 The legal grounds for this decree had been established in 1937 with the German law of Titles, Orders and Honorary Signs ("Gesetz über Titel, Orden und Ehrenzeichen") that made the Führer and the only person who was allowed to award orders or honorary signs.The re-institution of the Iron Cross was therefore a Führer decree, which had political implication since the Treaty of Versailles had explicitly prohibited the creation of a military decoration, order or medal.The renewal for the first time had created an honorary sign of the entire German state.