Moravian Diet Moravský zemský sněm Mährisches Landtag | |
|---|---|
| Legislative body of the Margraviate of Moravia | |
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| Type | |
| Type | |
| Chambers |
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| History | |
| Established | 1861 - last stage |
| Disbanded | 1918 (unformal), 1920 (formal by Constitution of Czechoslovakia 1920 |
| Preceded by | Moravian Diet of Estates, since 1288 |
| Succeeded by | Národní shromáždění republiky Československé/National Assembly of Czechoslovakia |
| Seats | 151 (at dissolution) |
| Elections | |
| Curial elections (last stage) | |
Last election | The Diet Elections of Country Moravia 15.6. - 8.7. 1913 |
| Meeting place | |
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| Moravian Diet house, Brno, (Czech Constitutional court current days) | |
The Moravian Diet (Latin: Moraviae generali colloquio; Czech: Moravský zemský sněm; earlier Moravský stavovský sněm; German: Mährisch-ständische Landtag) was legislature[1] of Moravia, the Diet, or general assembly, of the Estates of the Margraviate of Moravia, and emerged from the earlier informal assemblies, known as the Moravian corporate Diet (or Diet of estates of Moravian Land).
The first session in 1254 was convened in Brno by King Přemysl Otakar II. Regular sessions started in 1288 and met alternately in Brno and Olomouc (both Dominican cloister). Since 1663 sessioned only in Brno .
In the Year of Revolution 1848 (Spring of Nations), from . May 31, 1848, until . January 21, 1849, a Moravian constitutional assembly was held. On September 19, 1848, this assembly adopted the Moravian Constitution (German: Der Ferfassung für das Markgrafthum Mähren, Czech: Zřízení pro Markrabství Moravské).[2][3] This complies with the principles of the Federal Constitution, state representative government, and civil liberties. Later this proposal was not ratified by Emperor Francis Joseph I.
On November 27, 1905, leading members of Moravian Diet of the Czech (speaking) and German (speaking) communities in Moravia agreed to a political compromise that divided power in the provincial diet between Czechs, Germans, and members of the landowning and ecclesiastical aristocracy. The Moravian Compromise[4] was one of the few positive examples of an approach to a fair solution in the field of nationalities policies. Despite the deadlock in the language dispute between Czechs and Germans, a compromise acceptable to both sides and allowing a harmonious coexistence was found here.
The Moravian Compromise of 1905 was a compromise over what national equality of rights meant. The Czech and German understanding of it and the compromise between them even found numerical expression—iin the proportions set by the compromise for staffing nationally shared public institutions, such as Crownland legislation and administration, and for funding nationally partitioned ones, such as school.
The electoral conditions were altered so as to include, in addition to the three electoral classes of the great landowners, the taxpayers in urban areas, and the taxpayers in rural districts, a fourth universal electoral class consisting of every qualified voter; separate German and Czech electoral districts were established according to the national land registers; and curia of the separate nationalities were instituted to settle all disputes involving the question of nationality. The question of language in the case of the autonomous national and district authorities had been settled on a bilingual basis, and the division of the school board according to nationality was accomplished. Although, by the acceptance of this franchise reform, the Germans lost their previous majority in the Diet, they gave their consent to the change in the interests of public peace. Politically speaking, the Margraviate of Moravia was an Austrian crown land, with the highest administrative authority being vested in the governor at Brno. The Diet consisted of 149 deputies: 2 members with individual votes, the Archbishop of Olomouc and the Bishop of Brno; 30 members of the landed interests (10 German, 20 Czech); 3 deputies from the Chamber of Commerce of Brno and from that of Olomouc; 40 representatives of the towns (20 German, 20 Czech); 51 representatives of the rural communes (14 German); 20 deputies from the electoral curia (6 German). In the Reichsrat (Imperial parliament in Vienna) of the Austrian Crownlands, Moravia was represented by 49 deputies.
