Page 226 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2023. Glasbena društva v dolgem 19. stoletju: med ljubiteljsko in profesionalno kulturo ▪︎ Music societies in the long 19th century: Between amateur and professional culture. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 6
P. 226
glasbena društva v dolgem 19. stoletju: med ljubiteljsko in profesionalno kulturo
(Abgeordnete; odposlanec) to whom the information on any person who
presented motions, as well as on the speakers were to be given upon his re-
quest. The delegate had also the right to demand that on the issues debated
at the assembly, the minutes were formulated. And last but not least, the au-
thorities, concretely the [provincial] government in this case (die [Landes-]
Regierung; deželna vlada) had the right to look into the assembly’s minutes
at any time. Taking into account all that combined, not much of the idea of
assembly’s freedom in its actual legal life seemed to be newly granted.25 In
fact, only the meetings of the leadership, so of the association’s Main com-
mittee, were held without the authorities’ right to intervention, i. e. without
the presence of its delegate.
Given the fact that the 1867 Act does not entail an overreaching defi-
nition of an association and further, that the five examples selected, range
over almost two centuries, whereby any kind of diachronic definition of the
key phenomenon must be relative, I have to revert for it - or at least its key
elements – to the theory of associations of that time.26 It will turn out that
the key elements of the concept of association according to the 1867 Act
are direct predecessors of the modern notion as we understand it on the
continent today, and not only in Austria and Slovenia, but also at the level
of the European Union.27 These are: voluntary membership, establishment
on a permanent basis by agreement among natural28 or legal persons, in-
25 For an interesting detail from the history of the Philharmonic Society, testifying
to the fact that this kind of State’s supervision was something that the Associations
were familar with from long before pre-1848 era, see Radovan Škrjanc, “Filhar-
monična družba v Ljubljani od nastanka do sredine 19. stoletja,” in 300 let/years Ac
ademia Philharmonicorum Labacensis 1701–2001 (Zbornik referatov z mednarod-
nega simpozija 25. in 26. oktobra 2001 v Ljubljani/Proceedings of the international
symposium held in Ljubljana on October 25th and 26th 2001), ed. Ivan Klemenčič in
Radovan Škrjanc, 140. In 1802, the Philharmonic Society was granted its application
for holding internal music productions under condition that the police director or
its deputy was allowed a free access at any time.
26 For a detailed explanation of the notion, as understood at the time, and differentiat-
ed from similar ones, cf. Freund, Vereins- und Versammlungsgesetz, 10–3.
27 Cf. Article 1 in Bundesgesetz über Vereine, B. G. Bl, I, Nr. 66/2002 and in Zakon o
društvih (ZDru-1), Ul RS, št. 6/106, 2006, as well as the resolution of the European
Parliament on A statute for European cross-border associations and non-profit organ
isations, adopted on February 17, 2022 (europa.eu), https://www.europarl.europa.eu/
doceo/document/TA-9-2022-0044_EN.html.
28 Even though not especially accentuated in the five cases chosen, one other change in
principle, clearly discerned from the associations’ Statutes over the curse of the 19th
century, concerned the role of women. Before 1848, women were part of the life of
associations’ life in very different ways and roles, and according to varying circum-
stances, e.g. around 1800, from mere company to a member, to a full member and
224
(Abgeordnete; odposlanec) to whom the information on any person who
presented motions, as well as on the speakers were to be given upon his re-
quest. The delegate had also the right to demand that on the issues debated
at the assembly, the minutes were formulated. And last but not least, the au-
thorities, concretely the [provincial] government in this case (die [Landes-]
Regierung; deželna vlada) had the right to look into the assembly’s minutes
at any time. Taking into account all that combined, not much of the idea of
assembly’s freedom in its actual legal life seemed to be newly granted.25 In
fact, only the meetings of the leadership, so of the association’s Main com-
mittee, were held without the authorities’ right to intervention, i. e. without
the presence of its delegate.
Given the fact that the 1867 Act does not entail an overreaching defi-
nition of an association and further, that the five examples selected, range
over almost two centuries, whereby any kind of diachronic definition of the
key phenomenon must be relative, I have to revert for it - or at least its key
elements – to the theory of associations of that time.26 It will turn out that
the key elements of the concept of association according to the 1867 Act
are direct predecessors of the modern notion as we understand it on the
continent today, and not only in Austria and Slovenia, but also at the level
of the European Union.27 These are: voluntary membership, establishment
on a permanent basis by agreement among natural28 or legal persons, in-
25 For an interesting detail from the history of the Philharmonic Society, testifying
to the fact that this kind of State’s supervision was something that the Associations
were familar with from long before pre-1848 era, see Radovan Škrjanc, “Filhar-
monična družba v Ljubljani od nastanka do sredine 19. stoletja,” in 300 let/years Ac
ademia Philharmonicorum Labacensis 1701–2001 (Zbornik referatov z mednarod-
nega simpozija 25. in 26. oktobra 2001 v Ljubljani/Proceedings of the international
symposium held in Ljubljana on October 25th and 26th 2001), ed. Ivan Klemenčič in
Radovan Škrjanc, 140. In 1802, the Philharmonic Society was granted its application
for holding internal music productions under condition that the police director or
its deputy was allowed a free access at any time.
26 For a detailed explanation of the notion, as understood at the time, and differentiat-
ed from similar ones, cf. Freund, Vereins- und Versammlungsgesetz, 10–3.
27 Cf. Article 1 in Bundesgesetz über Vereine, B. G. Bl, I, Nr. 66/2002 and in Zakon o
društvih (ZDru-1), Ul RS, št. 6/106, 2006, as well as the resolution of the European
Parliament on A statute for European cross-border associations and non-profit organ
isations, adopted on February 17, 2022 (europa.eu), https://www.europarl.europa.eu/
doceo/document/TA-9-2022-0044_EN.html.
28 Even though not especially accentuated in the five cases chosen, one other change in
principle, clearly discerned from the associations’ Statutes over the curse of the 19th
century, concerned the role of women. Before 1848, women were part of the life of
associations’ life in very different ways and roles, and according to varying circum-
stances, e.g. around 1800, from mere company to a member, to a full member and
224
