HEITZ (Paul) – THE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW OF ALSACE-LORRAINE, Preface by A

HEITZ (Paul)

THE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW OF ALSACE-LORRAINE, Preface by Alfred Chrétien

Édition :

Paris

Date :

1913

in-8, br., (faded cover, sun-faded spine with some damage, damp stains on the 4th cover and inside), XIV-411 p.

Thesis defended in Nancy and first published without a preface in 1911. "The 'right' of which MP Heitz speaks has nothing in common with that invoked in 1871 before the National Assembly of Bordeaux by the deputies of Alsace and Lorraine, when, on behalf of these two provinces, they protested against their cession to Germany, 'affirming in the most formal manner their will and their right to remain French,' and when, during the same protest, they uttered these painful words, which remain true even today: 'The claim to our rights remains forever open.' In this way, the last French deputies of Alsace and Lorraine appealed to this ideal right, or rather to these higher precepts of justice and reason, which govern both peoples and individuals, and which Professor Chrétien, in the fine preface he wrote for MH's book, affirms 'no one violates with impunity.'" The law that MH presents is of a completely different nature. It is positive law, law in the strictly legal sense of the term, law sometimes described as dura lex, but whose compelling realities the jurist is nonetheless obliged to acknowledge. And here, in truth, the law in question (i) not only makes its harshness felt by the Alsatians and Lorrainers, who must bear its yoke, but for the French jurist himself, it is morally—a harsh and painful task—to have to expose the rigors of this legal system born from France's defeats and inflicted upon populations who had not deserved to suffer such a role of expiation. In undertaking this task, MH believed he was fulfilling a patriotic duty toward Alsace-Lorraine. However, one should not expect to find in his work any outward manifestation of his sympathies for the annexed provinces. MH did not even attempt to describe the political and moral situation of the Alsatian-Lorraine people; he confined himself, as a jurist, to analyzing the mechanisms of institutions and legal means by which Germany has, since 1871, and continues to ensure, the maintenance of its dependence on and close domination over the territory and population of a country that remains, today as in the past, a mere "Reichsland," that is to say, essentially a conquered territory and a possession of the Empire. Unlike the previous works by French authors, which were quite few in number (Gerber, *La condition de l'Alsace-Lorraine dans l'Empire allemand*, 1916; Baldy, *L'Alsace-Lorraine et l'Empire allemand*, 1912), devoted to Alsatian-Lorraine public law, MH's book is therefore a purely technical legal study. The author, stripping away all sentimentality, focuses solely on structural questions; he dissects the A.-L. as a legally organized body, making no mention of its soul. And yet, even in its deliberate dryness, this strictly legal analysis is moving; it speaks volumes about the state of political inferiority and servitude in which a people, possessing a high culture and strong feelings of independence and pride, finds itself, contrary to all its traditional and innate tendencies. MH's book comprises two parts. The first part, which was published two years ago and is the most substantial, is devoted to the study of the various organizational regimes that succeeded one another in Alsace-Lorraine before 1911. It is not limited to an examination of the governmental organization of the Reichsland, but also includes important sections relating to its administrative and judicial organization, as well as to the general principles of German public law that determined Alsace-Lorraine's position within and in relation to the Empire. The second part, shorter in length, sets forth the transformations brought about in the organization of the Reichsland by the Imperial Law of May 31, 1911. Due to the novelty of these transformations and especially because of the uproar they generated in Germany and France, it is of particular contemporary interest. (R. Carré de Malberg, RDP no. 1/1914, p. 5 et seq.).

Référence : 52906

120,00 €

Mots-clés : Constitutional law, Regionalism