The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Germany: Grundgesetz fÃÆ'¼r die Bundesrepublic Deutschland ) is the Federal Constitution of the Republic of Germany.
The Constitution was approved on May 8, 1949 in Bonn, and, with the signature of the Western Allies of World War II occupying on 12 May, entered into force on 23 May. The original application field (German: Geltungsbereich ) - that is, the state originally included in the Federal Republic of Germany - comprises three Western allied working zones, but at the urging Western allies, formally excluded West Berlin. In 1990, Two Plus Four Agreements between the two parts of Germany and the four Allied Blocs established the implementation of a number of amendments. In the next Unification Agreement of 1990, this amended Basic Law was adopted as a unified German constitution.
The German word Grundgesetz can be translated as Basic Law or Fundamental Law ( Grund - with the English word ground ). The term Verfassung is deliberately avoided because the designers consider Grundgesetz to be an interim arrangement for a temporarily West German state, hoping that eventually the united Germany will adopt the constitution, imposed under the provisions of Article 146 The Basic Law, which stipulates that such a constitution should be "freely adopted by the German people". Nevertheless, although the amended Constitution will eventually be approved in 1990 by the four Allied Powers (thereby releasing its constitutional rights protected), it has never been submitted to the ballot, either in 1949 or in 1990.
The authors of the Basic Law seek to ensure that a potential dictator will never again be able to rule in this country. Although some of the Constitutions are based on the constitution of the Weimar Republic, the authors also elevate human rights and human dignity to the core values ​​protected by the Constitution. The principles of democracy, republicanism, social responsibility, and federalism are key components of the Basic Law; the basic principles and rights underlying these articles are constitutionally entrenched and; although some of these articles have been rearranged, extended or refined, they are forbidden to be removed or revoked by the normal amendment process.
Video Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
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Basic rights (German: Grundrechte ) are guaranteed in Germany by the Federal Constitution and in some state constitutions. In the Constitution, most of the basic rights are guaranteed in the first part of the same name (Articles 1 through 19). They are the right of a subjective society with a constitutional rank that binds all state authorities. In cases of violation of basic rights and legal protection to be granted by the failed tribunal, the Basic Law provides with exceptional constitutional complaints to the Federal Constitutional Court (Article 93 paragraph 1 No. 4a of the Basic Law). These basic rights can not be removed from the constitution, and no constitutional amendments can 'affect their essence'.
According to this rule, the Federal Constitutional Court may be referred not only to violations of fundamental rights, but also to violations of "the rights set forth in Article 20, paragraphs 4 and 33, 38, 101, 103 and 104". Therefore, these rights are called rights that are identical to fundamental rights.
Maps Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
App field extensions under Section 23
As with the previous Weimar Constitution, the 1949 Constitution is explicitly irrational; maintaining that there are still separate parts of 'Germany as a whole' in the form of German society living outside the territory under the control of the Federal Republic in 1949, with whom the Federal Republic is constitutionally bound to pursue reunification; and with regard to which mechanisms are granted by other parts of Germany like that which can then declare their access to the Constitution. Because at first the Constitution did not apply to all of Germany, its legal provisions apply only to its application (German: Geltungsbereich des Grundgesetzes for Die Bundesrepublic Deutschland ). This legal term is often used in the laws of West Germany when Western German law does not apply to the whole of Germany, as is usually the case.
Article 23 of the Constitution provides other German states de jure not originally included in the field of application of the Basic Law, with the right to express their access ( Beitritt ) in the future. Therefore, although the Constitution is considered temporary, it allows more parts of Germany to join its field of application. On the one hand, it gave the Federal Republic of Germany - compiled as such in 1949 - there was no right to negotiate, refuse or reject any other German state statement about its access to FRG, subject to the FRG which recognizes that de jure state and satisfied that the declaration of accession resulted from self-determination of its people; while on the other hand the consenting states must accept the Constitution and all laws so far enacted under FRG institutions as they are. Since the Federal Republic itself can not express accession to other parts of Germany under Article 23, this provision can not be applied as an instrument of annexation; nor accession under Article 23 can be reached by an international agreement with a third party country, even though the Federal Constitutional Court recognizes that accession declared in the future may be framed de facto as a union between the Federal Republic and the accessing state. It remains unclear whether accession under Article 23 can be achieved by the part of Germany whose government is not recognized by the Federal Republic, and if so how; but in practice this situation does not arise. Article 23, amended after 1990, was originally read as follows:
Former Article 23 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany
For now, this Basic Law will apply in the LÃÆ'¤nder region of Baden, Bavaria, Bremen, Greater Berlin, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein, WÃÆ'¼rttemberg- Baden, and WÃÆ'¼rttemberg -Hohenzollern. In other parts of Germany it will apply to their accession.
