Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defense
E51221
The Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defense was a retroactive Nazi statute enacted in 1934 to legitimize the extrajudicial killings carried out during the Night of the Long Knives by declaring them lawful acts of state.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Law Regarding Measures of State Self-Defense canonical | 1 |
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Nazi law
ⓘ
retroactive statute ⓘ |
| appliesTo | Nazi Germany ⓘ |
| appliesToEvent |
killings of political opponents in June–July 1934
ⓘ
purge of the SA leadership ⓘ |
| associatedWithRegimeType | totalitarian regime ⓘ |
| consequence |
signaled subordination of courts to Nazi political decisions
ⓘ
strengthened impunity for Nazi political violence ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | Germany ⓘ |
| criticizedFor |
violating the principle nulla poena sine lege
ⓘ
violating the principle nullum crimen sine lege ⓘ |
| dateEnacted | 1934 ⓘ |
| declaresAsLawful |
acts of state self-defense
ⓘ
killings ordered by Adolf Hitler during the Night of the Long Knives ⓘ |
| effect |
removed criminal liability for the killings during the Night of the Long Knives
ⓘ
undermined rule of law in Germany ⓘ |
| enactedBy |
Nazi Germany
ⓘ
surface form:
Nazi regime
|
| enactedUnderLeader | Adolf Hitler ⓘ |
| fieldOfStudy |
Holocaust and Nazi studies
ⓘ
legal history ⓘ transitional justice ⓘ |
| historicalAssessment |
cited as an example of abusive retroactive legislation
ⓘ
widely regarded as a violation of fundamental legal principles ⓘ |
| historicalPeriod | interwar period ⓘ |
| ideologicalBasis |
Führerprinzip
ⓘ
Nazi concept of state self-defense ⓘ |
| isRetroactive | true ⓘ |
| jurisdiction |
Nazi Germany
ⓘ
surface form:
German Reich
|
| justifies | political killings by the Nazi regime ⓘ |
| languageCharacterization | framed killings as measures of state self-defense ⓘ |
| legalCharacterization |
ex post facto law
ⓘ
instrument of state terror legitimation ⓘ |
| legalDoctrineInvoked | state necessity ⓘ |
| legalizes | extrajudicial killings during the Night of the Long Knives ⓘ |
| legalSystem | Nazi legal system ⓘ |
| politicalContext |
aftermath of the Night of the Long Knives purge
ⓘ
consolidation of Hitler's power ⓘ |
| purpose |
to declare killings carried out during the Night of the Long Knives as lawful acts of state
ⓘ
to legitimize extrajudicial killings during the Night of the Long Knives ⓘ |
| relatedEvent | Night of the Long Knives ⓘ |
| subjectMatter |
criminal law
ⓘ
state security ⓘ |
| timeScope | applies retroactively to events of June–July 1934 ⓘ |
| typeOfAbuse | legalization of political murder ⓘ |
| usedAsCaseStudyIn |
discussions of ex post facto criminal laws
ⓘ
studies of the collapse of the rule of law in Nazi Germany ⓘ |
| usedToProtect |
Adolf Hitler
ⓘ
Nazi leadership ⓘ perpetrators of the Night of the Long Knives ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.