thumbnail, upright=1.0, German penal code (from pre II. World War but edited after) A Reich law is a

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

which is made for an entire

realm A realm is a community or territory over which a sovereign rules. The term is commonly used to describe a monarchical or dynastic state. A realm may also be a subdivision within an empire, if it has its own monarch, e.g. the German Empire. Etymo ...

, and decided on at the national level. In modern Germany such laws are called federal laws.

An overview of Germany

Up until 1806 Reich laws were made by the Imperial Diet of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. The right to propose such laws was exclusive to the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

and the

Prince-elector The prince-electors ( pl. , , ) were the members of the Electoral College of the Holy Roman Empire, which elected the Holy Roman Emperor. Usually, half of the electors were archbishops. From the 13th century onwards, a small group of prince- ...

. Every proposal was firstly discussed by the Prince-electorate and after their appraisal it got passed onto the imperial Council of princes after which it reached the free imperial cities. For the law to officially come into effect they had to be approved by the Emperor. In 1871 the

German Reich German ''Reich'' (, from ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty entirely from a continuing unitary German ''Volk'' ("na ...

which developed out of the

North German Confederation The North German Confederation () was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated state (a ''de facto'' feder ...

of 1867 as a

Nation state A nation state, or nation-state, is a political entity in which the State (polity), state (a centralized political organization ruling over a population within a territory) and the nation (a community based on a common identity) are (broadly ...

. The laws of the confederation were taken over and from then on called ''Reich laws''. First, the Reichstag of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

decided on the laws, which later had to be reviewed by the

Bundesrat (German Empire) The was the highest legislative body in the German Empire (1871–1918). Its members were appointed by the governments of Germany's constituent states to represent their interests in the German parliament. The popularly elected Reichstag (Germ ...

which represented the separate federal states and finally passed and announced to the public by the

German Emperor The German Emperor (, ) was the official title of the head of state and Hereditary monarchy, hereditary ruler of the German Empire. A specifically chosen term, it was introduced with the 1 January 1871 constitution and lasted until the abdicati ...

. The Emperor could not make any adjustments at this stage, he was obligated by law to announce the new laws in their agreed-upon state. All the laws that were decided in the times of the German empire, the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

and

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

still apply in modern Germany as long as they aren’t in violation of the

Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany () is the constitution of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The West German Constitution was approved in Bonn on 8 May 1949 and came into effect on 23 May after having been approved b ...

Reich constitutional act in the holy roman empire

The Reich laws have their origins in the laws of the

, which were widely accepted as fundamental laws at that time and which were written and adjusted over centuries. Not all of the laws of the Holy Roman Empire were carried over into the new imperial constitution since they were not uniformly accepted. In the first

Constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

, agreed upon in the

Concordat of Worms The Concordat of Worms (; ), also referred to as the ''Pactum Callixtinum'' or ''Pactum Calixtinum'', was an agreement between the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire which regulated the procedure for the appointment of bishops and abbots i ...

in 1122, there was already a certain independence of the secular and religious powers; one of the first steps on a long path towards solving the

Investiture Controversy The Investiture Controversy or Investiture Contest (, , ) was a conflict between church and state in medieval Europe, the Church and the state in medieval Europe over the ability to choose and install bishops (investiture), abbots of monasteri ...

. The changing of a chief to a duke in the Holy Roman Empire around a century later is seen as a milestone in constitutional law. In 1231 the Emperor Frederick II had to concede dukedom laws to the Reich dukes at the Reichstag in Worms. Frederick II recognized the duke’s right to create laws the same day. The most important constitutional law was the

Golden Bull of 1356 The Golden Bull of 1356 (, , , , ) was a decree issued by the Imperial Diet at Nuremberg and Metz ( Diet of Metz, 1356/57) headed by the Emperor Charles IV which fixed, for a period of more than four hundred years, important aspects of the con ...