While the West German state had gained limited sovereignty in May 1955, Sarrois refused in a referendum (1955) transforming their protectorate into an independent state in a newly emerging European Economic Community. The Saar Treaty then paved the way for the Saar Protectorate government to declare its access to the West German state under Article 23, including the new Saarland into the field of application of the Basic Law. The Saar did not hold a separate referendum on his accession. With effect from 1 January 1957, the Federal Republic considers itself including almost all of West Germany in such a way that the only "other part of Germany" that Article 23 can be extended now to the east; thus releasing all claims to the western part of the former German Reich which had been handed over to France and Denmark. (see Small Reunification with Saar). The towns of Elten, Selfkant and Suderwick, which had been occupied and annexed by the Dutch in 1949, reunited with the Federal Republic in 1963 through international treaties without the application of Article 23.
Although the Basic Law, in its original form, preserves the survival of the larger German existence, 'Germany as a whole'; However, the broader extent of the national territory of Germany is not defined in the Basic Law, although it is always clearly understood that East Germany and Berlin were included. In his 1973 judgment, confirming the constitutional validity of the Basic Treaty between East Germany and West Germany, the Federal Constitutional Court justified the recognition of East Germany as a valid German state, on the grounds that it would enable the future GDR to declare accession to the Constitution under Article 23. But the Court then explicitly acknowledges that this limited recognition of de jure of the GDR also implies the acceptance of the constitutional power of the GDR to temporarily enter into an international agreement. in his own account, naming in particular an agreement with Poland that asserts the transfer of 'Eastern Region' to Polish sovereignty.
The Communist regime in East Germany fell in 1990. Following free elections, the parliament of the GDR (East Germany) declared the accession of the GDR under Article 23 to the Federal Republic of Germany to come into force on October 3, 1990, making unilateral acts initiated by the East German parliament last. The 'East German accession statement' ( BeitrittserklÃÆ'¤rung ) describing the territory of East Germany was incorporated into the field of application of the Basic Law; but subject to the Basic Law first amended in accordance with the previously negotiated Unity Agreement between East and West Germany, as well as Treaty Two-Plus-Four, in which the Allied Blocks have abandoned their remaining German sovereignty. Thus, before the date of accession of East Germany to the Federal Republic of Germany Article 23 was revoked, representing an explicit commitment under the Two-Plus-Four Treaty that, after the unification of East Germany, West Germany and Berlin, no "other part of Germany" remained in the east or west where the Republic of Berlin may be legally renewed. Rather than adopting a new constitution under Article 146 of the Constitution, the Bundestag (German Parliament) amends Article 146 and the Preamble of the Constitution to declare that the unification of Germany has now been fully achieved; while also adding further clause 143 (3) to entrench the Constitution of the cancellation of acts of expropriation perpetrated by the Soviet occupation forces between 1945 and 1949. Therefore when the nominal accession of the GDR to the Federal Republic under Article 23 takes effect on October 3, 1990, Article 23 is no longer applicable. Therefore, German reunification is influenced by the Unitary Treaty between two sovereign states, the GDR and the Federal Republic, and not by Article 23; although the former Article 23 is agreed upon by both parties to the Treaty as the setting of a constitutional model by which unification will be achieved.
As part of the process, East Germany, which has been a unitary state since 1952, is further divided into five states of its own government ( BundeslÃÆ'¤nder ), which are granted the same status as existing LÃÆ'¤nder , with East and West Berlin reuniting to become a new city-state (such as Bremen and Hamburg). After the amendment of the Constitution, most of it was related to accession in 1990, additional major modifications were made in 1994 ("Verfassungsreform"), 2002 and 2006 (2006 = "FÃÆ'¶deralismusreform").
Process of compilation
We must be sure that what we build someday will be a good home for all Germans.
Between February and June 1948, London's 6-Power Conference of three Western occupying powers (US, UK, France) and three western German neighbors (Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg) were debating the political future of the three western occupations of the German zone. The negotiations ended with the conclusion that a democratic and federal West German state would be established.
