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

The unification of the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990 brought together two completely different systems of government, law and economics. This is surely unique in Europe, or even in the world. It was the German legislature’s task to comprehensively shape a legal order that presents a solution to the problems affecting the whole of society that is just and that is acceptable to the citizens. In this context, very specifically German problems related to unification had to be solved and were submitted to the Federal Constitutional Court for review. 37 selected cases, inter alia from the areas of civil law, criminal law, property law, labour law, pensions law and civil-service law, provide an overview of how the legislature handled this problem and of the review performed by the Federal Constitutional Court, with the Basic Law as its standard of review. To make the book easier to use, it is, unlike the previous works of the series, published in a single volume, while the number of pages has not been reduced. A preface by the President of the Federal Constitutional Court, Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans-Jürgen Papier, introduces the reader to the historical and legal situation in which German unity was accomplished, and was subsequently dealt with by the legislature and the courts. In order to facilitate the understanding of the legal bases of the decisions, essential provisions of the Basic Law and of the Unification Treaty are contained in the appendix. The other working aids which are already known to the readers of the previous volumes, such as the index and the index of statutes, are also provided in the third volume. The roll of the members of the Federal Constitutional Court since 1951 has been updated.