States of Emergency - Centre for Policy Alternatives

disturbances. In addition, each constitution explicitly details the
legal results that arise out of the declaration of each state of
exception by way of suspension of individual rights (suspención
de
garantias) and the vesting of extraordinary powers in the
executive branch of government.” 90
Multiple structure arrangements also feature in Germany, Canada
and Spain. The German Basic Law distinguishes between an
‘internal emergency’ (Innerer
 Notstand), a ‘state of
tension’ (Spannungsfall), and a ‘state of defence’ (Verteidigungsfall). 91
An internal emergency is where there is ‘an imminent danger to
the existence or free democratic basic order of the Federation or
of a Land.’ A state of defence may be declared when the ‘federal
territory is under attack by armed force or imminently threatened
by such an attack.’ The state of tension is not deLined in the Basic
Law. The Basic Law also allows police co‐ordination between
Länder forces and the federal military in situations of ‘natural
disaster or particularly serious accident’. 92
In Canada, the power of the federal government in respect of
emergencies form part of the plenary powers allocated under
section 91 of the Constitution Act of 1867, which provides for
90
Gross and Ní Aoláin: p.42; see also Brian Loveman (1993) The
Constitution
of
Tyranny:
Regimes
of
Exception
in
Spanish
America
(Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh UP)
91
Articles 91, 87a(4), 12a(5)‐(6), 80a, 115a‐l of the German Basic Law
(Grundgesetz); John E. Finn (1991) Constitutions
in
Crisis:
Political
Violence
and
the
Rule
of
Law
(New York: Oxford UP): pp.196‐200; Note
(1969) ‘Recent
Emergency
Legislation
in
West
Germany’ 82 Harvard
Law
Review
1704
92
Articles 35 (2), (3) of the German Basic Law
71