Principles Of The Constitutional Jurisprudence

Principles of the Constitutional Jurisprudence of the German National Republic By JOHANNES MATTERN, Ph. D. THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY BALTIMORE THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS LONDON HUMPHREY MILFORD Oxford University Press 1928 Copyright 1928 by THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS PRESS OF MEYER THALHEIMER BALTIMOKE, MD., U. S. A. Dedicated To my Parents and to the Mother of my Children Meinen Eltern und der Mutter meiner Kinder Gewidmet PREFACE The work here offered is an elaboration of the main part of a course of lectures on the constitutional jurisprudence and government of the German National Republic given at The Johns Hopkins University in the winter semester 1924-25. The theory of modern German constitutional jurisprudence is based upon the juristic conception of the State. It is evident, then, that the serious student of this subject must first square himself with the theory or doc trine of the juristic conception of the State. This the author has attempted to do in the introduction to the lecture course published as Concepts of State, Sovereignty, and International Lair with Special Reference to tlie Jur istic Conception of the State, forming the philosophical or theoretical background for the practical demonstration of the actual construction of a modern elaborate govern mental machinery on the basis of the juristic conception of the State. The two works supplement each other and the fullest understanding of one depends upon the sympathetic study of the other. In the Principles of the Constitutional Jurisprudence of the German National Republic the author does not intend to present a commentary on the individual provi sions of the Constitution in question. He has undertaken to present to thestudent the general principles upon which the franiers of the Constitution have avowedly constructed the new fundamental law of the National Republic. He has conscientiously refrained from overstepping the limits which he has thus set himself, in the realization that a student genuinely interested in foreign constitutions and governments, when given the fundamental principles es sential to their understanding, will prefer to do his own exploring in detail. The object of the present work is to IX x PREFACE stimulate thinking by the presentation and unravelling of problems, not to encourage the blind acceptance of authoritative answers to the questions involved. The unavoidable use of German terms defying transla tion or included in support of the translations chosen has made strict adherence to the more or less customary mode of italicizing undesirable. After serious consideration it has seemed best not to italicize German technical terms for standard concepts or institutions with which every political scientist and constitutional jurist may be expected to be acquainted. In the footnotes and bibliography, titles of books and names of journals have been given in Roman type in order to avoid a confusing preponderance of italics. Where clarity of context demanded some sort of specifica tion parentheses have been employed to indicate the journal in which an article has appeared, and quotation marks for titles of books, monographs, etc. The list of sources and works consulted is not offered as an exhaustive bibliography of the subject. The criterion of selection has been the authors judgment of the essential within the limitation of the obtainable. Grateful acknowledgment is here made tothose who have been helpful in the preparation of this work To the authorities of The Johns Hopkins University for the grant ing of a three months leave of absence in 1923, which furnished the opportunity for the gathering of source mate rial abroad to my wife, Carola Glasier Mattern, for her patient and encouraging assistance in the preparation of the lecture course from which the present work has grown and to Miss Elizabeth 8...