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.
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 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 |
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)
| Subject (surface form when different) | Predicate |
|---|---|
|
Night of the Long Knives
→
|
legalJustification |