Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
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The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is the constitution of modern Germany. It first came into effect in 1949 as the constitution of West Germany.
The German word Grundgesetz may be translated as either 'Basic Law' or 'Fundamental Law'. The usual word for 'constitution' in German is Verfassung but Grundgesetz was chosen for the title of the document adopted in 1949 in order to suggest that both the new constitution, and the West German state it created, were merely provisional and would serve only until the achievement of reunification. The belief at the time was that this would not take long; however, the emergence of the Cold War caused the division of Germany to last forty years.
In 1990 reunification came about in the form of East Germany joining the Federal Republic. Since this time the Basic Law has continued in force as the constitution of all of Germany. The Basic Law has not been renamed but some changes with respect to reunification were made in 1991 and 1994.
The Basic Law was adopted in the aftermath of World War II while West Germany was still under allied occupation. Before the allied occupation the West German states, or Länder, were given constitutions. The new constitution for West Germany was originally to be drafted by a constituent assembly and submitted to a plebiscite for ratification. However, for the same reasons that the document was ultimately called a 'basic law' and not a 'constitution', the leaders of the Länder insisted that the drafting body be called the 'Parliamentary Council' and that plans for a referendum be abandoned.
When it met the Parliamentary Council consisted of delegates elected by the parliaments of each Land. After being passed by the council and approved by the occupying powers the Basic Law was submitted to the governments of the Länder for ratification, it having been provided that the document would not come into effect until it had been ratified by at least two-thirds of the states. After meeting these requirements the enactment of the Basic Law was proclaimed on May 23, 1949.
Article 1 of the Basic Law
Art. 1, paragraph 1 - Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar. Sie zu achten und zu schützen ist Verpflichtung aller staatlichen Gewalt.
(The dignity of a human being is untouchable. To respect and protect it is the responsibility of all powers of the state.)
Early election
A peculiarity of the Basic law is that it makes it very difficult to call early elections. Neither the chancellor nor the Bundestag has the power to call elections, and the president can do so only if the government loses a confidence vote. This was designed to avoid the chronic instability of Weimar republic governments.
In 1982, chancellor Helmut Kohl intentionally lost a confidence vote in order to call an early election to strengthen his position in the Bundestag. The constitutional court examined the case, and decided that the vote was valid, but with reservations. It was decided that a vote of no confidence could be engineered only if it was based on an actual legislative impasse.
In 2005, chancellor Gerhard Schröder lost a vote of no confidence. President Horst Köhler has called elections for September 2005, but the constitutional court will again examine the validity of the procedure.
See also Constructive Vote of No Confidence.
Referenda
Another peculiarity of the Basic Law is that it explicitly forbids referenda. This was designed to avoid the kind of populism that allowed the rise of Hitler.
See also
External links
- Full text:
- Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany. In English, as a PDF file.
- Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland. In German, as a PDF file.
- Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland. In German, as HTML file.
- Constitution of the German Empire (1871-1919). In English. Full text from Wikisource.
- Constitution of the German Empire (1919-1933). In English, as HTML file.