As a direct consequence of the London 6-Power Conference, representatives of the three western occupying forces on 1 July 1948, inciting the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the West Germany LÃÆ' ¤nder > in Frankfurt-am-Main and committed to those called the Frankfurt Document ( Frankfurter Dokumente ). These papers - among other points - call the MinisterprÃÆ'¤sidenten to organize a constitutional assembly, which must draft a democratic and federal constitution for the West German state. According to the Frankfurt Document No. 1, the constitution shall determine the central powers of the German government, while respecting the administration of LÃÆ'¤nder and shall contain the terms and guarantees of individual freedoms and individual rights of the Germans in respect of their government. With special requests from the federal structure of future German states, Western Powers follows the German constitutional tradition since the founding of the Reich in 1871.
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The draft was prepared at the early convention of Herrenchiemsee (10 - 23 August 1948) at Herreninsel in Chiemsee, a lake in southeast Bavaria. Delegates at the Convention are designated by newly formed (or newly re-established) leaders Licurees (state).
On September 1, 1948, Parlamentarischer Rat got together and started working on the exact words from Grundgesetz . 65 members of Parlamentarischer Rat were elected by the German Parliament of LÃÆ'¤nder with a deputy representing about 750,000 people. After being endorsed by the Parliamentary Council gathered at the Koenig Museum in Bonn on May 8, 1949 - the Museum was the only intact structure in Bonn that was large enough to be a place of worship - and after being approved by the occupying power on May 12, 1949, it was ratified by parliament of all Trizonal LÃÆ'¤nder with the exception of Bavaria. Landtag of Bavaria rejected the Basic Law mainly because it deemed not to give sufficient power to the individual LÃÆ'¤nder , but at the same time decided that it would remain in Bavaria if two-thirds of the other LÃÆ'¤nder ratified it. On May 23, 1949, in a solemn session of the Parliamentary Council, the Basic Law of Germany was signed and announced. When the law is not binding ends, as the new West Germany state, the Federal Republic of Germany, is formed, though still under Western occupation.
Important difference from Weimar Constitution
The basic right is the basis for the Basic Law, in contrast to the Weimar Constitution, which records it only as "the purpose of the state." Based on the mandate to respect human dignity, all state powers are directly bound to guarantee these basic rights. Article 1 of the Constitution (in GG stands for German law, for Grundgesetz ), which establishes this principle that "human dignity is inviolable" and that human rights are directly applicable laws, as well as the general principles of the state in Article 20 GG, which guarantees democracy, republicanism, social responsibility, federalism, and the right of resistance must be undertaken to abolish this order, remain under the guarantee of eternity stated in Article 79 Clause 3, the principles underlying this clause can not be removed even if a normal amendment process is followed.
There is no emergency force as used by the ReichsprÃÆ'¤sident in the Reichstag Fire Decree of 1933 to suspend the basic rights and to remove the Reichstag communist from power, an important step for Hitler Machtergreifung i>. The suspension of human rights will also be illegal under Articles 20 and 79 GG, as above. The right to refuse is permitted against anyone who wishes to abolish the constitutional order, if other solutions fail under Article 20.
The federal government's constitutional position is reinforced, because BundesprÃÆ'¤sident only has a small part of the former ReichsprÃÆ'¤sident power; and in particular, no longer in the Supreme Command of the armed forces. The government now relies only on parliament.
To remove the chancellor, the parliament must engage in Constructive Voting Without Confidence ( Konstruktives Misstrauensvotum ), ie the election of a new chancellor. This new procedure is intended to provide more stability than under the Weimar Constitution, when extremists on the left and right will choose to remove a chancellor, without accepting new ones, creating a leadership vacuum. In addition, it is possible for parliament to remove each minister with a vote of no confidence, while now must vote against the cabinet as a whole.
Article 32 of the Constitution allows states to carry out foreign affairs with states in relation to matters falling within their scope, under the supervision of the Federal Government.
Article 24 states that the Federal Government may 'transfer the power of sovereignty to international institutions' and Article 25 states that 'general rules of international law shall become an integral part of federal law'.
Basic and German Law Sonderweg
In seeking to make peace with the history of 20th century German catastrophes, much discussion has focused on the key theory of a German Sonderweg (special way); proposition that Germany has followed a path to a radically different modernity from its neighbors in Europe, which has made it particularly vulnerable to militaristic, anti-humanitarian, totalitarian and genocide impulses. This theory is much debated, but forms the main context for the original formulation of the Basic Law. The Basic Law, attempted "to correct Germany's Sonderweg - to reclaim the German State from its special historical path, and to realize in postwar West Germany the liberal Democratic Republic that has proved unattainable for the patriot of Frankfurt in 1848 or the 1919 Weimar revolution. interpreting it, the Federal Constitutional Court seems to "have an eye on Germany that may have been".
