Karlsruhe: From Scholarship to Practice

Dieter Grimm ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 79-94
Author(s):  
Dieter Grimm
Keyword(s):  
Data Protection ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Press Freedom ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Freedom Of Association ◽  
Freedom Of Press ◽  
Federal Constitutional ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Over Time

In 1987 Dieter Grimm was elected justice of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. The chapter describes the background of the election, the moving from Bielefeld to Karlsruhe (the residence of the Court), the subject matters for which he became responsible as judge rapporteur (esp. freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of radio and TV, freedom of association), the additional subject matters he acquired over time (esp. privacy, data protection), criticism of the Court’s jurisprudence in these fields, his very influential and widely discussed separate opinion in the case “Riding in the Forest.”

Grundrechtsbindung Privater

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maximilian Seyderhelm
Keyword(s):  
Data Protection ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Public Forum ◽  
Federal Constitutional ◽  
Existing Data

The effect of fundamental rights among private individuals is breaking away from the usual patterns as a result of recent decisions by the Federal Constitutional Court. The work not only provides terminological clarity, but also elaborates the criteria that directly bind private individuals to fundamental rights. The author then looks at emerging constellations and examines the binding nature of fundamental rights there. The operator of Facebook fulfils both criteria described in more detail. These are the opening of a "public forum" and a predominant position of power. It is thus bound by fundamental rights. SCHUFA is not bound by this obligation, also because it is kept in check by existing (data protection) provisions of the legislator.

The Standard-Setting Power

2020 ◽  
pp. 70-130
Author(s):  
Oliver Lepsius
Keyword(s):  
Standard Setting ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
General Terms ◽  
Legal Standard ◽  
Federal Constitutional ◽  
General Abstract ◽  
Over Time

This chapter chronicles the proliferation of doctrinal standards over time and underscores the bizarre lengths to which that proliferation has recently extended. It shows how the Federal Constitutional Court makes use of a distinctive technique for reaching and justifying decisions, which it elaborated over many years, and which today it habitually applies. The Court regularly divides the reasoning of a decision into two blocks. The first block identifies general statements on the interpretation of the constitution. In such general terms, the Court establishes the legal standard, which will lie at the foundation of the case. The application of the standard to the determinative set of facts follows. The facts of the specific case first enter the reasoning in the second part, the “subsumption section.” The standard already formed in general-abstract terms is now applied to the specific issue the Court has to decide. Finally, the chapter warns that the era of bold new standards is probably gone for good.

The Secularized State

2020 ◽  
pp. 220-236
Author(s):  
Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde ◽  
Mirjam Künkler ◽  
Tine Stein
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Religious Faith ◽  
The State ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Freedom Of Association ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Federal Constitutional ◽  
Freedom Of Belief ◽  
The Right

In this article Böckenförde contrasts his concept of open encompassing neutrality (found in most Scandinavian countries and in Germany) with that of distancing neutrality, as practised in France. While the latter champions negative religious freedom, open encompassing neutrality aims for a balancing of negative and positive religious freedom. Religious freedom for Böckenförde is multidimensional and includes the right to have (or not) a religious faith (freedom of belief), to affirm (or not) this faith privately and openly (freedom to profess), to exercise (or not) one’s religion publicly (freedom of worship), and to join together (or not) in religious communities (religious freedom of association). The correlate to these individual and group rights is the open and overarching principle of the state’s neutrality towards religion and other worldviews, entailing a prohibition on the state justifying law on religious grounds. Furthermore, it requires the state not to privilege religion over non-religion and one religious faith over another. Siding with the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court (at a time when he was not a sitting judge), Böckenförde underlines that even religious communities who reject the democratic state have the right to be recognized and legally protected. What matters is not whether communities accept or reject the state, but whether they obey or violate its laws. This was the court’s view on the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and it must also be applied, Böckenförde writes, to religious fundamentalists who do not accept the secular order, as long as they do not violate any laws.

FCC suspends hearing in NPD Party Ban Case

2002 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Hanebeck
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Legal Questions ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
Federal Constitutional ◽  
The Subject ◽  
High Ranking Official ◽  
Senior Civil Servant ◽  
Basic Order

In a unanimous, surprising decision the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) announced last Tuesday, 22 January 2002, that the hearing in the NPD Party Ban Case - scheduled for five days in early and late February - was suspended. The Court did not yet set a new date. The Court explained that facts had now become known to the Court that raised serious legal questions which can not be resolved in the two weeks before the scheduled hearings. Even the decision from October 1st, 2001, in which the motions by the Bundesregierung (German Federal Government), the Bundestag (Federal Par-liament) and the Bundesrat (Federal Legislative Chamber of the Länder) seeking a ban of the extremist right wing National Democratic Party (NPD) were ruled to be admissible and not evidently unfounded is called into question by the Court. The FCC had been told by a senior civil servant from the Federal Ministry of the Interior that there would be one so-called “V-Mann” among the 14 people to appear as witnesses before the FCC at the scheduled hearing. The motions to ban the NPD build upon numerous sources in order to show that the NPD seeks to undermine or abolish the “freiheitliche demokratische Grundordnung” (free democratic basic order) and therefore must be banned under Art. 21 (2) of the German Basic Law (“Grundgesetz. Among those quoted is the V-Mann, Wolfgang Frenz, a former high-ranking official of the NPD. The rather drastic reaction by the FCC to these news is explained by the significance of the information about the V-Mann, an often dubious source (infra I.) and the way this information made its way to the Court, which is a scandal in itself (infra II.). The fallout from the decision will be the subject of the closing remarks (infra III.).

