ABSTRACT
The inordinate significance of Article 48 in the history of the German Republic must by now be apparent. But Article 48 is not primarily the province of the historian; the political scientist has an even more vital interest in this unique instrument of constitutional dictatorship. It is in recognition of the leading role played by the German jurists in the development and use of Article 48 that this chapter turns to an analytical rather than historical treatment of the German constitutional dictatorship. A major portion of the debates concerning Article 48 in the convention at Weimar was devoted to the problem of checks upon the President in the utilization of his crisis powers. If the framers of the Constitution had realized that Article 48 would be used as the authority for presidential lawmaking, the positive approval of the Reichstag would doubtless have been provided.
