Robert Hecht, advisor to Chancellor Dollfuss, today announced that “natural law, which stands above the constitution,” henceforth will be the law of the Austrians.
The scrapping of the Austrian constitution, coming one year almost to the day after the chancellor had outlawed Parliament, makes absolute the dictatorship exercised by the chancellor since the Socialist Party was blotted out here three weeks ago. The absence of the Constitution is regarded here as the removal of all popular rights which might be utilized by individuals and political groups unable to see eye-toeye with Dollfuss.
The announcement was made in the official gazette by Hecht in the following terms:
“The law of state necessity has its roots in natural law and stands above the constitution.
“The energetic statesmen heading the government will naturally entertain greater respect for natural law than for a written constitution and in spite of their legal responsibility will risk personal ruin rather than permit the ruination of the State.
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