Publication details
Recht und Sprache. Zur Anwendung des "Sprachenrechts" der deutschen Volksgruppe in der Ersten Tschechoslowakischen Republik
| Title in English | Law and Language. About Some Issues Concerning the Application of Language Rights of the German Minority in the First Czechoslovak Republic |
|---|---|
| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2019 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Zeitschrift für Neuere Rechtsgeschichte |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | Web nakladatele |
| Keywords | Language Rights; first Czechoslovak republic; german minority |
| Description | Czechoslovakia (1918-1938) was a multinational state in which lived, aside from the Czechs and Slovaks, numerous national minorities (Germans, Hungarians, Poles, Rusyns). For this reason, their protection had to be thoroughly and in detail incorporated in legislation including the Constitution from 1920 (Chapter six). This contribution is devoted to the selected issues connected to the legal regulation of language rights in the first Czechoslovak Republic which are considered the most important ones among the so-called minority rights. In the contribution, the author deals with both internal and international sources of language law among which one of the most important was the Language Act from 1920 and its statutory instrument from 1926. These regulations established rules for using the state language (the Czechoslovak language) and the languages of the national minorities. Moreover, they contained requirements regarding knowledge of the Czech language at state authorities and courts and state enterprises (post office or state railway). The shape of the language law was also in large measure influenced by the practice of the Supreme Administrative Court and Supreme Court. An integral part of this paper consists of examples of judicial application for a reader to get an idea about how the language law worked in reality. |