1917: The War Economy Enabling Act

The War Economy Enabling Act (KWEG) was a law dating back to 1917 that authorised the government of the Austrian part of the empire to issue emergency statutory orders with the force of law without having to consult parliament in order to alleviate economic plight. After the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy, the KWEG continued to be enforced by the provisional Austrian state government and was finally officially incorporated into the legal system of the republic in 1920 by a transitional constitutional law. The Austrian Federal Government subsequently issued numerous non-economic regulations based on the KWEG, generally to extend expiring legal norms or to close legal loopholes. This always happened with the approval of parliament, which subsequently also confirmed the regulations. However, the practice of submitting regulations to parliament for confirmation within a specific period was tacitly abolished starting in 1928.

After the dissolution of parliament in March 1933, Federal Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss misused the KWEG on a grand scale in order to eliminate political opponents and to transform the body politic according to his vision. Until the new authoritarian constitution was imposed in May 1934, emergency decrees issued on the basis of the KWEG formed the foundation of government action. It was only in 1946 that Federal Constitutional Law definitively repealed the KWEG.