the nationality of all inhabitants of the czech provinces and ...

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Soviet Socialist Republics, and the United States of America, and that the state of war between the
Czechoslovak Republic on the one hand and Germany and Hungary on the other exists from the
moment when the governments of these states committed acts of violence against the security,
independence and territorial integrity of the Republic.
London, December 16, 1941.
Dr. Šrámek. o.h., Dr. Edvard Beneš, o.h.
Czechoslovak Official Gazette, Year III, No. 1, London, 1942.
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1944, August 3, London. – Constitutional Decree of the President of the Republic No. 11 Czechoslovak
Official Gazette, on the Renewal of Legal Order (as Amended by Law No. 12/1946, Constitutional Law
No. 57/1946 and Constitutional Law No. 72/1947)
On the proposal of the government and after listening to the State Council I decree:
Chapter I
On general legal norms
First Part
On regulations issued in Czechoslovakia
Article 1
(1) Constitutional and other legal regulations of the Czechoslovak state, enacted up to and including
September 29, 1938, issue from the free will of the Czechoslovak people and are the Czechoslovak legal
order.
(2) Regulations enacted in the area of this order during the period when the Czechoslovak people was
deprived of its freedom (the period of lack of freedom) shall not be part of the Czechoslovak legal order.
The period of lack of freedom shall be the period from September 30, 1938 until a date that shall be
determined by a government decree.
Article 2
(1) By the will of the Czechoslovak legislative power, those regulations mentioned in Article 1, Paragraph 2,
whose content is not contrary to the wording or democratic principles of the Czechoslovak constitution
(the Constitution, its Articles, and Laws amending it or adding to it issued up to September 29, 1938),
shall continue to be used for a purely provisional period. However, regulations from the period of lack of
freedom in the areas of criminal law, criminal procedural law, personal law and family law, shall be
absolutely excluded from use.
(2) The date when the provisional period mentioned in Para.1 ends shall be fixed by law.
Article 3
A court or administrative office, when dealing with a certain legal matter, shall decide whether
a regulation from the period of lack of freedom satisfies the provisions of Article 2 Paragraph 1; in so
doing it must give reasons for its ruling on this preliminary question.
Article 4
Until such time as the National Assembly meets, the government shall authorise itself to extend territorially
or to revoke the use of regulations from the period of lack of freedom by means of its decrees.
Section Two
On regulations issued by the system of state government abroad
Article 5
(1) The constitutional decree of the President of the Republic of July 21, 1940 on the establishment of the
State Council as an advisory body of the interim system of state government of the Czechoslovak Republic
(No. 1, Czechoslovak Official Gazette, issued in London on December 4, 1940), the constitutional decree
of the President of the Republic of October 15, 1940 on the interim exercise of legislative power (No. 2,
Czechoslovak Official Gazette), and all other decrees of the President of the Republic issued in accordance
with Section 2 of Decree Number 2/1940, shall not be affected by the regulation of Article 1 Paragraph 2
of this constitutional decree. They shall, however, together with the decrees in accordance with Article 4, be
subject to additional approval by the relevant constitutional representatives (ratihabitio).
(2) Decrees of the President of the Republic issued in accordance with Section 2 of constitutional Decree
Number 2/1940, unless according to their content they are valid for a shorter period, shall cease to be
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