Beiträge zur Rechtsgeschichte Österreichs 2 / 2018, pp. 259-273, 2018/11/28
Normsetzung im Notstand
Außerordentliche Gesetzgebungsbefugnisse im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert
After the Imperial Parliament had been closed indefinitely on 25th July 1914, promptly all available constitutional instruments of emergency and exceptional legislation were deployed in order to implement any necessary measures by way of regulation. Until the Imperial Parliament was reconvened on 30th May 1917, a total of 173 regulations based on § 14, the so-called Emergency Decrees, were enacted. These regulations contained far-reaching measures that affected the entire population, for instance the transfer of civil jurisdiction to the military or the repealing of jury trials that came into force on 25th July 1914. The amendments to the ABGB and the regulations concerning rest on Sundays and civic holidays for businesses were also enacted as ‘§ 14 regulations’. As wartime economy required prompt acting, a secondary regime for legislation by emergency decrees was created on 10th October 1914. The Imperial Parliament, reconvened in May 1917, first abolished the five basic ‘§ 14 regulations’ from 25th July 1914. However, it soon became clear that a large part of the ‘§ 14 regulations’ would neither be abolished nor replaced by an appropriate act of parliament. One ‘famous’ example of the transformation from a ‘§ 14 regulation’ to an act of parliament was the secondary regime for legislation by emergency decrees, which was finally superseded on 24th July 1917 by the ‘Wartime Economy Enabling Act’. Its shadow should linger on into the Second Republic.
Keywords: Reform of § 14 during the Constitutional Reform–§ 14 Regulations–Repealing § 14 Regulations–Prime Minister STÜRGKH–Shutdown of the Imperial Parliament–Wartime Economy Enabling Act