It was on the basis of the constitutional laws of 21 December 1867 that were referred to as the December Constitution that the Austrian monarchy became the first European Rechtsstaat. Upon the Ausgleich with the Hungarians the Austrian Constitution reflected all these significant components of the German concept of Rechtsstaat that could not be brought into effect at the time of the Springtime of Nations 1848-1849. Among them there were the priority as given to the Constitution, separation of powers, subjecting the State apparatus to law, independent courts and independent judges as well as the catalogue of civil rights and liberties. The constitutional law on the universal civil rights of 1867 contained the most developed system of the rights of an individual in Europe of the time. It is until now that the basic rights (Grundrechte) contained in this law specify the constitutional scope of civil rights in Austria.

What was however the major guarantor of securing the constitutional order were the three tribunals of public law: the Constitutional Tribunal (Reichsgericht), the Administrative Tribunal (Verwaltungsgerichtshof), and the Tribunal of State (Staatsgerichtshof). Although the Constitutional Tribunal which functioned from 1869 was not competent to check whether the laws were consistent with the Constitution, nevertheless it safeguarded the Constitution since it examined the complaints filed by the citizens against the State agencies' infringements of the Constitution-guaranteed basic rights.

The Administrative Tribunal, which came to being in 1876, examined, in its turn, the complaints against these administrative decisions which infringed the law.