Guided by the conviction that the state, as long as it remains a mere aggregate of diverse parts, can neither attain the achievement of the full strength within its means nor grant the individual members of that state all of the advantages of civic association to the extent intended, We have already attempted, as far as possible for the time being, by several decrees, to lift the variety of administrative forms in Our Kingdom, to establish a more uniform system both for the direct and the indirect provisions, and to harmonize the major public institutions more closely with the common element of their purpose by means of arrangements that secure at the same time their special features. Furthermore, We have, with a view to providing all of Our states with the benefit of adequate and equal civil and penal codes, ordered the preliminary work necessary to this end, which actually has already been completed in part. However, these individual developments of particular parts of the state organization achieve the intended purpose only imperfectly and leave behind gaps, the filling in of which constitutes an essential step toward the necessary unity of the whole. Therefore, We have decided to endow all of the parts of the legislation and administration of Our kingdom, in respect to its external and domestic affairs, with a comprehensive cohesion through organic laws. And We have resolved to lay the foundations to this end by means of the current Constitutional Document. By appropriate regulations and provisions, it aims at providing the just demands of the state (based on its general raison d’état) toward its members, as well as those of the individual members toward the state, with the guarantee of their fulfillment, the whole with firm structure and cohesion, and each part of the state authority with the efficacy commensurate with the requirements of the common good. Hence, We rule and decree as follows:
First Title. Main Regulations.
§ I. The Kingdom of Bavaria forms part of the Confederation of the Rhine.