Calibrating Liberty and Security: Federal Constitutional Court Rules on Freedom of Speech in PKK Case

2002 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Wielsch
Keyword(s):  
Free Speech ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
September 11Th ◽  
The Core ◽  
Preventative Measures ◽  
Federal Constitutional ◽  
The One

In a recently published decision the Bundesverfassungsgericht (BVerfG – Federal Constitutional Court) was concerned with the basic right of free speech of PKK sympathizers. The decision draws a fine line between, on the one hand, preventative measures which aim to inhibit radical associations and, on the other hand, the protection of free speech which lies at the core of democracy. The Court's decision touches upon the debate about security triggered by the events of September 11th and Germany's proactive stance towards right-wing radicalism, characterized by the Court's present consideration of an application to ban the extreme right-wing National demokratischen Partei Deutschlands (NPD – National Democratic Party of Germany).

scholarly journals Federal Constitutional Court To Decide Whether to Issue a Temporary Injunction Against Germany's New Lifetime Partnerships Law for Homosexual Couples

2001 ◽  
Vol 2 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Maurer
Keyword(s):  
Social Evolution ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Federal States ◽  
The Social ◽  
Federal Constitutional ◽  
Considerable Controversy ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Temporary Injunction ◽  
German Federal Constitutional Court ◽  
German Federal Constitutional

On July 18, 2001, the Bundesverfassungsgericht (German Federal Constitutional Court) will issue its ruling in the application for a temporary injunction, brought by the Länder (Federal States) of Bavaria and Saxony, to block the August 1 effective date of the new federalLebenspartnerschaftgesetz(LPartG — Registered Lifetime Partnership Act for Homosexual Relationships). This act has been the subject of considerable controversy including the claims at the heart of the Federal States' challenge to the constitutionality of the statute. This article will: (a) briefly survey the social evolution that has necessitated the regulations in this statute; (b) describe some of the statute's provisions; and (c) end by summarizing some of the sometimes harsh and often very emotional arguments involved in the debate over the LPartG and raised as part of the challenge to the statute's constitutionality in the proceedings before the Federal Constitutional Court.

Kindergrundrechte

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Hepp
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
Federal Constitutional ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Shed Light

Children are only explicitly mentioned in the Basic Law as the subject of the norm and the object of parental care. The thesis explores both the existence and formulation of fundamental rights in relation to children according to the case law of the Federal Constitutional Court as well as the underlying fundamental rights dogmatics of the Court. In this way, an overall picture of the current constitutional status of the child in Germany is established. The study aims to shed light on the controversy in the points that have been insufficiently addressed so far and to resolve underlying misunderstandings. Finally, it serves to clarify the constitutional status of children in Germany.

Without the Power to Drink or Contract

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-48
Author(s):  
Warren Swain
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Current Position ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Law ◽  
Over Time

Intoxication as a ground to set aside a contract is not something that has proved to be easy for the law to regulate. This is perhaps not very surprising. Intoxication is a temporary condition of varying degrees of magnitude. Its presence does however raise questions of contractual autonomy and individual responsibility. Alcohol consumption is a common social activity and perceptions of intoxication and especially alcoholism have changed over time. Roman law is surprisingly quiet on the subject. In modern times the rules about intoxicated contracting in Scottish and English law is very similar. Rather more interestingly the law in these two jurisdictions has reached the current position in slightly different ways. This history can be traced through English Equity, the works of the Scottish Institutional writers, the rise of the Will Theory, and all leavened with a dose of judicial pragmatism.

STORYTELLING AND MEANING RECONSTRUCTION: A METAPHORICAL PERSPECTIVE

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-169
Author(s):  
M L Mojapelo
Keyword(s):  
Personal Development ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Meaning Reconstruction ◽  
Changing Patterns ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Changes Over Time ◽  
Over Time

Storytelling consists of an interaction between a narrator and a listener, both of whom assign meaning to the story as a whole and its component parts. The meaning assigned to the narrative changes over time under the influence of the recipient‟s changing precepts and perceptions which seem to be simplistic in infancy and more nuanced with age. It becomes more philosophical in that themes touching on the more profound questions of human existence tend to become more prominently discernible as the subject moves into the more reflective or summative phases of his or her existence. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the metaphorical character of a story, as reflected in changing patterns of meaning assigned to the narrative in the course of the subjective receiver‟s passage through the various stages of life. This was done by analysing meaning, from a particular storytelling session, at different stages of a listener‟s personal development. Meaning starts as literal and evolves through re-interpretation to abstract and deeper levels towards application in real life.

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