Verfassung des Freistaats Bayern von 1919 (Bamberger Verfassung)

Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv

Description

The Bamberg Constitution, named after its place of origin, came into force on 15 September 1919. It replaced the provisional Basic Law and remained formally in force until the adoption of the Constitution of the Free State of Bavaria on 2 December 1946. The draft constitution, which was to be published in the Law and Ordinance Gazette, was adopted by Bavarian Parliament on 12 August 1919. A number of minor amendments were adopted; handwritten by Josef von Graßmann (1864-1928) they were added to the text of the constitution. The Bavarian Ministerialrat (Permanent Secretary) Graßmann was one of the fathers of the Constitution together with Robert von Piloty (1863-1926), an expert in constitutional law. The Constitution was based on the principles of a parliamentary-representative democracy; the municipalities were granted the right of self-government. Narrow limitations were put on the Bavarian Constitution by the Weimar Constitution, which came into force on 14 August 1919, established the primacy of imperial law in numerous areas and greatly reduced the importance of the federal states. Nevertheless, it was important to the creators of the constitution that fundamental rights such as equality before the law, freedom of faith and conscience as well as personal freedom should also be recorded in the Bavarian Constitution, although these were already guaranteed by the Constitution of the Reich. Likewise, the eleven sections or 95 paragraphs of the Bamberg Constitution include diverse characteristics under regional law, such as a separate Bavarian citizenship or the right of constitutional complaint to which every Bavarian is entitled.

Author

Daniel Rittenauer

Rights Statement Description

CC0