The modern jury trial was first introduced in the
Rhenish provinces in 1798, with a court consisting most commonly of 12 citizens ('
). A Swabian ordinance of 1562 had also called for the summons of jurymen ('), and various methods were in use in
Emmendingen,
Oppenau, and
Oberkirch.
Hauenstein's charter of 1442 secured the right to be tried in all cases by 24 fellow equals, and in
Friburg the jury was composed of 30 citizens and councilors. In
Constance the jury trial was suppressed by decree of the
Habsburg monarchy in 1786. The
Frankfurt Constitution of the failed
Revolutions of 1848 called for jury trials for "the more serious crimes and all political offenses" but was never implemented. Germany's system whereby citizens were tried by their peers chosen from the entire community in open court was gradually superseded by a system of professional judges, in which the process of investigation was more or less confidential and judgements were issued by judges appointed by the state. There was an 1873 proposal by the Prussian Ministry of Justice to abolish the jury and replace it with the mixed system. The jury system was implemented in the
German Empire by the
Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz (GVG) of 27 January 1877 with the jury court ('''') consisting of 3 judges and 12 jurymen. The
Weimar Republic was created in 1919, when German Empire Chancellor
Friedrich Ebert signed the
Weimar Constitution into law on 11 August 1919. On 11 January 1923, the
Belgian and
French Armies initiated the
Occupation of the Ruhr that would last until 25 August 1925, in response to the Weimar Republic's default on its
World War I reparations in the
aftermath of World War I. In May 1923, Justice Minister
Rudolf Heinze (
DVP) under
Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno attempted to replace the jury system with large lay judge ('
) courts but was defeated in the Reichstag. An Article 48 (of the Weimar Constitution) state of emergency was proclaimed by President Ebert on 26 or 27 September 1923, lasting until February 1924, in tandem with the announcement by Chancellor Gustav Stresemann of the end to the resistance against the Occupation of the Ruhr. Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic would reach its peak in November 1923. On 8 December 1923, the Reichstag passed an enabling act (') empowering the government to take all measures it deemed necessary and urgent, with regard to the state of emergency, lasting until 15 February 1924. Acts passed pursuant to Article 48 emergencies and their enabling acts are referred to as '''', or emergency decrees. ==Abolition==