I.—POWERS OF THE REICHSTAG AS PRINCIPAL HOLDER OF SOVEREIGNTY.
The Reichstag being the principal representative of the sovereign people, it naturally falls to it to speak whenever it is necessary in the national or international life of the state to translate or express the will of the people. That is the rôle which has devolved upon parliament in all the democratic countries, and it is also the mission confided to the Reichstag by the German Constitution. The situations in which this Assembly acts as spokesman for the people are of three kinds:
1. The granting of amnesty. Amnesty is a measure of a general character whereby the sovereign, with the object of general pacification, declares such and such crimes legally expiated. In the German Constitution amnesty has to be declared in the form of a law. The ordinary procedure for the enactment of law applies here.
2. Declaration of war and the conclusion of peace. These proclamations, in the same way, must be made in the forms of laws.
3. Treaties of alliance and international treaties. Each of these is theoretically concluded by the President of the Reich; but when these treaties touch questions which are regulated or can only be regulated by a law of the Reich, such settlements are not valid except with the consent of the National Assembly. ([Article 45].) This hypothesis differs, therefore, from the first two just examined. In those cases there was required a law, that is to say, the Reichsrat had the right of protest, and the President could only prepare and execute the decision of the Reichstag, to the same extent that he is compelled to prepare other laws of the Reich. In the cases of treaties, however, what is required is a meeting of the wills of both the Reichstag and the President. This agreement is required even for the international validity of the treaty, but it is self-sufficient, and the Reichsrat would probably not have the right to protest against such a conclusion.[37]
II.—LEGISLATIVE POWERS.
In contrast to the terms of the Constitution of 1871, which divided the right to legislate between the Bundesrat and the Reichstag but gave the preponderance to the former, the new Constitution gives to the Reichstag the principal rôle in legislative work. The right to legislate is expressly placed in its hands. “National laws are enacted by the National Assembly” ([Article 68]). But this fundamental right of the Reichstag is limited by important powers granted to the Reichsrat, to the President and to the people.
The principal co-operator with the Reichstag, from the point of view of legislation, is the Reichsrat. The Reich being, at least theoretically, a federal state, the Constitution grants to the Reichsrat, which “represents the German states in the legislation and administration of the Reich,” the right of important co-operation in legislative matters. But this right is not as extensive as that which the old Bundesrat had.
It consists first of all in this, that no bill can be submitted to the Reichstag unless it has been previously accepted by the Reichsrat. However, this provision does not constitute, as formerly, an absolute obstacle. When the Reichsrat disapproves of a bill which the Cabinet has submitted to it, this project may be, without the consent of the Reichsrat, nevertheless sent on to the Reichstag. The Cabinet is in such a case only obliged to set forth to the Reichstag, in presenting this bill, the dissent of the Reichsrat ([Article 69]).
The co-operation of the Reichsrat is manifested also in its right of protest against the laws enacted by the Reichstag. These laws must in theory be enacted with the express or tacit approval of the Reichsrat, but this provision is not absolute. If, in effect, after the protest of the Reichsrat, no accord is reached between this body and the Reichstag, it devolves upon the President of the Reich to decide whether the project of law will be abandoned by him, or whether he will resort to a referendum against the decision taken by the Reichsrat. If this bill gains the support at the Reichstag of a majority of two-thirds the President has then, in spite of the protest of the Reichsrat, the right to promulgate and to publish the law, without any further vote on it by the Reichstag. But he may also, instead of proceeding to this promulgation, order a referendum, if he does not want to take upon himself the responsibility of deciding this conflict of the Reichstag and the Reichsrat.