In the dominant postwar narrative of West Germany, the Nazi regime was characterized as a 'criminal' state, illegal and illegitimate from its beginnings; while the Weimar Republic is characterized as a 'failed' state, which has institutional and constitutional weaknesses that Hitler exploited in his illegal dictatorship power struggle. Consequently, following the death of Hitler in 1945 and the subsequent capitulation of the German Armed Forces, the national institutions and constitutional instruments of both Nazi Germany and the Weimar Republic are understood to be entirely dead, such that the Basic Law can be established in a condition. of the constitutional nullity. Nevertheless, although the Weimar Republic is now completely irreparable, it avoids the constitutional weaknesses that are considered to represent a major concern for the drafters of the Constitution.
The experience of the Weimar Republic has resulted in widespread public perception that representative democracy and rule of law (Rechtsstaat ) are inherently in conflict; and the Parliamentary Council that drafted the Constitution were well aware that their militant pro-democracy ideals were far from being commonly shared in the grim contexts of Germany in 1949. Therefore they built the Constitution as a powerful instrument for guardianship " the Federal Republic's "order" of the Federal Constitutional Court, in the form of a Federal Constitutional Court, represents a surprising 'judicial authority.' Unlike the United States Supreme Court, the Federal Constitutional Court has jurisdiction only in constitutional matters, but also exclusive jurisdiction in matters like that: all the other courts must refer the constitutional case to justice The intent of the drafters of the Constitution is that this court will revolve broadly against any tendency to return to non-democratic means: "a stern but good-hearted guardian from immature democracies who can not trust themselves. "Deng thus the Federal Constitutional Court has the power to ban political parties whose purpose or actions threaten the 'free basic democratic order'.
The Constitution places it on its head as a guarantee of fundamental rights that can not be contested. Initially this was intended to limit this to the classical formulations of civil liberties, such as equality before the law, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of occupation and freedom of religious conscience. In the event, certain interests are encouraged for additional consideration; The Catholic Church (through CDU/CSU representatives) succeeds in incorporating protection both for 'Marriage and Family' and for parental responsibility for children's education, the SPD's representative is then amended to protect the additional rights of children born outside marriage, and Elisabeth Selbert (one of only four women in the 70-strong panel eventually succeeded in a massive campaign to gain constitutional protection for gender equality.However, there was a striking discord between the social context of two parents, households assumed in Law The basis, and the daily reality of German society in 1949, in which more than half of adult women are unmarried, separated or widowed, where the effective working population is very female, and where millions of refugees, refugees and refugee families are still without accommodation permanent Not until 1994 that constitutional protection extended to discrimination ination in the grou number of defects; while protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation remains not specified in the Constitution.
Basic Law and German legal status
As adopted by West Germany in 1949 as a temporary constitution, the Preamble of the Constitution looks forward explicitly to the future of a free and unified German state; "All the German people are required to achieve it, with freedom of self-determination, unity and German freedom." This is understood as embedding in the Constitution of either the proposition that Germany in 1949 was not unified, or free; as well as binding the new Federal Republic to the task of pursuing the creation of a free and united Germany "on behalf of the Germans who were denied participation". The Constitution potentially provides two routes for the establishment of a reborn and united German state; either under Article 23 wherein 'other parts of Germany' above and above a State named the Federal Republic (BundeslÃÆ'¤nder ) may further state their accession; or under Article 146 where constituent powers can be exercised by the elected representatives of the whole German people in creating a new permanent constitution that will replace the Basic Law. The adoption of the Constitution under Article 146 would imply that the legal validity of a united German State would rest on a "free decision by the German people" as a whole.
