Grundfreiheiten und Glücksspielrecht vor den deutschen Zivilgerichten

The Court of Justice of the European Union is increasingly requiring empirical evidence that restrictions on fundamental freedoms are in fact appropriate and necessary to achieve the objectives they pursue. This case law may also be relevant to German civil courts, which—for example, in gambling-related lawsuits—must repeatedly address, as a preliminary issue, the compatibility of German gambling law with European fundamental freedoms. This raises the question—examined in this article—of the interface between EU law, constitutional law, and procedural law: who is responsible for demonstrating the justifying effect of a provision decisive to the dispute in a civil proceeding, and how should this be done?