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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 February 2019
Article 1 of the Basic Law the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany, reads as follow:
“(1) The dignity of man shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.
(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) 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.
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
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3. Entscheidungen des Bundesverfassungsgerichts, Vol. 7, p. 198–230.Google Scholar
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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
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15. Id.Google Scholar
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