Constitution of Prussia (1848)

Article 13 of the 1815 Constitution of the German Confederation stipulated that each member state of the Confederation should have its own constitution "based on the ('estates' or 'diets' of the land). The drafting of a constitution for Prussia was delayed due to the opposition of the Prussian kings Frederick William III, whose constitutional promises of 1810 and 1815 remained unfulfilled, and Frederick William IV, who invoked his divine right. The Constitution of 1848 was a reaction to the events of the revolutions of 1848–1849 in Germany in general and Berlin in particular. Until mid-March 1848, Prussia – in contrast to other German states and especially to France – was "caught up in the revolutionary movement only in subregions". In order to prevent a revolution, the King initially pursued a policy of small concessions to the liberal spirit of the times, including the promise made on 6 March 1848 to periodically convene the State Parliament. On 18 March Berlin's democrats called for a large demonstration. Under the pressure of events, Frederick William IV granted freedom of the press, issued an edict for an "accelerated convening of the United State Parliament", There was, however, little cooperation between the National Assembly and the Royal Prussian Ministry because of the different ideas that the two sides held. On 26 July the National Assembly nevertheless submitted its draft constitution, the so-called "Charte Waldeck", which among other things called for restricting the royal veto. It would have meant Prussia's transition to a constitutional monarchy, and, as "the King declare[d] to the Minister President ... 'he would never accept [it] under any conditions'". Over the following months as the strength of the revolution waned, the influence of the reactionary forces around the King increased, as was shown by the appointment against the will of the National Assembly of conservative Count Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg as successor to Minister President Ernst von Pfuel. On 9 November the National Assembly was adjourned "for its own safety" and moved to Brandenburg an der Havel. On 5 December, after his government, especially Interior Minister Otto Theodor von Manteuffel, had significantly revised the previous drafts, King Frederick William IV unilaterally imposed a constitution that, to the surprise of the population, adopted many liberal positions and closely followed the Waldeck Charter. The National Assembly was then dissolved. After the election of the new Parliament, it and the King by mutual agreement amended parts of the 1848 document and re-issued it as the Prussian Constitution of 1850. == Provisions in the constitutional text ==

Note: in the references to the constitutional articles below, the first number refers to the 1848 Constitution, Existing fiefs and entailments were dissolved (Art. 38 / 40). The "right to freely dispose of landed property" was subject to "no restrictions other than those of general legislation" (Art. 40 / 42). The "fiefs of the throne" and "the royal house and princely entail" were an exception to the prohibition of such legal relationships. They were to be "ordered by special laws" (Art. 39 / 41). Many rights of the former landlords were abolished without compensation, including judicial lordship (), manorial police, hereditary servitude and "tax and trade charters" (Art. 40 / 42). Transitional provisions All laws, ordinances, taxes, duties and authorities compatible with the Constitution remained in force (Art. 108–109 / 109–110). "Immediately after the first meeting of the chambers", a revision of the Constitution was to take place through the ordinary channels of legislation (Art. 112 / _). Articles 111 / 118 concerned a possible constitution for all of Germany. In the event that it should require changes to the Prussian Constitution, "the king shall order them and ... communicate them to the chambers". The chambers were to "pass a resolution on whether the provisional amendments [as ordered by the king] were in accordance with the German Constitution" (Art. 111 / 118). The initiative for a constitutional amendment in support of a German constitution thus lay solely with the king, and not, as with any other constitutional amendment, with all three legislative bodies. The three-class franchise The 1848 Constitution spoke of an "Election Implementation Law" that would "determine the details of the execution of the elections to both chambers" (Art. 73 / _). "Whether another mode of election, namely that of the division according to certain classes ... is not preferable" was also posited for consideration for the time at which the Constitution was revised (Art. 67 / _). For the second chamber (lower house), instead of a law passed by the three legislative bodies, the King issued the "Ordinance on Conducting the Election of Deputies to the Second Chamber of 30 May 1849". To justify his action, he referred to Article 105 / 63 of the Constitution, which allowed emergency decrees with the force of law: "If the Houses are not in session, decrees with the force of law may be issued in urgent cases under the responsibility of the entire Ministry of State, but they shall be submitted immediately to the Houses for approval at their next session." His justification for the introduction of suffrage ranked according to tax classes (the three-class franchise) was the distinction between the "powers of citizenship", which he said are "partly physical or material, partly mental". The greater the civic power, the higher weight of the electoral vote should be. Another reason he put forth was that "the poorer members of society tend to have the greater sum of physical powers, the richer members the higher measure of intellectual force, and thus the weight, which one apparently attaches to material fortune, in fact comes with the higher intelligence." == Comparison with the demands of the March Revolution ==

The "Mannheim Petition" had summarized the basic demands that nearly all liberal and democratic-minded revolutionaries included in their programs. The key points were an armed people, jury courts, a German parliament and freedom of the press, all of which were to be guaranteed in a constitution. These demands, possibly supplemented by freedom of assembly, were the core demands of the March Revolution. The simple existence of a constitution, even one with absolutist claims to rule, showed that Prussia had taken a major step towards the principle that governmental authority is derived from a body of law. The king's power was limited by a Constitution that contained progressive clauses concerning such fundamental rights as freedom of the press and freedom of assembly. Those and other basic rights could, however, be suspended in the event of an emergency. The new Constitution did meet the revolutionary demand for jury courts: juries decided in cases of serious crimes and political or press offenses. An armed populace was not adopted in the Constitution, although a citizens' militia and general conscription were introduced, not independently, however, but subject to military orders. Their existence to a certain extent counterbalanced the power of the standing army. As for the demand for a national parliament for all of Germany, when the Frankfurt Parliament offered King Frederick William IV the German crown on 3 April 1849, he refused it. Amendments to the Prussian Constitution in support of a German constitution were also subject to his initiative. The Constitution made concessions to liberal demands on many points. The democratic shortcomings of the Constitution lay primarily in the inadequate separation and control of powers, the king's right to issue emergency decrees, the undermining of the judiciary by the king, his ability to dissolve the chambers of Parliament and in their mode of election. == 1850 revision ==

The first Parliament under the 1848 Constitution revised it as required in Article 112. The 1850 Constitution came into force on 31 January 1850 and lasted (with a considerable number of changes) until 1918. It expired with the November Revolution of 1918 and was replaced by the new, democratic 1920 Constitution of the Free State of Prussia. ==References==