It is no secret that no effective national government of anything existed in Germany in May 1945 after the surrender of the German High Command; and that all the national military and civilian authorities and authorities there are exercised by the four Powers of the Allies. The Allies later stated that because the former German Reich no longer exists in reality; so, as 'ultimate authority' for Germany, they are entitled to take all sovereign power without any limitation of duration or scope, and can legally force any action on the Germans within the national territory of Germany because every government can legally commit on its own subjects. - including the applicable parts of the territory and people to other countries. They further argue that the international conventions that limit the occupying power of the wartime from imposing a fundamental change of the system of government, economic system or social institution within the territory under their control - The Hague Regulation on Land Warfare and the Geneva Conventions - are void; and can not apply, because the Nazi cessation of Germany and the total Denazification of German institutions and legal structures have been approved by Allied allies as absolute moral imperatives. Consequently, the Potsdam Treaty presupposes that a self-governing state will emerge from the wreckage of World War II covering 'Germany as a whole'; but that the new state will not claim sovereignty other than those originating from sovereignty which are then assumed by the Allied Bloc, and its constitution will also require the consent of all the Allies. However, from 1950 onwards, a German school of law scholars developed an alternative view that the Allies only took custody of German sovereignty while the former German state was powerless to act; and consequently, once a freely formed German government has been formed in the form of the Federal Republic, it can continue the identity and legal status of the former German Reich without reference to the Allied Bloc.
From the 1950s, the claim that there is one German Reich is still continuing, and that in some respects the Federal Republic and the Federal Republic alone can argue that the Reich, adopted both by the Federal Government itself and by the Federal Constitutional Court. Initially, the 1949 constitution of the German Democratic Republic adopted a mirror image version of this claim; in order to anticipate the future all-German constitution on its own political terms; but all references to the wider national German state were removed in the constitutional amendments in 1968 and 1974, and from that date the GDR maintained that from 1949 there had been two completely separate sovereign German states. The Cold War allies of the Federal Republic support their claims in part because they recognize the Federal Republic as the only legally organized democratic state in the former German territory (GDR held as a Soviet puppet state); but they do not accept the corresponding argument for the continuing 'metaphysical' Reich's existence within the organs of the Federal Republic alone. Furthermore, under the Federal Republic in the early 1970s, trying to end hostile relations with the Eastern Bloc countries, on the way negotiated in 1972 a Basic Treaty with the GDR, recognizing it as one of two German states in one German nation, and releases any claim to the jurisdiction of the sovereign jurisdiction over East Germany. The treaty was challenged in the Federal Constitutional Court, which seemed to contradict the main aspirations of the Basic Law for a united German state; but the legality of the Covenant is upheld by the Court, highly qualified by the reaffirmation of the claim that the German Reich continues to exist as a 'whole state' so that the task of fighting for future German unity can not be abandoned while East and West Germany remain divided, albeit without institutional organs itself, the 'whole' Reich is currently incapable of acting.
According to the 1973 Federal Constitutional Court ruling, Article 23 of the Constitution requires the Federal Republic to be "legally open" to the accession of former parts of Germany which is then organized into the German Democratic Republic; and they note that this implies that the Federal Republic can recognize the ability of the GDR state, as it has been established, to declare its access. In this sense, the recognition of the Basic Agreement of the GDR as de jure of the German State and as a valid country in international relations (although without it in his opinion in West Germany with separate sovereign state status) can be interpreted as advancing long-term goals from the unification of Germany in the end, rather than as a contradiction to it. On August 23, 1990, the <<> Volkskammer of the GDR did state its access to the Federal Republic under Article 23 of the Constitution; but has been in effect since October 3, 1990, and is subject to fundamental amendments made to the provisional Constitution. This amendment is necessary to carry out a series of constitutional amendments to the Constitution agreed in both the Unification Agreement between the GDR and the Federal Republic, and in 'Agreement Two Plus Four' (Treaty on Final Settlement in Respecting Germany); and has the general effect of deleting or posting all clauses (including Article 23) in which the Federal Constitutional Court has relied on its support to claim the continued legal identity of the German Reich as a 'whole country'. In particular, the Constitution was then amended so that the constitutional duties of the German people to fight for unity and freedom are now fully realized; and consequently the expanded 'Republic of Berlin' can no longer be "legally open" to further access from the former territory of Germany.
Constitutional institutions
The Constitution establishes Germany as a parliamentary democracy with the separation of powers into executive, legislative and judicial branches.
The executive branch consists of a largely ceremonial Federal President as head of state and the Federal Chancellor, head of government, usually (but not necessarily) the greatest grouping leader in the Bundestag.
The legislative branch is represented by the Bundestag, elected directly through a mix of proportional representation and direct mandate, with Germany participating in legislation through the Bundesrat, reflecting the German federal structure.
The judicial branch is headed by the Federal Constitutional Court, which oversees the constitutionality of the law.
