The New German Constitution

by René Brunet

4. The people themselves may initiate a proposal for a law. ([Article 73].)

5. In matters of social and economic policy, finally, the National Economic Council has also the right to propose bills; but here, too, the agreement with these bills on the part of the Cabinet is required. If, however, the Cabinet refuses its consent to the bill, it must nevertheless present the proposition to the Reichstag at the same time presenting its opinion.

The law being proposed, how is it voted on and accepted? Here, again, several different kinds of situations must be distinguished:

1. The normal procedure is the vote on the bill by the Reichstag in agreement with the Reichsrat. The bill may be presented by the Cabinet, duly passed on by the Reichsrat in agreement and without change and accepted by the Reichstag as it stands. Or changes by the Reichsrat may be approved by the Reichstag. Or the Reichsrat may accept without a contest the changes voted by the Reichstag. Or, after a protest by the Reichsrat against a bill voted by the Reichstag, an agreement may be reached by the two assemblies after a reconsideration of the bill by the Reichstag.

2. If an agreement cannot be reached between the Reichstag and the Reichsrat, that is to say, if the Reichsrat having raised objection to a bill voted on by the Reichstag, a reconsideration by the latter has not brought about an agreement between the two bodies on the bill, the Cabinet may then follow another course. The President may decide that this agreement on the bill between the Reichstag and the Reichsrat being impossible, matters rest where they are; then the law does not become operative. If this solution does not commend itself to him, he may prescribe a referendum on the question that forms the conflict of opinion between the two assemblies and the law becomes operative when the referendum sanctions the decision of the Reichstag.

3. If, in the proceeding in case of a difference of opinion between the Reichstag and the Reichsrat, the Reichstag persists, after the protest of the Reichsrat, in its first decision and supports it with a majority of at least two-thirds of those voting, the President has the choice either of passing over the protest of the Reichsrat and promulgating the law, or else he may order a referendum. His decision must be made within three months after the decision of the Reichstag. In this case the law may become operative, either by the vote of the Reichstag together with the President’s favorable decision, or by the vote of the Reichstag together with the sanction by the referendum.

4. The President may, in the case of a bill passed by both the Reichstag and the Reichsrat in agreement, use his right of veto; that is to say, he need not promulgate the law but must refer it to a referendum. In that case the law does not become operative unless the referendum supports the vote of the Reichstag. If the referendum pronounces against it the law is definitely rejected. The Constitution does not say whether the President may, in such a case, propose a change in the bill and submit this change to another referendum. We must consequently conclude that he cannot do so.

5. If one-twentieth of the electors demand that a law already passed by the Reichstag shall be submitted to a referendum; and if, at the same time, at the demand of one-third of the Members of the Reichstag the promulgation of that law has been deferred, the latter cannot go into effect except after having been approved by a referendum. If the referendum pronounces against the bill, the latter is rejected. But this possibility does not exist in the case where both the Reichsrat and the Reichstag have declared a law to be urgent. The President may in such a case promulgate the law in spite of the demand for its postponement.

6. There remains finally the exceptional case in which a popular initiative by one-tenth of the electors proposes the project of a law. In such a case the law, if it is accepted by referendum, becomes operative, whether the bill has been passed without change by the Reichstag, or, with changes by it, or even in spite of the Reichstag’s rejection.