Pillersdorf Constitution

The Pillersdorf Constitution was a constitution of the Austrian Empire issued on 25 April 1848 by Minister of the Interior Baron Franz von Pillersdorf during the revolutions of that year, and it was the first written constitution granted to the empire's German and Slavic lands. It provided for a bicameral Reichstag and guaranteed public, oral and jury trials, but it was imposed from above without a constituent assembly and satisfied few of the revolution's demands. It remained in force barely three weeks before Vienna's May uprising forced the government to call a constituent assembly instead, and by July the Pillersdorf Constitution was fully set aside as the elected Kremsier Parliament began drafting its own constitution.