III. THE GERMAN ACT OF CONFEDERATION.

OF THE EIGHTH OF JUNE, 1815.

From P. A. G. von Meyer, Corpus Juris Confederationis Germanicæ, 2nd edition, II, pp. 3 ff.

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The Act of Confederation formed the Constitution of Germany for half a century (1815-1866). It was drawn up at the Congress of Vienna, where Prussia's plan of a firm union was successfully opposed by Austria, with the support of the Middle States of Germany. The tendencies of the two great powers, Austria and Prussia, were at variance throughout and the inevitable rivalry between them forms the key to German history until the final expulsion of Austria from the union in 1866. Metternich's ideal of an international union of sovereign princes under the leadership of Austria was practically realized. "Judged by the requirements of a practical political organization this German Act of Confederation, produced with so much effort, possessed about all the faults that can render a constitution utterly useless" (Sybel). An attempt was made to develop the meaning of certain clauses of this document in 1820. This resulted in the so-called Final Act of Vienna (Wiener Schluss-Acte) which may be regarded as upon practically the same footing as the primary act of 1815.

In the Name of the most Holy and Indivisible Trinity.

The Sovereign Princes and Free Towns of Germany animated by the common desire to carry into effect Article VI of the Peace of Paris of May 30, 1814, and convinced of the advantages which would result for the security and independence of Germany and to the repose and equilibrium of Europe from a firm and lasting union, have agreed to unite themselves in a perpetual Confederation, and have for this purpose invested their envoys and deputies at the Congress of Vienna with full powers, viz:

Grand Cor

His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty; the Sieur Clement Wenceslas, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg-Ochsenhausen, knight of the Golden Fleece, Grand Cross of the Royal Order of St. Stephen of Hungary, Knight of the Order of St. Andrew, of the order of St. Alexander Newsky and of St. Anne of the First Class. don of the Legion of Honor; Knight of the Order of the Elephant, of the Order of the Annunciation, of the Black Eagle, and of the Red Eagle, of the Seraphim, of St. Joseph of Tuscany, of St. Hubert, of the Golden Eagle of Wurtemberg, of the Fidelity of Baden, of St. John of Jerusalem, and of several others; Chancellor of the Military Order of Maria Theresa; Curator of the Imperial and Royal Academy of Fine Arts; Chamberlain and Active Privy Councillor of his Majesty the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary and Bohemia; his Majesty's Minister of State and of Conferences, as well as Minister of Foreign

Affairs and First Plenipotentiary at the Congress, and the Sieur John Philip, Baron of Wessenberg; Grand Cross of the Royal Sardinian Order of St. Mauritus and St. Lazarus, and of the Royal Order of the Crown of Bavaria, etc.; Chamberlain and Active Privy Councillor of his Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, and his Majesty's second Plenipotentiary at the Congress.

His Royal Majesty of Prussia; the Prince Hardenberg, his Chancellor of State.

GENERAL PROVISIONS.

ARTICLE I.-The Sovereign Princes and Free Towns of Germany, including their Majesties the Emperor of Austria and the Kings of Prussia, of Denmark, and of the Netherlands; to wit, the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia for all of their possessions formerly belonging to the German Empire; the King of Denmark for Holstein, and the King of the Netherlands for the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, unite in a perpetual union which shall be called The German Confederation.

ARTICLE II.-The aim of the same shall be the maintenance of the external and internal safety of Germany and of the independence and inviolability of the individual German States.

ARTICLE III.—All members of the Union have, as such, equal rights. They all engage alike to maintain inviolate the Act of Confederation.

ARTICLE IV.—The affairs of the Confederation shall be confided to a Diet of the Confederation, in which all members of the Union shall vote through their plenipotentiaries, either individually or collectively, in the following manner without prejudice to their rank:

'It has not been deemed necessary to give the names of all the plenipoten

tiaries.

All the States enumerated in Article IV were represented at the Congress. 2Holy Roman Empire.

II. The Netherlands, for the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg.
12. The Grand Ducal and Ducal Houses of Saxony.
13. Brunswick and Nassau.

14. Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
15. Holstein-Oldenburg, Anhalt and Schwartzburg.
16. Hohenzollern, Liechtenstein, Reuss, Schaumburg-Lippe,
Lippe and Waldeck.

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17. The Free Towns, Lübeck, Frankfurt, Bremen and Hamburg 1

ARTICLE V.—Austria shall preside in the Diet of the Confederation. Each member of the Union has the right to make and support propositions, and the presiding State is bound within a determined period to bring them under deliberation.

