Dr. Schilf: Now I want to ask you, what, in principle, was the relation between international law and the law of the individual state, and I would like to ask you whether that relationship was changed under the Hitler state?
Witness Jahrreiss: Counsel, I suppose I am right in assuming that by that question you refer mainly to Article 4[154] of the Weimar constitution?
Q. Yes, that is my intention.
A. Among the methods by which human beings are directed in social intercourse, there is, as one of several, the order [Befehl]. That in itself, unsympathetic as it appears to people everywhere as a method, has the one characteristic that it is unavoidable. Consequently, there is nowhere among human beings a sphere where there is no rule. On the other hand, all mankind in effect today stands in permanent relation of life with one another without, as a whole, being subject to one rule. Both together result in the situation which again and again worries people, which we call the situation referring to international law. Only groups of mankind, smaller groups or larger groups, are under a common rule. Therefore, if a continuous life, in spite of being divided into various units of rule, is to be made secure, and that in a proper manner, then there must be norms which hold together in an entity those various units of rules.
Or to express it in a different way, the power of authority of the various units must be brought in line in such a way that a community life is possible. That means, however, the ruling authority of the individual units must be restricted by the whole. The central point of international law is therefore constituted by those norms which lay down that limitation of the authority of the individual groups. Therefore, I suggested, and I was the first person to demonstrate that in science, that the law of an individual state, that is to say the constitutional law, should never be described without also describing the limitations under international law. If we were to achieve the situation, if I may say so here, whereby everywhere in the world all young jurists from the very beginning would be accustomed to see the constitutional questions of their own country always in connection with those of international law, then a great deal would have been done to strengthen international law.
Summarizing, that means the individual state is placed under an obligation by international law to arrange its own order by legislation in such a manner that the authorities in their decisions work in such a way as is demanded by international law. In [legal] science, that is called—the state is under an obligation to organize its law in accordance with international law. How can that be done?
There are several methods available. The legislator can, from case to case in his own system, amend those provisions which need changing so as to comply with international law. He does not need to mention international law at all in doing so. That is the way states proceed again and again. A different method is the one which is called the method of transformation. That is, the legislator does not trouble to bring into line the law of his country, word by word, and paragraph by paragraph, with international law, but he tells his official agencies, “Consider the norm of international law which in itself only binds me, as if I had cast it into a law.”
That method, which in German we also call “Recasting” [Umgiessung], can be applied specifically or generally. That is to say, the legislator, as soon as he has to consider a new treaty under international law, can recast that treaty or he gives general instructions for the application of the international law which is valid in the particular case. Both methods have been used among states.
Concerning this method of transformation, a difficult problem arises. In all states which have laws of different rank, as in the German Reich under the Weimar constitution—that is to say, either laws which have the validity of the constitutional laws, or ordinary laws—the legislator has to ask himself whether he intends to apply the recast international law to the highest group or not. Under the Weimar constitution, for example, it was indisputable that the recast international law had merely the position of an ordinary law. There might even be a state which would place the recast international law above constitutional law. What do we need that for? Every official agency in every state finds itself in the situation where it is confronted with several laws of its own state which appear to contradict one another, or in fact do contradict one another, which, however, all claim validity. I need not tell you jurists that since the days of Roman law everywhere norms have developed concerning the elimination of such conditions; where state laws have varying status, further norms of collision have been constituted. If a state would have a general norm under which international law takes precedence over all domestic law, that would be the greatest safeguard which is possible at all, that the law of the country is handled in accordance with international law. I do not know whether there is such a state. The German Reich at any rate was not one of those states. I think with this background I can now answer your question.
The relation between international law and the law of the Reich has been regulated in the Weimar constitution in article 4 and article 45, paragraph 3.[155] There have been many arguments about article 4, at the time when the national [Constituent] assembly was sitting [in 1919]. After many arguments and after sufficient attention had been paid to article 45, paragraph 3, eventually the following legal situation evolved. As far as the German Reich, by treaty, enters into obligations under international law, in such spheres of life which are subject to the legislative authority of the Reichstag, the President of the Reich may not ratify the treaty for Germany before the Reichstag has agreed by law. That is a transformation of a special nature, and anticipated transformation, for if the treaty is concluded, because the other partners ratify it also, then, at the moment the treaty becomes valid, the special recasting has already been effected. For the rest, all other international law, as far as it is generally recognized, but also acknowledged by Germany, is generally speaking recast by article 4. Both ways of recasting gave international law the status of an ordinary law of the Reich. Yesterday I had opportunity—concerning the question as to the moral limits of rule—to point out that under the Weimar constitution the courts were not authorized to examine a law as for its validity under international law, and certainly not the administrative authorities. Under Hitler that attitude was not changed. The general method of transformation of article 4 was kept on, and the specific one was needed even less frequently because the approval of the Reichstag was no longer required for the conclusion of treaties. Hitler could conclude every treaty under international law himself. As soon as the treaty had been concluded, as soon as it had come into force, it had already been recast, for Hitler’s ratification was, from the domestic point of view, a Fuehrer Order.