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German Constitutional Law

Germany’s Federal Constitution: The Basic Law

The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Das Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland (GG)), also translated as the Fundamental Law, is Germany’s federal constitution. It was adopted in 1949 as a provisional constitution for the German states in the western zone of occupation administered by the United States, Great Britain, and France in the aftermath of World War II.

The drafters of the Basic Law assumed that it would function as an interim measure, to be replaced by a permanent constitution (Verfassung) for the whole of Germany upon its eventual reunification. When Germany finally did reunify in 1990, the states that comprised the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) acceded to the Federal Republic, as permitted under Article 23 of the Basic Law, and adopted the Basic Law as their governing document.

The Basic Law has been amended from time to time, both before and after German reunification, but it has never been replaced. Thus what was intended to be an interim measure has become Germany’s permanent constitution.

The Basic Law Online

Current and prior versions of the Basic Law are available online and in print, both in the original German and in English translation.

Gesetze im Internet (Law on the Internet)
This German government website provides free online access to the text of the Basic Law:
- Grundgesetz: current version (as amended) in German
- Basic Law: current version (as amended) in English translation
World Constitutions Illustrated (HeinOnline)
This HeinOnline database provides access to the current and prior versions of the Basic Law; legislation that has amended the Basic Law; historical German constitutions, including those of East Germany and the Weimar Republic; links to commentaries and scholarly articles on German constitutional law selected by Hein’s editors; a bibliography of German constitutional law; and links to other resources.

The Basic Law in Print

Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Kommentar KK4444.3 .J37 2018
Full text in German (current as of the date of publication), with scholarly commentary in German.
Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany KK4444.3 .A6 2010
Full text in English (current as of the date of publication).

Selected Secondary Sources in English

To locate additional materials from the Georgetown Law Library's collection, search the Law Library Catalog using the Advanced Search page. For greater precision, search for one of the following Library of Congress subject headings:

