April 1919, then renamed into "Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt für den Freistaat Bayern" (law and ordinance gazette for the Free State of Bavaria). In order to avoid using the term "Freistaat Bayern" (Free State of Bavaria) that was unpopular in the centralistic Third Reich, the national socialists preferred speaking of the "Land" Bavaria and its "Land government". Consequently the law and ordinance gazette was renamed into "Bayerisches Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt" (Bavarian law and ordinance gazette) as of 17 March 1936. This title was maintained after 1945 until today.

Development after 1945

After the final issue of 30 December 1944 the "Bayerisches Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt" was published again for the first time on 15 September 1945, until the end of 1946 with the subtitle "Amtliches Nachrichtenblatt der Bayerischen Landesregierung" ("official news bulletin of the Bavarian Land government"). Until the beginning of July 1946 the laws were published in German and English. With the first issue of 1945 the octavos format used since 1818 was replaced by the quarto format. In 1950 and 1972 two editions A and B were published of the Bavarian law and ordinance gazette, both with identical wording. The only difference was that the edition B was published on paper that was printed on one side only. After a parallel edition as a PDF file had been available on the Internet since 2005, in 2009 the Bayerisches Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt was converted to an electronic version on the Verkündungsplattform (Annunciation Platform). The platform offers free of charge an electronic version of all editions of the Bayerisches Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt dating back to 1945.

To the volumes of the Bayerisches Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt (1945-1949) available in bavarikon

>> This collection is part pf the holdings of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library).