CONSTITUTION of the German Empire.—Berlin, April 16, 1871.
(Translation.)
His Majesty the King of Prussia in the name of the North German Confederation, His Majesty the King of Bavaria, His Majesty the King of Wurtemberg, His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Baden, and His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, for those parts of the Grand Duchy of Hesse which are south of the river Maine, conclude an everlasting Confederation for the protection of the territory of the Confederation and the rights thereof, as well as to care for the welfare of the German people. This Confederation will bear the name “German Empire,” and is to have the following
CONSTITUTION.
I. Territory of the Confederation.
Art. I. The territory of the Confederation is comprised of the States of Prussia with Lauenburg, Bavaria, Saxony, Wurtemburg, Baden, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Saxe-Weimar, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Oldenburg, Brunswick, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Anhalt, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Waldeck, Reuss Elder Line, Reuss Younger Line, Schaumburg-Lippe, Lippe, Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg.
II. Legislature of the Empire.
II. Within this confederate territory the Empire exercises the right of legislation according to the tenor of this Constitution, and with the effect take the Imperial laws take precedence of the laws of the States. The Imperial laws receive their binding power by their publication in the name of the Empire, which takes place by means of an Imperial Law Gazette. If the date of its first coming into force is not otherwise fixed in the published law, it comes into force on the 14th day after the close of the day on which the part of the Imperial Law Gazette which contains it is published at Berlin.
III. For entire Germany one common nationality exists with the effect, that every person (subject, State-citizen) belonging to any one of the Confederated States is to be treated in every other of the Confederated States as a born native, and accordingly must be permitted to have a fixed dwelling, to trade, to be appointed to public offices, to acquire real estate property, to obtain the rights of a State-citizen, and to enjoy all other civil rights under the same presuppositions as the natives, and likewise is to be treated equally with regard to legal prosecution or legal protection.
No German may be restricted from the exercise of this right
