Beiträge zur Rechtsgeschichte Österreichs 2 / 2016, pp. 419-469, 2016/10/11
Gerichtsvielfalt in Wien
Forschungen zum modernen Gerichtsbegriff
Following the dissolution of parliament in Austria in March 1933, the Dollfuß government massively stripped back the rule of law. Government decrees were used first to limit the independence of the judges and, ultimately, to make it obsolete. In this article, these government measures will be examined within the context of party political power relations in Austria and the constitutional framework of their implementation, as well as in reference to discussions in the council of ministers. Furthermore, for the first time, the actual sanctions against individual judges will be documented in order to illustrate the effects of this government policy in practice. Finally, the claim of a 'national state of emergency', used to justify these measures, will be placed in relation to contemporary discussions of 'national emergency law'. The final chapter will then sketch the conceptual reformulation of judicial independence within National Socialist ideology and demonstrate the formal ending of traditional guarantees of unremovability and non-transferability of professional judges in the 'Third Reich' and consequently, in the wake of the 'Annexation' in 1938, in Austria as well.
Keywords: Dollfuß government - independance of judge - National Socialism - state of emergency
