Seitenhistorie

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I. The principle of Rechtsstaatlichkeit under the Grundgesetz

Wiki-MarkupOriginally, the _Grundgesetz_ related to the _Rechtsstaat_ only in Art. 28 GG where it regulated that the constitutional order within the _Bundesländer_ have to \[entsprechen\] the principles of the republican, democratic and social _Rechtsstaat_. A similar homogeneity rule points to the international level. The 1992 included Art. 23 Abs. 1 S. 1 GG regulates that, in order to support the realization of a European Union, the Federal Republic of Germany participates in the development of the European Union that is verpflichtet to democratic, rule of law, sozial and federal principles and the principle of subsidiarity and provides Human Rights protection equal to this _Grundgesetz_." Since 2000, Art. 16 II 2 of the _Grundgesetz_ further allows, on the basis of a law, the extradition of a German citizen to a member state of the European Union or to an international Court  as long as the principles of the rule of law are to conform to the principles of the republican, democratic and social Rechtsstaat. A similar homogeneity rule points to the international level. The 1992 included Art. 23 Abs. 1 S. 1 GG regulates that, in order to support the realization of a European Union, the Federal Republic of Germany participates in the development of the European Union that is verpflichtet to democratic, rule of law, sozial and federal principles and the principle of subsidiarity and provides Human Rights protection equal to this Grundgesetz." Since 2000, Art. 16 II 2 of the Grundgesetz further allows, on the basis of a law, the extradition of a German citizen to a member state of the European Union or to an international Court  as long as the principles of the rule of law are preserved.

The Grundgesetz expresses rule of law principles in the rules on the state architecture and the structures of constitutional bodies and the Human Rights guarantees that comprise requirements for the organisation and procedure of the state. Art. 20 GG names several rule of law principles, but the rule of law principle (vgl. BVerfG E 30, 1, 24f.): in par. 2 the principle of the separation of powers and in par. 3 the principle of the obligation of the legislation to the constitutional order, and of the executive and the judiciary to the law and justice ("Gesetz und Recht"). The predominance of the constitution and the law are based here upon and shape the legal order by the vertical hierarchy of norms. Rechtsstaatlichkeit in the German understanding also encompasses the unlawfulness of retroactive liabilities, the principle of proportionality, to dissolve conflicts between legal certainty and justice individually in hardship cases, and the principle of complete and effective judicial review in cases with relevance to individual freedom and property rights (Art. 19 IV GG; see BVerfG 1968: 21 (E 30, 1, 21)). As a constitutional principle Rechtsstaatlichkeit compasses a multiplicity of principles that are shaped by the Grundgesetz. Katharina Sobota (1997) counts 142 (!). Further particular normative meanings of the principle of the rule of law are not generally approved.

Zur Rationalisierung von Herrschaft verfolgt Rechtsstaatlichkeit im deutschen Sinne der besonderen Teleologie, Staatlichkeit gleichzeitig rechtlich zu gestalten, zu binden und zu begrenzen In order to rationalise political rule, Rechtsstaatlichkeit in the German sense shall frame and shape, bind and limitate the state by law (Schulze-Fielitz 2006: Rn. 38). Unter dem Eindruck Immanuel Kants und Wilhelm von Humboldts formulierte die bürgerliche Staatsrechtslehre zu Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts ein vernunftrechtlich inspiriertes Rechtsstaatsprogramm, das liberale Inhalte gegen die monarchisch-absolutistische Staatskonzeption („gute policey") institutionalisierte (vgl. Martini 2009: ...Impressed by Immanuel Kant and Wilhelm von Humboldts, in the beginning of the 19. century scholars formulated a rule of law program inspired by reason that should institutionalise liberal claims against the absolutist-monarchical state-conception („gute policey") (see Martini 2009: 308). Rechtspraktisch ließ sich Rechtsstaatlichkeit den Vorbehalt des Gesetzes bei Eingriffen in Freiheit und Eigentum, die Gesetzmäßigkeit der Verwaltung und die Absicherung dieser Institute durch eine gesonderte Verwaltungs­gerichtsbarkeit herunter brechen, was zur Formalisierung des Begriffs führte. Nicht zuletzt der juris­tische Positivismus um 1900 trug dazu bei, inhaltliche und somit politisch kontroverse Maßstäbe aus der Rechts­staats­konzeption auszuklammern (vgl. Martini 2009: ...). In radikaler Konse­quenz dieser Strömung setzte am Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts die Reine Rechtslehre Hans Kelsens Staat und Recht in eins: der Staat war nur noch „Rechts-Staat".

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Terminologically, the principle of Rechtsstaatlichkeit, according to the German Grundgesetz, can be differed from human rights guarantee and from the democratic principle. However, the parallel historical development of these conceptions will always determine each others meanings, and they can only unfold completely embedded in a context that encompasses the whole canon. Even if the liberal and secular state may feed upon preconditions that it could not guarantee by itself, as Böckenförde (1969) pointed out, it may intend to preserve its moral and political grounds by adequate institutional and legal structures. In order to preserve the social preconditions of Rechtsstaatlichkeit, the Grundgesetz not only contains the principle of the social welfare state as a binding constitutional objective, but it also allows public school supervision (Art. 7 GG), it ensures free information by broadcast and press (Art. 5 I) , and it protects religiously guided conveying of values and meaning in an individual and a collective dimension (Art. 4 GG). Rechtsstaatlichkeit in the sense of a German understanding of the rule of law will always be bound to the context of the democratic and social constitutional state.

Bibliography and Further Readings

Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde (1969): Entstehung und Wandel des Rechtsstaatsbegriffs (1969), in: Recht, Staat, Freiheit, 1991, 143 -....

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