VIII. Ohne Körperschaftsgarantie keine Reichsverfassung?

Abstract

Abstract No Weimar Constitution without a guarantee of the corporate status of religious communities? The discussion about article 137 section 5 of the Weimar Constitution and its content in the National Assembly of Weimar. Some researchers hold that without the constitutional guarantee of the corporate status of religious communities in article 137 section 5 the Weimar Constitution in 1919 would not have come about. The minutes of the constituent Weimar National Assembly, however, do not indicate that the guarantee of the corporate status was in danger to fail in default of political consensus. Rather, the decision in favour of a constitutional guarantee of the corporate status had already been made early in the debate. Yet it remained unclear and controversial which rights this status contained, except of the right to taxation explicitly guaranteed by article 137 section 6 of the Weimar Constitution. The deputies assumed that the specific rights of the religious communities were not determined by Article 137 section 5 of the Weimar Constitution, but by the legislation of the German Länder.