Reichstag Fire Decree
Hitler took great care to give his dictatorship the appearance of legal sanction. He issued thousands of decrees that were based explicitly on the Reichstag Fire Decree. That decree itself was based on Article 48 of the constitution, which gave the president the power to take measures deemed necessary to protect public order. The Enabling Act was renewed twice, in 1937 and 1941, though this was merely a formality with all other parties having been banned.