1920 · Constitutions

Austrian Federal Constitution

Austria

A constitution that created one of the first specialised constitutional courts (Czechoslovakia set one up the same year), designed in Austria by the jurist Hans Kelsen.

Why it matters

The 'Austrian model' of a separate constitutional court was copied across Europe and beyond after 1945.

Built on

No earlier text on this timeline is a documented model for it.

Went on to shape

1948

Constitution of Italy

Italy

created a constitutional court on the Austrian model

1949

German Basic Law (Grundgesetz)

Germany

adopted the model of a separate constitutional court

Counting texts that borrowed from the texts that borrowed from this one, 4 later texts on this timeline trace back to it.

Countries in the Legal Families Atlas

Austria

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TheLawToKnow Tools’s timeline lists links of influence only where the borrowing is widely documented. Historians sometimes disagree about how much one text shaped another. It is an educational overview, not legal advice.