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The Influence of the West German Constitution on the Legal System of the Country

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2019

Juergen Christoph Goedan
Juergen Christoph Goedan*
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Private Law, Hamburg, West Germany
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Extract

Article 1 of the Basic Law the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany, reads as follow:

  1. “(1) The dignity of man shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.

  2. (2) The German people therefore acknowledge inviolable and inalienable human rights as the basis of every community, of peace and of justice in the world.

  3. (3) The following basic rights shall bind the legislature, the executive and the judiciary as directly enforceable law.”

This article answers, in a nutshell, all the questions one might raise regarding the influence of a constitution on the legal system of a country.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Legal Information , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , Summer 1989 , pp. 111 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 by The Institute for International Legal Information 

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References

I wish to thank Professor George E. Garvey, Catholic University, Washington, D.C., and Professor John E. Pickron, University of Hawaii, for reading the manuscript and making valuable suggestions for its improvement.Google Scholar

1. For an English translation of the Basic Law, see Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany. Promulgated by the Parliamentary Council on 23 May 1949, as amended up to and including 21 August 1976. (Bonn: Press and Information Office of the Federal Government, 1986); Federal Republic of Germany. By Flanz, Gisbert H. In: Constitutions of the countries of the world. Ed. by Blaustein, Albert P., Flanz, Gisbert H. (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Oceana, 1985). Introductory works are: Main principles of the German Basic Law. The contributions of the Federal Republic of Germany to the first world congress of the International Association of Constitutional Law. Ed. by Starck, Christian. (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsges., 1983); The constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany. Essays on the basic rights and principles of the Basic Law with a translation of the Basic Law. Ed. by Karpen, Ulrich. (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsges., 1988).Google Scholar

2. See Law on the Federal Constitutional Court. Documents on politics and society in the Federal Republic of Germany. Issued by Inter Nationes. (Bonn, 1982); Kommers, Donald P.: Judicial politics in West Germany. A study of the Federal Constitutional Court. (Beverly Hills, London: Sage Publ., 1976); Ipsen in: Main principles of the German Basic Law, supra note 1, p. 107–137; Beyme, Klaus von: The political system of the Federal Republic of Germany. (New York: St. Martin's, 1982), p. 177-191.Google Scholar

3. Entscheidungen des Bundesverfassungsgerichts, Vol. 7, p. 198–230.Google Scholar

4. For individual complaints of unconstitutionality in general, see Singer, M.: The constitutional court of the German Federal Republic: jurisdiction over individual complaints. International and Comparative Law Quarterly 31 (1982) p. 331–356.Google Scholar

5. The English translation can be found in Politics and government in the Federal Republic of Germany: basic documents. Ed. by Schweitzer, Carl-Christoph, Karsten, Detley, etc. (New York: St. Martin's, 1984), p. 122–124.Google Scholar

6. In the sense of &st; 826 BGB cited above.Google Scholar

7. Established doctrine, cf. supra note 3, Vol. 73, p. 269.Google Scholar

8. Id. Vol. 39, at 1-95. English translation by Jonas, R.E./Gorby, J.D.: West German abortion decision: a contrast to Roe v. Wade (Introduction and translation). The John Marshall Journal of Practice and Procedure 9 (1976), p. 551–684. Comparative remarks by Kommers, D.P.: Liberty and community in constitutional law: the abortion cases in comparative perspective. Brigham Young University Law Review (1985) p. 371–409.Google Scholar

9. Supra note 3, Vol. 39, p. 38.Google Scholar

10. Id. at 42.Google Scholar

11. Id. at 44.Google Scholar

12. For the decision as a whole, see also Benda, E.: New tendencies in the development of fundamental rights in the Federal Republic of Germany. The John Marshall Journal of Practice and Procedure 11 (1977) p. 1–15, at p. 9–15.Google ScholarPubMed

13. Supra note 3, Vol. 33, p. 303–358.Google Scholar

14. Id. at 333.Google Scholar

15. Id.Google Scholar

16. Benda, supra note 12, at p. 7–9.Google Scholar

17. Cited by Beyme, supra note 2, p. 7.Google Scholar

18. Supra note 3, Vol. 22, p. 204. See for the principle of social justice in general Kunig in: The constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany, supra note 1, p. 187–204.Google Scholar

19. Cited by Flanz, supra note 1, p. 5.Google Scholar

20. Supra note 3, Vol. 50, p. 290–381. Wiedemann, H.: Codetermination by workers in German enterprises. American Journal of Comparative Law 28 (1980) p. 79–92 presents a summary of the opinion, at p. 88-92.Google Scholar

21. For a critical review of the decision, see Wiedemann, supra note 20, at p. 83–88.Google Scholar

22. Supra note 3. Vol. 50, p. 338.Google Scholar

23. Klein in: Main principles of the German Basic Law, supra note 1, at p. 20. Cf. Supra note 3, Vol. 19, p. 220.Google Scholar

24. Cohn, K(rnst) J.: Manual of German law. 2., compi. rev. ed. Vol. 1.2. (London: The British Institute of International and Comparative Law; Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Oceana Publ., 1968-71), vol. 1. p. 8–9.Google Scholar

25. Id. at 32.Google Scholar

26. Legal traditions and systems. An international handbook, Ed. by Katz, Alan N. (New York, Westport, Conn., London: Greenwood, 1986), p. 96.Google Scholar

27. McWhinney, Edward: Supreme courts and judicial law-making: constitutional tribunals and constitutional review. (Dordrecht, Boston, Lancaster: M. Nijhoff, 1986), p. 4.Google Scholar