Teoria sytuacjonizmu w zastosowaniu. Prusy i Rzesza przed Trybunałem Państwa
Situationist Theory in Action. Prussia and the Reich before the Reich Court

Author(s): Jerzy W. Ochmański
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Constitutional Law
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Adama Mickiewicza
Keywords: liberal constitutionalism; parliamentary government and the rule of law; Weimar Republic; Prussia
Summary/Abstract: The Weimar Republic was one the most turbulent periods in German history. The collapse of the Republic was completed in July 1932 when Chancellor von Papen dismissed the Prussian government and placed Prussia under the military control of the Reich. This acting was a coup d’etat – a violation of the constitution. The case was supposed to be adjudicated by the Reich Court of Justice in Leipzig. In this trial, the government side (Schmitt, Jacobi, Bilfinger) argued that the liberal government in Prussia cannot respond effectively to the challenges posed by radical groups like communists or Nazis. Only a presidential regime could ensure domestic security and order. The liberal opponents of the Reich (Giese, Anschütz, Peters, Nawiasky, Heller) supported the political viability of liberal constitutionalism, parliamentary government and the rule of law. The author places the Leipzig trial in its historical context, and explores the institutions, law and political thought of the Weimar Republic. The story of this 1932 constitutional dispute between the Reich and Prussia might serve as a point of reference for the challenges facing constitutional democracies today, being part of the twentieth century, and yet it is remarkably relevant and a fundamental element of our present-day discussion of the rule of law and the limits set on power.

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