Article 48 (Weimar Constitution)

Article 48 of the constitution of the Weimar Republic of Germany (1919–1933) allowed the President, under certain circumstances, to take emergency measures without the prior consent of the Reichstag. This power was understood to include the promulgation of "emergency decrees (Notverordnungen)".

The text of the Article did not precisely define the kind of emergency that would justify its usage, and did not expressly give the President the power to enact, issue or otherwise promulgate legislation. However, such an inherent Presidential legislative power is fairly implied, since the Article expressly gives the Reichstag the power to cancel the emergency decree by a simple majority vote, and this parliamentary power implies that the issuance of the decree could, by its express terms or its operation, impinge on the Reichstag's constitutional function.

Article 48 required the President to inform the Reichstag immediately of the issuance of the emergency decree and gave the Reichstag the power to nullify the emergency decree by simple majority action. The Reichsrat, or upper house, was not involved in this process at all. If the Reichstag nullified the decree, the President could in effect counter-retaliate under Article 25, and dissolve the Reichstag and call for new elections within 60 days.

Following the Treaty of Versailles, there was a period of hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic between 1921 and 1923, then the Occupation of the Ruhr between 1923 and 1925. Friedrich Ebert, a Social Democrat and the Republic's first President, used Article 48 on 136 occasions, including the deposition of lawfully elected governments in Saxony and Thuringia when those appeared disorderly. On 29 August 1921 an emergency proclamation was issued limiting the wearing of imperial military uniforms to current serving members of the armed forces. Ebert had granted Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno considerable latitude under Article 48 to deal with the inflation and with matters related to the Mark. The Emminger Reform of 4 January 1924 abolished the jury system as triers of fact within the judiciary of Germany and replaced it with a mixed system of judges and lay judges which still exists today.

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