ENABLING ACT
Publié le 22/02/2012
Extrait du document
ENABLING ACT (Erma¨chtigungsgesetz); a term generally reserved for the
Reichstag* vote of 23 March 1933 abrogating the legislative function and granting
Hitler* dictatorial powers for a period of four years. Only the ninety-four
Social Democrats attending the session dissented; the seventy-two Center Party*
deputies could have blocked passage. The vote was constitutional because it was
based on a provision contained in Article 76 of the Constitution* whereby a
two-thirds majority of the Reichstag could vote to temporarily eliminate the
separation of powers. (Hitler subsequently violated the five restrictive provisos
contained in the 1933 Enabling Act.) Article 76 was similarly used amidst the
hyperinflation when the Reichstag passed an Enabling Act on 13 October 1923
giving Gustav Stresemann* authority to stabilize Germany's currency. A second
act, effective 8 December 1923 to 15 February 1924, resulted in sixty-six emergency
decrees, some of which brought significant and permanent changes in
civil and criminal law. In both instances the restrictive logic of Article 76 was
respected.
Some have argued that under Article 76 the Weimar Constitution provided
the means for its own destruction. In the absence of a strong President—one
prepared to exercise his right to dismiss a Chancellor—Hitler succeeded in using
a legitimate Enabling Act to terminate the Republic.
Liens utiles
- ACT 1 SCENE 1 TIRADE DE SABINE
- lecture analytque le mariage de figaro, scene 5, act III
- Commentaire ubu roi act 2 sc 3
- Commentaire linéaire de Phédre Act I scéne 1
- Civil Riight Act of 1957