The present double volume deals with a central issue of Austrian 19th century history。 The first contributions reveal the political efforts to settle the constitution problem through a solution to appropriate to such a heterogeneous multi-ethnic state， and at the same time to move towards democratisation。 Particular interest is attached to the presentation of the Hungarian political system， if only because there is hardly a recent presentation that so knowledgeably describes the path from the historical to a new， liberally-oriented constitution。 The following contributions are devoted to the history of parliament proper。 The approach is not restricted to the nationalities conflict， and comes to the conclusion that both the Austrian Imperial Council and the Hungarian Imperial Diet pursued a significant legislative activity from the very start， resulting in many fundamental modernisation processes and material progress。 Unlike the Hungarian Imperial Diet， the Vienna Imperial Council until 1914 provided a platform for new， hitherto unrepresented forces。 The second main part of this work closes with the presentation of the resulting changes in the parliamentary groupings and parties， their scope of action and their strategies。nnThe specific nature of the dual monarchy， its （quasi-）parliamentary institutions and its constitutional and international law problems are the focus of the third main section， with the contribution on the delegations in particular opening up new academic territory。 An unprecedented feature is also the tables and maps on the elections to the Imperial Council in 1897， and it is thanks to the presentation of voting rights， distribution of seats and election results broken down into curia that the complexity of the voting system of the Austrian half of the dual monarchy is revealed， providing at the same time a basis for the interpretation of these factors and their interaction presented in the text。 German text。