Legislation by local referendum in the Lander of the Federal Republic of Germany

在德意志联邦共和国，全民投票仅限于联邦一级领土重组的两个案例(《基本法》第29条和第118条)，但除柏林、下萨克森州和汉堡外，大多数州(兰德州)的宪法规定，居民可以通过倡议(Volksbegehren)和全民投票(Volksabstimmung)直接参与法律制定。与美国和瑞士的立法制度相比，这一立法制度的主要特点是：第一，主动提出的法案不直接提交全民公决，而应首先提交议会(“间接主动”)；第二，除非议会通过法案而不作修改(“有条件的强制全民投票”)，否则应举行全民公投。为了执行该倡议，该法案应由州政府正式和实质性地审查。这种实质性的审查在宪法允许的理论和司法判例中得到了解释。在本研究的主要对象州巴登-符腾堡州，考虑到魏玛时代的经验，这一立法制度于1954年在议会理事会上遭到否定，但由于巴伐利亚州和北莱茵/威斯特伐利亚州的良好经验，该制度于1974年通过宪法修正案引入。这里的倡议是由六分之一的选民批准，全民投票由多数票和三分之一的选民决定的。也许是因为严格的要求，这一听证程序在1985年只启动了一次。在本报告之后，这项研究仍在继续，内容涉及各公社(格梅因德)的全民投票。

In the Federal Republik of Germany, referendum is restricted to two cases for the reorganization of the territory (Art. 29 and 118 of the Basic Law) on the federal level, but most constitutions of the states (Lander), except Berlin, Lower Saxony and Hamburg, provide the system that inhabitants can directly participate in the enactment of law by initiative (Volksbegehren) and referendum (Volksabstimmung). Compared with the system in America and Switzerland, the main features of this legislative system are in the first place that a bill by initiative is not directly put to the referendum, but should be submitted first to the parliament ("indirect initiative"), and secondly that referendum should be held unless parliament passes the bill without an amendment ("conditional compulsory referendum"). For the enforcement of the initiative, the bill should be examined by the state government formally and substantially. This substantial examination is interpreted in theories and judicial precedents to be allowed by the constitution. In the Land Baden-Wurttemberg, the main object-state of this research, this legislative system was denide at the Parliamentary Council in 1954 in consideration of the experiences in the Weimar Era, but with the good experiences in the Land Bavaria and North-Rhine/Westphalia it was introduced in 1974 by the amendment of the constitution. The initiative here is decided by the approval of one sixth of the electorate and the referendum by the majority of votes and one third of electorate. Because of the strict requirements perhaps, this legistative procedure was started only once in 1985. This research is continued concerning the referendum in the communes (Gemeinde) after this report.