The article tries to show the importance that Constant's theory of the pouvoir neutre had on Carl Schmitt's interpretation of the functions of the Reichspräsident, during the twenties up to 1933. Even though Schmitt criticises Romanticism, one of its key figures is precisely Constant, the german jurist recognizes that Constant elaborated the constitutional institution which faces better than any other one those critical situations, under which any constitution must defend itself with legal but excepcional powers.
pouvoir neuter; President of the Reich; Schmitt; Constant