1867: The December Constitution and Fundamental Rights in Austria
When, in 1865, the current constitution—the February Patent of 1861—was repealed, the path was clear for the so-called “Compromise” with Hungary. The “Dual Monarchy” of Austria-Hungary essentially created a two-state solution, with minimal joint representation and under a shared emperor (“personal union”). It was only after this, on 21 December 1867, that the Austrian Empire, i.e. the imperial lands this side of the River Leitha (“Cisleithania”), was granted a constitution. The constitution was made up of several different laws, including the regulation of parliament (“Reichsvertretung”), government and the judiciary. In addition, it also established a catalogue of fundamental rights and civil liberties.
While the electoral procedure for parliament only gradually moved towards universal and equal suffrage (voting equality for all men was not achieved until 1907), the “Fundamental Law Concerning the General Rights of Citizens” incorporated the catalogue of fundamental rights from 1848, the drafting of which was so comprehensive that it is still in force today: as part of the Austrian Federal Constitution of 1920 it survives —with very few additions or alterations—in the Constitutional Amendment of 1929, which is still valid today.
It made a constitutional reality of the equality of all citizens before the law (Art. 2), equal access to public offices for all citizens (Art. 3), the freedom of passage of persons (Art. 4), the inviolability of property (Art. 5), the freedom of residence (Art. 6), the abolition of any relation of vassalage or dependence and of irredeemable charges on property (Art. 7), the liberty of the person (Art. 8), the inviolability of domicile (Art. 9), the secrecy of mail (Art. 10), the right of petition (Art. 11), the right of assembly and to form associations (Art. 12), the freedom of the press (Art. 13), the freedom of religion and of conscience (Art. 14), the right to public exercise of worship for churches and religious societies recognised under the law (Art. 15), the right to private exercise of worship for members of other religious confessions (Art. 16), the freedom of science and its teaching (Art. 17), the freedom to choose your occupation (Art. 18), and the equality of “all races” of the state (Art. 19).
This was not entirely uncharted territory. In part the constitution drew on existing legal regulations, but its formulation as a Fundamental Law guaranteed a legal entitlement to the relevant freedoms, while also providing for the possibility of suing for those liberties in cases of infringement.
On 4 March 1964, the European Convention on Human Rights became part of the constitution. This meant that for the first time since 1867, the catalogue of basic and human rights contained in the Austrian constitution underwent fundamental enlargement.
In 1973, the secrecy of telecommunications was added to the catalogue of fundamental rights and, in 1982, the freedom of art was incorporated into the regulations. The law from 1862 on the liberty of the person, which had become part of Article 8, was replaced in 1988 by the Federal Constitutional Law on the Protection of Personal Liberty.
Related articles (3)
