ART. 4. Concerning the question whether the decision of a particular case is within its jurisdiction, the Imperial Court alone decides; its decisions exclude any further appeal or judicial proceedings.

If a matter is referred by the Imperial Court to a regular court or to an administrative authority, the latter cannot refuse to decide such a matter on the ground of incompetence.

ART. 5. The Imperial Court shall sit at Vienna, and shall be composed of a president and president-substitute, appointed by the Emperor for life, and of twelve members and four substitutes, also appointed for life by the Emperor, upon the nomination of the Reichsrat; six members and two substitutes shall be nominated by each house.

The nominations should be made in such a way that there shall be three properly qualified candidates for each place to be filled.

ART. 6. A special law shall determine the detailed provisions concerning the organization of the Imperial Court, its procedure, and the execution of its decisions and orders.2

FUNDAMENTAL LAW CONCERNING THE
JUDICIAL POWER

(December 21, 1867)

ARTICLE I. All judicial power of the state shall be exercised in the name of the Emperor.

Judgments and sentences shall be executed in the name of the Emperor.

ART. 2. The organization and jurisdiction of courts shall be established by law.

Special tribunals may be established only in the cases previously determined by law.

ART. 3. The jurisdiction of military courts shall be determined by special law.

'The Imperial Court was organized by a law of April 18, 1869.

ART. 4.

The jurisdiction with reference to violations of the police and tax laws shall be regulated by law.

ART. 5. The judges shall be appointed for life by the Emperor or in his name.

ART. 6. The judges shall be independent in the execution of their judicial office.

They shall be deprived of their office only in the cases provided by law, and by virtue of a formal judicial sentence; they shall be suspended only by the order of the president of the court or of a higher judicial officer, the matter being at the same time referred to the proper court; the transfer of a judge to another place or his retirement against his will shall take place only by judicial decision in the cases and in the manner provided by law.

However, these provisions do not apply to displacements or retirements which are made necessary by changes in the judicial organization.

ART. 7. The courts shall not have power to decide as to the validity of laws properly promulgated. However, the courts may determine the validity of ordinances (Verordnungen) which are involved in cases before them.

ART. 8. All judicial officers, in taking the oath of office, shall swear to an inviolable observance of the fundamental laws.

ART. 9. Independently of the other means provided by the judicial procedure, an action may be brought against the state or its judicial officers, because of wrongs committed by the latter in the exercise of their functions. This right of action shall be regulated by a special law.

ART. 10. Proceedings before the judges in civil and criminal cases shall be oral and public.

Exceptions to this rule shall be determined by law. In criminal proceedings the system of public prosecution shall be in force.

ART. II. For all offenses punished by severe penalties,

which shall be determined by law, as well as for all political crimes and misdemeanors and offenses committed by the press, a jury shall decide concerning the guilt of the accused.

ART. 12. The Supreme Court of Justice and Cassation sitting at Vienna shall be maintained for all of the kingdoms and countries represented in the Reichsrat.

ART. 13. The Emperor shall have the right of amnesty; he shall also have the right to remit or to reduce the penalties imposed by the courts as well as to relieve the convicted person of the legal consequences of his condemnation, with a reservation of the restrictions contained in the law concerning ministerial responsibility.

It is reserved to the law of criminal procedure to provide a legal rule as to the cases in which a punishable act shall not be subject to a criminal proceeding, and that a trial begun in such a case shall be discontinued.

ART. 14. Justice shall be separated from administration in every case.

ART. 15. In every case where an administrative authority, under present or future laws, has to decide a contest between individuals, the party injured in his rights by such decision shall be free to proceed against the other party in the regular courts.

Moreover, if anyone asserts that through a decision or order of an administrative authority his rights have been violated, he shall have the right to make his claim against a representative of the administrative authority, before the administrative court in public oral procedure.

The cases in which the administrative court shall have jurisdiction, the composition of the court, and the procedure therein, shall be regulated by a special law.

FUNDAMENTAL LAW CONCERNING THE EXERCISE OF ADMINISTRATIVE AND

EXECUTIVE POWER

(December 21, 1867)

ARTICLE I. The Emperor is sacred, inviolable, and irresponsible.

ART. 2. The Emperor shall exercise governmental power through responsible ministers, and officers and agents subordinate to them.

ART. 3. The Emperor shall appoint and dismiss ministers, and upon the proposal of the respective ministers, appoint all officers in all branches of the public service, in so far as the law does not otherwise provide.

ART. 4.

The Emperor shall confer titles, orders, and other public distinctions.

ART. 5. The Emperor shall have supreme command of the armed force, shall declare war, and conclude peace.

ART. 6. The Emperor shall conclude political treaties. The consent of the Reichsrat is necessary for the validity of any treaties of commerce or political treaties which impose obligations upon the empire, upon any part thereof, or upon any of its citizens.

ART. 7. The right to coin money shall be exercised in the name of the Emperor.

ART. 8. Before assuming the government, the Emperor shall take a solemn oath in the presence of both houses of the Reichsrat :

To maintain inviolable the fundamental laws of the kingdoms and countries represented in the Reichsrat, and to govern in conformity with them, and in conformity with the laws in general.

ART. 9. The ministers shall be responsible for the constitutionality and legality of governmental acts done within the sphere of their powers.

This responsibility, the organization of a court to try

impeachments of ministers, and the procedure to be observed in such a court shall be regulated by a special law.

ART. 10. The publication of the laws shall take place in the name of the Emperor with a note of their passage by the representative bodies, in the constitutional manner, and under the signature of a responsible minister.

ART. II. The public authorities are empowered, within the sphere of their respective duties, to issue decrees and orders in execution of the laws, and to enforce the observance of such regulations and of the laws by all those to whom they are applicable.

Special laws shall regulate the powers of the administrative authorities, and the powers of the armed force which is permanently organized or called out in a particular case for the maintenance of public safety, peace, and order.

ART. 12. All the officers of the state shall be responsible for the observance of the fundamental laws and of the imperial and provincial laws, in the performance of their official duties.

To make such responsibility effective it shall be the duty of the organs of the executive power to exercise a disciplinary control over the above-mentioned public officials.

The civil liability of public officers for injury caused by illegal use of their powers shall be regulated by law.

ART. 13. All members of the public administration, in their oath of office, shall swear to an inviolable observance of the fundamental laws.