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20 June 2025

BOOK: Christopher ADAIR-TOTEFF, Dictatorial Power and States of Exception in the Weimar Republic: The Controversial Article 48, 1919-1933 [Routledge Research in Legal History] (London: Routledge, 2025), 202 p. ISBN 9781032320823, 116 GBP

 

(image source: Routledge)

Abstract:

This book is an account of the tension between the need for order and the desire for freedom during the tense years of the Weimar Republic. It explains how various groups interpreted Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution and utilized it to reinstate peace and tranquility. While Article 48 is usually associated with the so-called “Preußenschlag”—the taking over of the Prussian government by the order of Reich Chancelor Kurt von Papen—it had been introduced as a necessity during earlier “states of emergency”. This investigation delves into the relevant works by many of the leading constitutional scholars in Germany. This list includes Hugo Preuss, Carl Schmitt, Hans Kelsen, Gerhard Anschütz, Richard Thoma, Erwin Jacobi, Hans Nawiasky, and Richard Grau. This book is a clearly written and detailed account of the history surrounding this debate about the appropriate emergency measures to be taken under Article 48. The work is important for its historical interest, and also because the conflict between authority and freedom has continuing relevance. The book will be a valuable resource for researchers and academics working in the areas of Legal History, Legal Philosophy, Legal Theory, Constitutional History, and German Studies.

Table of contents:

1 Dictatorship, States of Exception, and Art. 48; 2 1918-1919: The Years of Struggle and Renewal; 31920-1922: The Years of Political and Economic Turmoil; 41923-1926: The Years of Despair and Hope; 5 1927-1929: The Years of Peace and Panic; 6 1930-1933: The Years of Debate and Debacle; 7 Art. 48: Concluding Comments 

On the author:

Christopher Adair-Toteff is a philosopher and a social theorist whose research has been in social economics and in political liberalism. He is a Fellow at the Center for Social and Political Thought, University of South Florida, USA. 

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