Decisions of the Bundesverfassungsgericht - Federal Constitutional Court - Federal Republic of Germany

With the first volume of translations of selected decisions by the Bundesverfassungsgericht, Germany"s Federal Constitutional Court, a concept that had been under consideration for many years has now been realized. Requests by attorneys, professors and government and ministerial officals from nations around the world demonstrate that the Court enjoys a considerable international reputation and that there is a growing demand for access to the Courts decisions outside German-speaking countries. While a regular running publication has not existed thus far, there continues to be a clear need for a collection of selected decisions on specific topics. A beginning has now beend made with the publication of this first volume „International Law and the Law of the European Communities“, to be followed by a second on „Freedom of Opinion and the Press“ as well as others. The translations of the decisions have, for the most part, been abridged only in the description of the facts. In preparation for the publication of this and the following volumes, a Working Commiteee was formed at the Court. After the basic selections had been made, two former Court Justices worked on the text of the decisions, making the necessary abridgements. The translations themselves were undertaken by a team of British and American translators, a Senior Law Clerk of the Court served as final editor. The first volume includes a preface by Professor Dr. Roman Herzog, President of the Bundesverfassungsgericht, a table of cases, an explanation of abbreviations of the courts register, a roll of judges from 1951 - 1992 and 20-page index. Each decision includes, inter alia, key-words, a synopsis of guiding principles, all relevant data and the names of the judges involved.