Die europäische Verfassungsdiskussion des 18. Jahrhunderts

The modern term »constitution« is closely associated with the revolutions of 1776 and 1789. The discussion surrounding the preconditions of the constitution not only reflects how the revolution was able to overcome the old, class conscious society, but rather the general process of legal regulation of governance in the spirit of the Enlightenment. The concentration of monarchies in the world of European constitutions after 1800 was a mirror of Napoleonic state authoritarianism. In her study, Ulrike Müßig demonstrates that the growing strength of the parliaments after the July Revolution in 1830/31 led to a smooth transition from a constitutional to a parliamentary system with consistent laws. The balance of power between the monarch and parliament was changing. This evolutionary understanding of constitutional history is the key to Ulrike Müßig's study on the European constitutional discussion in the 18th century.