THE STATE COUNCIL IN M. RÖMERIS’ DIARIES

Abstract

The State Council was established in 1928. This was an institution at the level of a constitutional legal status. It was supposed to provide the Lithuanian government with opinions on draft laws, submit proposals for draft laws, supervise the legality of legal acts, and engage in law codification work. The State Council operated for twelve years: it was liquidated on July 27, 1940, and the fate of the archives of this institution is unknown. In the Central State Archive of Lithuania, we can find fragments of the activities of the State Council: several explanatory letters, ongoing projects prepared by the State Council, and fragments of the minutes of its meetings. M. Römeris scrupulously wrote diaries, which are also useful in the context of analyzing the activities of the State Council, since from 1928 to 1931 Römeris served as a member of the State Council, and later as a co-worker. This article reveals M. Römeris’ work in the State Council, his thoughts about the Council, its formation, work organization, ethics, and the work of the State Council itself.

Keywords

• the state council
• legality
• draft laws
• explanatory notes
• votum separatum
• m. römeris