February Patent

The February Patent was a constitution of the Austrian Empire promulgated in the form of letters patent on 26 February 1861.

In the Austrian Empire, the early 1860s were a period of significant constitutional reforms. The revolutions and unfortunate wars of the late 1840s-1850s had created a national sense of discontent. The disastrous war in Italy demonstrated openly the weaknesses of the Austrian bureaucracy and army. The burgeoning influence of Prussia and the German Confederation was also a cause for concern. Emperor Francis Joseph I (r.1848-1916) saw that, if he was to maintain his empire, he must begin some reforms. In March 1860, the Emperor began a ‘strengthening’ of the Reichsrat, the imperial council, by adding new members and giving it advisory powers over major financial and legislative issues, including the formation of a new constitution. The parliament split into two parties, a native German-speaking and a non-German-speaking side. The German side pushed for a stronger central government, but the non-German side (Czechs and Hungarians) pushed for a division of power between the estates. Francis Joseph tried to formulate a compromise in the new constitution, the “October Diploma” (adopted October 20, 1860). The Diploma created a one-hundred-member parliament with extended powers over the empire’s finances but no power over the military or legislation. Also, the Parliament did not have power over Hungary, except in matters that affected the entire empire. The Hungarian Diet controlled Hungarian internal affairs.

The new Parliament did not please either side, however. State finances continued to fail; the Germans were not happy with the power given to the diets; and the non-Germans were disappointed by the amount of power that remained in the Emperor’s hands. In addition to continuing internal problems, the Austrian Empire was plagued by outside pressures, specifically the evolution of the German Confederation. For centuries, the Habsburgs had been in control of the German states. Even when the German Confederation of States formed in 1815, Austria maintained its influence. With the rise of Prussia in Eastern Europe, that influence was threatened. The Emperor saw the expansion and centralization of Parliament as a way to gain internal strength that would transfer into external power. When Anton Ritter von Schmerling became Secretary of State in late 1860, he took on the task of revising the October Diploma.

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