Presidency
In the German parliamentary system of government, the Federal Chancellor runs the government and politics of the day. However, the President of Germany has a role that is more than merely ceremonial. The Federal President, by his actions and public appearance, represents the country itself, its existence, legitimacy, and unity. The Presidential Office involves integrative roles and functions of the control of enforcing the law and the constitution. It also has a "political reserve function" for times of crisis in the parliamentary system of government. The Federal President provides direction for general political and social debate and has some important "reserve power" in cases of political instability (as governed by Article 81 of the Basic Law). According to Article 59 (1) of the Constitution of Germany, the Federal President represents the Federal Republic of Germany in the matter of international law, terminating the treaty with a foreign country on behalf of and diplomatic accreditation. Furthermore, all federal laws must be signed by the President before they can apply; however, he can only veto the law that he believes violates the constitution.
Executive branch
The Chancellor is the head of government and the most influential figure in German everyday politics, as well as the head of the Federal Cabinet, consisting of ministers appointed by the Federal President on the advice of the Chancellor. While every minister orchestrated his department autonomously, the Chancellor may issue policy guidance that is too important. The Chancellor is elected for a full term of office of the Bundestag and can only be dismissed by parliament who elects a successor in a constructive "vote of confidence".
Judicial Branch
Federal Constitutional Court
Guardian of the Basic Law is the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (Bundesverfassungsgericht ) which is an independent constitutional organ and at the same time part of the judiciary in the constitutional law sector and public international law. His judgment has the legal status of ordinary law. It is required by law to declare the law as null and void if they violate the Basic Law. Although the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court is the highest on all other counts, this is not an appeals court; The FCC only hears constitutional cases, and maintains a single jurisdiction in all such cases, to the exclusion of all other courts.
The court is notorious for canceling several high profile laws, endorsed by a large majority in parliament. An example is Luftsicherheitsgesetz, which will allow the Bundeswehr to shoot down civilian planes in the event of a terrorist attack. It is considered to violate the guarantee of life and human dignity in the Constitution.
The Federal Constitutional Court ruled the constitutionality of law and government action in the following circumstances:
- an individual complaint - a lawsuit filed by a person stating that a law or government action violates its constitutional rights. All possible solutions in regular courts would have been exhausted before.
- Referrals by ordinary courts - courts may refer to the question of whether the law applicable to the case before the court is constitutional.
- abstract regulatory control - the federal government, the government of one federal state or a quarter of Bundestag members can file a lawsuit. In this case, the suit does not need to refer to a specific case of a legal application.
The Weimar Constitution does not constitute a court of equal power. When the Basic Law is changed, this must be done explicitly; the relevant article should be quoted. Under Weimar, the Constitution may be amended without notice; legislation passed by a two-thirds majority vote is not bound by the constitution. Under the Basic Law of the constitutional foundations in Art. 1 GG and Art. 20 GG, the fundamental rights in articles 1 to 19, and key elements of the federalist state, can not be deleted. Of particular importance is the protection of the division of state power in three branches, legislative, executive and judicial. This is provided by Art. 20 GG. A clear separation of powers was deemed essential to prevent such acts of enlargement as too broad, as happened in Germany in 1933. This action then gave the government legislative powers that effectively resolved the Weimar Republic and led the Third Reich dictatorship..
Other court
Section 95 establishes the Federal Courts, Federal Administrative Courts, the Federal Court of Justice, the Federal Labor Court and the Federal Social Court as the highest courts of their respective jurisdictions.
Article 96 authorizes the establishment by federal law of the Federal Patent Court, of a federal military criminal tribunal that has jurisdiction only in a state of defense or in an army serving abroad, and from a federal disciplinary tribunal. Article 92 provides that all courts other than federal courts established under the Basic Law are courts of LÃÆ'¤nder .
Article 101 prohibits extraordinary courts, such as Volksgerichtshof .
General provisions for judicial and defendant rights
Article 97 regulates the independence of the judiciary. Article 102 removes the death penalty. Article 103 mandates a fair trial, prohibiting retroactive criminal legislation and double penalties for the same offenses. Article 104 mandates that the deprivation of personal liberty shall be provided by law and authorized by a judge before the end of the day following the arrest (analogous to the general legal concept of Habeas corpus), and that relatives or persons in confidence of the detainee shall be notified of a court decision imposing detention. The German Constitution (that is, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany) no doubt illustrates the presumption of innocence.
Legislative branch
Bundestag
The main part of the legislative branch is the German parliament, the Bundestag, which passes federal law, including its budget. Every member of the Bundestag has the right to initiate legislation, as did the Cabinet and the Bundesrat. The Bundestag also elects Chancellor, head of government, usually (but not necessarily) the leader of a majority party or party with a number of seats in the Bundestag, and taking part in the election of the Federal President.