The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany by Donald P. Kommers & Russell A. Miller
Call Number: KK4446.7 .K66 2012 and electronic
The third edition of this renowned English-language reference has now been fully updated and significantly expanded to incorporate both previously omitted topics and recent decisions of the German Federal Constitutional Court. As in previous editions, Donald P. Kommers and Russell A. Miller's discussions of key developments in German constitutional law are augmented by elegantly translated excerpts from more than one hundred German judicial decisions. Entirely new chapters address the relationship between German law and European and international law; social and economic rights, including the property and occupational rights cases that have emerged from Reunification; jurisprudence related to issues of equality, particularly gender equality; and the tension between Germany's counterterrorism efforts and its constitutional guarantees of liberty.
The Constitution of Germany: A Contextual Analysis by Werner Heun
Call Number: KK4450 .H48 2011
The German Basic Law, enacted in 1949 after total defeat and the experience of totalitarian barbarism, has become a model for constitutions around the world and a prominent example of modern constitutionalism. It features five fundamental principles—democracy, rule of law/Rechtsstaat, the social state, republican government and federalism—each expressly guaranteed and protected against constitutional amendment. As such the German Basic Law is a prime example of a cooperative and predominantly executive federalism characterised by a high degree of unitarianism and equality of its member states.
From Empire to Union: Conceptions of German Constitutional Law Since 1871 by Jo Eric Murkens
Call Number: KK4450 .M87 2013 and electronic
Examining the modern development of German constitutional thought, this volume traces the key public law concepts of state, constitution, sovereignty, and democracy from their modern emergence in the 19th century through to the present day. It analyses the constitutional relationship between Germany and the EU from a sociological and historical perspective, looking at how German constitutional law has conflicted and compromised with EU law, and the difficulties this has raised. Filling a significant gap in comparative constitutional law literature, this book provides an account of the major schools of German constitutional thought and their development. Against this backdrop it offers a fascinating insight into Germany’s relationship with the European Union.
German Constitutional Law: Introduction, Cases, and Principles by Andreas Vosskuhle & Andrew Hammel
Call Number: KK4450 .B86 2019
This revised and fully up-to-date English translation of the 7th edition of the Casebook Verfassungsrecht includes a new outline of the German constitution, the BVerfG Court, and its jurisprudence. It condenses more than six decades of constitutional jurisprudence in order to familiarize readers with the style, technique, and language of the Court. As well as an analysis of the general principles of German constitutional law, the book covers the salient articles of the German Constitution and offers relevant extracts of the Court's most important decisions on the provisions of the Basic Law. It provides notes and discussions of landmark cases to illustrate their legal and historical context and give the reader a clear understanding of the principles governing German constitutional law.
The German Federal Constitutional Court: The Court Without Limits
Call Number: KK5470 .J4713 2020 Electronic
This translation into English of the leading German-language work on the Federal Constitutional Court gives an overview of the court's history and role as one of the most influential constitutional courts in recent years. The book consists of four extended, free-standing essays written by each of the authors. The essays cover the historical development and political context of the Court; the Court and the constitution; the Court's approach to judicial reasoning; and the Court in contemporary constitutional theory.
Germany’s Dual Constitution: Parliamentary Democracy in the Federal Republic
Call Number: KK4450 .M43913 2021
This book offers a compelling and persuasive framework for understanding the German constitutional system. It argues that it can only be fully understood as a dual structure combining two layers with little in common. The first layer is the basic administrative institutional structure, comprised of federal institutions. The second layer is that of parliamentary democracy. It is the interplay between the two, as mediated by the chancellery, the major political parties and the Federal Constitutional Court, which lies at the heart of the German constitutional arrangement. This innovative hybrid perspective allows for a better understanding of the current challenges of parliamentary government and its potential long-term development.
The Making of a German Constitution: A Slow Revolution
Call Number: KK4455 .C76 2008
The Making of a German Constitution is one of the first books to explore the important place of the theory and practice of private law (civil law) in the transformation of Modern Germany’s fin-de-siècle constitutional arrangements. Reading sources from early nineteenth-century private law scholarship, the book offers a thought-provoking and novel understanding of German political development. The author argues that the German idea of sovereignty grew out of a dual conception of law not only as the product of socio-political transformation, but also as a means to it. In the short term, a modern social and political system in Germany was attained through non-violent means and the domestic authority of the Kaiser was severely limited by law. However, the exclusive bourgeois socio-political arrangements that were installed in this era led to considerable discontent in German society, particularly with regard to gender and class tensions. The “slow Bürgerliche Revolution” thus contributed to the traumatic ruptures that mark German history in the first third of the twentieth century.
Rational Lawmaking under Review: Legisprudence According to the German Federal Constitutional Court
Call Number: K3165 .R38 2016
This book explores the constitutional, legally binding dimension to legisprudence in the light of the German Federal Constitutional Court´s approach to rational lawmaking. Over the last decades this court has been remarkably active in applying legisprudential criteria and standards when reviewing parliamentary laws. It has thus supplied observers with a unique material to analyse the lawmakers' duty to legislate rationally, and to assess the virtues and drawbacks of this strand of judicial control in a constitutional democracy. By bringing together legislation experts and public law scholars to elaborate on “legisprudence under review,” this contributed volume aspires to shed light on the constitutionalisation of rational lawmaking as a controversial trend gaining ground in both national and international jurisdictions.
Traditions & Transformations: The Rise of German Constitutionalism
Call Number: KK4450 . H35 2015
Offering an introduction to German constitutional law, this book adopts a broader comparative perspective to understand the rise of the German Constitutional Court. It interprets the particular features of German constitutional jurisprudence and the Court's strength as a reconciliation of two different legal paradigms: first, a hierarchical legal culture as described by Mirjan Damaska, building on Max Weber, as opposed to a more co-ordinated understanding of legal authority such as prevails in the United States and secondly, a more recent paradigm of transformative constitutionalism, which is most often associated with countries like South Africa and India.