December Constitution

The December Constitution (German: Dezemberverfassung) is a set of six acts that served as the constitution of the Cisleithanian half of Austria-Hungary. The acts were proclaimed by Emperor Franz Joseph on 21 December 1867 and functioned as the supreme law of the land until the collapse of the empire in 1918. Five of the Constitution's acts were replaced by the Federal Constitutional Law between 1918 and 1920; the sixth law, a bill of rights, is still in force.

Content

The December Constitution consists of

a law expanding the powers of the Imperial Council;

the Basic Law on the General Rights of Nationals (Staatsgrundgesetz über die allgemeinen Rechte der Staatsbürger), a bill of rights;

the Basic Law Establishing a Supreme Court of the Empire (Staatsgrundgesetz über die Einsetzung eines Reichsgerichts);

the Basic Law on the Judiciary (Staatsgrundgesetz über die richterliche Gewalt), a law establishing an independent court system;

the Basic Law on the Executive (Staatsgrundgesetz über die Ausübung der Regierungs- und Vollzugsgewalt);

the Delegation Law, a law regulating relations between the Cisleithanian and Transleithanian legislatures.

The Basic Law on the General Rights of Nationals is a bill of rights stipulating, among other things,

equality before the law for all the empire's ethnicities (articles 1, 2, 3, and 19),

the end of all forms of serfdom (art. 7),

freedom of the press (art. 13),

freedom of religion (articles 14 and 15),

freedom of assembly (article 12), and

secrecy of correspondence (art. 10).

It also established a limited form of due process; under the Basic Law, a person could not be arbitrarily deprived of

the freedom of their person (art. 8),

their property (art.