Bundesrat
Bundesrat represents LÃÆ'¤nder (state) and participates in federal law. The strength of the Bundesrat has grown over the years, as the field of federal legislation is extended at the expense of state legislation. In return, the number of laws requiring approval from the Bundesrat is also extended.
Early selection
The Constitution does not contain clear provisions for calling early elections. Neither the Chancellor nor the Bundestag has the power to summon elections, and the president can do so only if the government loses vote motion if the chancellor so requests. This is designed to avoid the chronic instability of the government of the Weimar Republic. However, early elections have been called three times (1972, 1982, and 2005). The last two occasions are considered a controversial step and are referred to the constitutional court for review.
In 1972, Chancellor Willy Brandt's coalition lost its majority in the Bundestag, so the opposition (CDU/CSU) tried to provide constructive constructive voices, choosing Rainer Barzel as the new chancellor. Surprisingly, two representatives of the CDU/CSU chose SPD Willy Brandt so the vote failed. However, the coalition does not have a majority in the Bundestag, so a new election is needed. It was later revealed that the East German Ministry of Security had bribed the two disagreeing representatives.
In 1982, Chancellor Helmut Kohl deliberately lost his confident vote to summon early elections to strengthen his position in the Bundestag. The constitutional court examined the case, and ruled that the vote was valid, but with a reservation. It was decided that a no-confidence motion could be engineered only if based on a true legislative impasse.
In 2005, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder engineered a defeat in a no-confidence motion after a power shift in the Bundesrat. President Horst KÃÆ'¶hler then called for elections for 18 September 2005. The Constitutional Court approved the validity of this procedure on 25 August 2005, and elections were held.
The role of political party
Unlike Weimar, political parties are explicitly mentioned in the constitution, that is, officially recognized as an important participant in politics. The parties shall abide by the basic democracy of the German state. Parties found to be in violation of these requirements may be removed by the Constitutional Court. In the Weimar Republic, the public image of political parties is clearly negative and they are often perceived as heinous. At the same time there is no obligation to comply with democratic standards (on the contrary, the Constitution provides that parties ""... internal organizations must conform to democratic principles ", which prevents any parties from using FÃÆ'¼hrerprinzip, even internally).
Other conditions
Military role
The Weimar Constitution contributes to the Reichswehr being a state within the state, beyond the control of parliament or the public. The soldiers immediately report to the President who himself is not dependent on parliament. Under the Constitution, during peacetime, the Bundeswehr was under the command of the Minister of Defense, and during the wartime under the Federal Chancellor. The Chancellor is directly responsible to the parliament, the Minister indirectly responsible to the parliament because it can remove the entire Cabinet by choosing a new chancellor.
The Constitution also institutionalizes the parliamentary post of Wehrbeauftragter (commissioner of defense), reporting once a year to parliament, not to the executive. The Wehrbeauftragter is an army ombudsman who can be requested directly by soldiers, bypassing the chain of command. Disciplinary action against soldiers petitioning at Wehrbeauftragter is forbidden. From eleven commissioners of defense until 2013 eight do military service or war. Six hold the rank of officer (or rank of backup officer), two of whom, as Vizeadmiral Hellmuth Heye, are high-ranking princes and decorate or generals of the Wehrmacht.
Although this is not explicitly elaborated in the Constitution, a number of cases of the Constitutional Court in the 1990s stipulated that the military should not be mobilized by governments outside the NATO territories without a specific resolution of parliament, explaining the details of the mission. and limit the time period. There are also strict restrictions on military intervention in Germany (ie military bans used for police duties), which generally only allow the military to act in unarmed roles in Germany (such as disaster relief).
Referendum and plebiscite
Unlike the Weimar Constitution, the Constitution only mentions a referendum, on the level of federal legislation, on one issue: the new border of the federal territory. Baden-WÃÆ'¼rttemberg was established after a 1952 referendum which approved the integration of three separate countries. In a referendum in 1996, Berlin and Brandenburg residents rejected the merger of the two proposed nations. After a referendum to rebuild the LÃÆ'¤nder border as it is in the Weimar Republic all failed, the agency has not been used, as some minor border changes can be made with state contracts.