. It was the basis for the orderly election of a king. It restricted the right to

feud A feud , also known in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, private war, or mob war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially family, families or clans. Feuds begin ...

and limited the number of prince electors while denying the pope any sort of influence on legislative matters. The German Concord of the year 1447 was seen as a third Reich law. This law dictated the influence and freedom that decisions from the pope had in the Reich. This new Reich law set the foundation for the position and development of the Catholic church in the

over the following years. The fourth Imperial Constitutional Law was the perpetual peace act which was published in the Reichstag in Worms on the 7th August 1495. The Imperial Chamber Court was formed to consolidate the act. Through this foundational new law the right to feud was also prohibited, which had been commonly allowed up until then in order ton push through a nationwide monopoly on the use of force for the state. Disputes within the nobility and the right to enforce laws by the nobility themselves was also prohibited. These issues were solved by a local court from that point onward. Should the perpetual peace be broken, the lawbreaker would face an

Imperial Ban The imperial ban () was a form of outlawry in the Holy Roman Empire. At different times, it could be declared by the Holy Roman Emperor, by the Imperial Diet, or by courts like the League of the Holy Court (''Vehmgericht'') or the '' Reichskammerg ...

or a high fine. The fifth Imperial Constitutional Law was the

Imperial Military Constitution The Imperial Military Constitution (, also called the ''Reichskriegsverfassung'') was the collection of military laws of the Holy Roman Empire. Like the rest of the imperial constitution, it grew out of various laws and governed the establishment ...

decided in Worms in 1521. This law was a directory of the people with power in the Reich, which was used to manage the maintenance of the imperial military. Other laws and decrees which were pronounced Reich Laws included the

Peace of Augsburg The Peace of Augsburg (), also called the Augsburg Settlement, was a treaty between Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and the Schmalkaldic League, signed on 25 September 1555 in the German city of Augsburg. It officially ended the religious struggl ...

from 1555, "the Imperial enforce decree" and the "decree for the imperial privy council". The

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...

was an agreement which was made after the ratification bill had been exchanged in 1694 and was established as the ''eternal fundamental law of the Reich''. Many territorial changes and local sovereignty were put into effect with this contract, while

Reformed Christianity Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyterian ...

was declared a fully fledged religious denomination. Because of this, more rules on religious freedom and other imperial religious institutions were put in place. With all of this the founding of the Reich Constitution was fully completed.

Legislative powers of the Reich

The

constitution of the German Empire The Constitution of the German Empire () was the basic law of the German Empire. It came into effect on 4 May 1871 and lasted formally until 14 August 1919. Some German historians refer to it as Bismarck's imperial constitution (German: , BRV). ...

under Bismarck secured the legislative powers of the Reich in the following areas so laws could be passed: * Citizenship law * Custom duties and trade * Banking law * Patent law * Ownership law * Protection of trade and shipping in foreign countries, as well as consultation systems * Railway and waterway construction * Ship and waterway maintenance in interstate waterways, as well as river and water custom duties * Postal and telegraph systems * Cross-country enforcement of civil rights * Law of public documents * Debt, criminal, trade and jurisdiction laws * Naval and military matters on a national level * Medical and veterinary police rights * Association/club and press rights In many of these areas the legislative powers of the Reich did not apply in Bavaria, which had the right to pass its own laws. In Würrtemberg, this was the case in postal and telegraph matters. The constitution was valid until it was replaced by the constitution of the

Differences in the state laws

Apart from the general Reich laws, there were different legislation systems in the various countries of the German Empire. At first, there was no catalogue containing the fundamental human rights. Surprisingly, this lack of fundamental rights in the constitution had low impact. Therefore, only the constitutions of the countries guaranteed fundamental human rights. Various Reich laws in the Kingdom of Bavaria were taken over from laws of the

or other regions. They mainly included political and human rights. In the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

the Reich laws had priority over the state laws. The representatives of the states decided on these binding laws and published them by means of the

Reichsgesetzblatt The (; abbreviated RGBl.), was the government gazette of the German Reich from 1871 to 1945, thus covering the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, and Nazi Germany. All laws of the German Reich in a formal sense (i.e., all laws that have been ...

.{{cite web, access-date=2014-01-16 , title=Preußische Reichsgesetzgebung , url=http://www.documentarchiv.de/ksr/verfksr.html

References

Law of Nazi Germany Law of the Weimar Republic Law of the Holy Roman Empire