"Lückentheorie" (, ''gap theory'') refers to the theory that when the Crown and the Parliament were unable to come to agreement, the Crown could act as it sees fit. It was in reference to the Constitution of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was established following the

revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Euro ...

. Its political use occurred in 1862 when

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of ...

used it to justify proceeding with taxes for military reforms over the opposition of the Parliament to avoid a

constitutional crisis In political science, a constitutional crisis is a problem or conflict in the function of a government that the political constitution or other fundamental governing law is perceived to be unable to resolve. There are several variations to this d ...

References

Glossary
from the companion website of a documentary (in German) Politics of Prussia 1860 in Germany 19th century in Prussia Otto von Bismarck {{Germany-hist-stub