Rejection of referendum in other cases was designed to avoid the kind of populism that allowed Hitler's rise. Article 20, however, states that "All state authority comes from the people, it shall be exercised by the people through election and other votes [abstimmungen] and through certain legislative, executive and judicial bodies". This other sound - words that must be understood to mean sound on legislative issues - is, now, a common practice at LÃÆ'¤nder level. The claim to extend this practice also to the federal level has an irrefutable constitutional basis in Article 20, being a general article and can not be changed on the state structure. However, this can only be granted by constitutional amendments.
Amendments
Process
Article 79 states that the Basic Law may be modified by the absolute two-thirds of the Bundestag together with the two-thirds majority of the Bundesrat. Such voices shall not eliminate any principle underlying articles 1 and 20 as defined by the clause of immortality, or omitting or affecting the essence of, fundamental rights originally defined in articles 1 to 19; but can clarify, expand or refine the original principles and fundamental rights.
History
The Constitution has been amended 50 times since 2003. Important changes to the Constitution were the introduction of conscription and the establishment of the Bundeswehr in 1956. Therefore, some articles are incorporated into the constitution, for example, Art. 12a, 17, 45a-c, 65a, 87a-c GG. Another notable reform is the introduction of emergency competency in 1968, for example Art. 115 Paragraph 1 GG. This was done by a large coalition of two major CDU/CSU and SPD political parties and was accompanied by a heated debate. The following year there was a change in the article on tax distributions between the federal government and the German state.
During reunification, the two countries discussed the possibility of drafting a new general constitution followed by a plebiscite, as envisaged in Art. 146 (1990), but this path was not finally taken. In contrast, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic decided to defend the Basic Law with little change, as it has proved effective in West Germany. To facilitate reunification and to convince other countries, FRG made several changes to the Constitution. Chapter 23 is filled with reunification itself, and then drawn to show that no other part of Germany exists outside the unified territory. The question of "use" of Article 146 to formulate a new constitution, and to hold a referendum, be submitted to the twelfth (and first-German) Bundestag, which, after consideration, decides against the new design, but the Bundestag endorsed the 1994 constitutional reform, , but still meet constitutional questions along with several other amendments between 1990 and 1994. For example, affirmative action is allowed in women's rights under Article 3, and environmental protection is made of state policy objectives in the new Article 20a Article 3 is also rewritten to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability.In 1992, membership in the EU was instituted (Article 23 GG new). For privatization of railways and postal services, amendments are necessary because since then, there have been only minor changes, with the exception of the Balanced Budget Amendment added to in 2009, which became fully effective by 201 6. In 2002, animal protection was explicitly mentioned in Art. 20a GG.
The most controversial debate arose regarding the restriction of asylum rights in 1993 as in the current Art version. 16 a GG. This change was then challenged and confirmed in a verdict by a constitutional court. Another controversy has spawned by the limitation of the right to immunity from the private domain ( Unverletzlichkeit der Wohnung ) by using an acoustic observation ( GroÃÆ'Ÿer Lauschangriff ). This is done with changes to Art. 13 Paragraph 3 and Art. 6 GG. The change was challenged in the constitutional court, but the judge confirmed the change. Other changes have occurred regarding the redistribution of competencies between the federal government and LÃÆ'¤nder .
Literature
- Donald P. Kommers, Russell A. Miller (2012): Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany's Constitution: Third Edition, Revised and Expanded . Duke University Press, 3rd edition (2nd edition 1997), ISBNÃ, 978-0822352662.
See also
Former constitution
- The Constitution of the Kingdom of Germany (1871-1919)
- The Weimar Constitution (1919-1933)
- The Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Germany (German Democratic Republic, GDR, 1949-1990)
More
- The Bremen clause
- Bundesrechnungshof
- Constitutional economics
- Constitutionalism
- Italy Post-World War II Constitution
- Japanese Post-World War II Constitution
- The Frankfurt Constitution, officially named the Constitution of the Kingdom of Germany (Verfassung des Deutschen Reiches) of 1849, a failed attempt to create a unified German nation state
- German Emergency Law
- German history
- German politics
- Rechtsstaat
- Higher rule by law
- Streitbare Democracy
Note
References
External links
- Full text
- Original text: HTML, PDF, unofficial table of contents (status: August 2006) (in German)
- Official Translation: PDF (in English)
- Former constitution
- The Constitution of the Kingdom of Germany (1871-1919). Full text from Wikisource. (in English)
- The Constitution of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933). (in English)
- Excerpts from the 1918 GDR Constitution. (in English)
- More links
- Introduction to basic and constitutional law (on JurisPedia).
- Staatsrecht for you - Introduction to German constitutional law. (in English)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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