ARTICLE. VI.-Whenever fundamental laws of the Confederation are to be enacted or amended or measures are to he adopted relative to the Act of Confederation itself or organic institutions of the Confederation, or other arrrangements of common interest are under consideration the Diet shall form itself into a General Assembly (Plenum) in which the distribution of the votes, based upon the respective extent of the individual States of the Union, has been arranged as follows:

The Diet of the Confederation in deliberating on the Organic Laws

of the Union shall take into consideration whether the mediatized estates

of the former empire shall be granted any collective votes in the Plenum. ARTICLE VII.-The question whether a given subject ought, according to the above provisions, to be considered in the Plenum, shall be decided by vote in the Ordinary Assembly (Engerer Rath).

Drafts of Resolutions which are to be submitted to the Plenum shall be prepared in the Ordinary Assembly, which shall supply all the information necessary for their acceptance or rejection by the Plenum. The vote of the majority shall regulate the decisions, both in the Ordinary Assembly and in the Plenum, with the difference, however, that in the Ordinary Assembly a simple majority shall be deemed sufficient for the passage of a measure while in the Plenum a majority of two-thirds shall be necessary.

In case of a tie in the Ordinary Assembly, the presiding state shall cast the deciding vote.

When however, the deliberations of the Diet shall relate to the adoption or amendment of the fundamental laws, to the organic institutions of the Confederation, to individual rights (jura singulorum) or to matters of religion, the vote of the majority shall not be deemed sufficient either in the Plenum or in the Ordinary Assembly, for the passage of a measure. The Diet of the Confederation is permanent, but may, when the business submitted to its deliberations is terminated, adjourn for a definite period, not to exceed four months. The detailed regulations relating to adjournment and to the disposal of pressing affairs which may arise during the recess shall be determined by the Diet, itself, when it shall draw up the Organic Laws.

ARTICLE VIII.—In regard to the order in which the members of the Confederation shall vote, it is determined that so long as the Diet of the Confederation shall be occupied with the formulation of the organic Laws there shall be no fixed rule, and the order which shall be adopted shall in no way be prejudicial to any member or serve as a precedent. When the Organic Laws shall have been drawn up, the diet of the Confederation shall take into consideration the future permanent order of voting to be adopted. In so doing, they shall deviate as little as possible from the regulations of the former Diet, especially as based upon the provisions of the Decree of the Imperial Commission of 1803.

But this order of voting shall exercise no influence upon the rank of the members of the union or their order of precedence, except so far as the diet is concerned.

ARTICLE IX.-The Diet of the Confederation shall sit at Frankfort on the Main. The first meeting is fixed for the first of September 1815.

ARTICLE X.-The first business of the Diet of the Confederation after its opening shall be the drawing up of the fundamental laws of the Union and of its organic institutions connected with the foreign military and internal arrangements.

ARTICLE XI.-All members of the Confederation pledge themselves to protect Germany as a whole, as well as every single confederated state against attack, and mutually guarantee their entire possessions, so far as those are included within the confederation.

When war is once declared on the part of the Confederation no member shall negotiate separately with the enemy nor conclude an armistice or make peace.

ARTICLE XII.-The members of the Confederation reserve to themselves the right of forming alliances of all kinds. They pledge themselves, however, to contract no engagement which shall be directed against the safety of the Confederation or that of any individual state within the Union.

The members of the Confederation pledge themselves likewise not to make war among themselves upon any pretence, nor to follow up their contentions with force but to submit these to the Diet. It shall devolve upon this body to attempt arbitration by means of a commission. Should this fail and a judicial decision become necessary the same shall be effected through a well organized court of arbitration (Austragal Instanz) to the decision of which the conflicting parties shall forthwith submit.

SPECIAL PROVISIONS.

In addition to the matters settled in the preceding articles, relating to the establishment of the Confederation, the members of the Union agreed upon the provisions contained in the following articles, with regard to the subjects mentioned below, which articles shall have the same force as the preceding ones.

ARTICLE XII.'—.

'The Articles of this second part are omitted as having little interest. Only the first part or "general provisions" were included in the Act of Congress of Vienna, forming Articles LIII-LXIII of that document. Article LXIV, however, provided that the "special provisions." which were to be appended to the Act itself, were to have the same force as if actually inserted there. The most important of the special provisions and one which later caused much discussion was Article XIII which read "A CONSTITUTION BASED UPON THE SYSTEM OF ESTATES SHALL BE ESTABLISHED (statt finden) IN ALL THE STATES OE THE UNION."