PDF generated: 28 Mar 2017, 18:57 constituteproject.org Germany's Constitution of 1949 with Amendments through 2014 This complete constitution has been generated from excerpts of texts from the repository of the Comparative Constitutions Project, and distributed on constituteproject.org PDF generated: 28 Mar 2017, 18:57 Table of contents Preamble. The Federation and the Länder .org PDF generated: 28 Mar 2017, 18:57 Article 31: [Supremacy of federal law]. 23 IVa: The Joint Committee. The Federal President .org PDF generated: 28 Mar 2017, 18:57 Article 61: [Impeachment before the Federal Constitutional Court].
The Federal Government. Federal Legislation and Legislative Procedures. The Execution of Federal Laws and the Federal Administration .org PDF generated: 28 Mar 2017, 18:57 Article 89: [Federal waterways - Administration of waterways]. 40 VIIIa: Joint Tasks .org PDF generated: 28 Mar 2017, 18:57 Article 114: [Submission and auditing of accounts].
State of Defence. Transitional and Concluding Provisions .org PDF generated: 28 Mar 2017, 18:57 Article 134: [Succession to Reich assets] .org PDF generated: 28 Mar 2017, 18:57 • Source of constitutional authority • God or other deities Preamble • Motives for writing constitution • Right to self determination Conscious of their responsibility before God and man, Inspired by the determination to promote world peace as an equal partner in a united Europe, the German people, in the exercise of their constituent power, have adopted this Basic Law. Germans in the Länder of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia have achieved the unity and freedom of Germany in free self-determination. This Basic Law thus applies to the entire German people.
Basic Rights Article 1: [Human dignity - Human rights - Legally binding force of basic rights] • Human dignity 1. Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority. The German people therefore acknowledge inviolable and inalienable human rights as the basis of every community, of peace and of justice in the world.
The following basic rights shall bind the legislature, the executive and the judiciary as directly applicable law. Article 2: [Personal freedoms] • Right to development of personality 1. Every person shall have the right to free development of his personality insofar as he does not violate the rights of others or offend against the constitutional order or the moral law. • Prohibition of cruel treatment 2.
Every person shall have the right to life and physical integrity. Freedom of the • Inalienable rights • Right to life person shall be inviolable. These rights may be interfered with only pursuant to a • Prohibition of torture law. • General guarantee of equality Article 3: [Equality before the law] 1.
All persons shall be equal before the law. • Provision for matrimonial equality 2. Men and women shall have equal rights. The state shall promote the actual implementation of equal rights for women and men and take steps to eliminate disadvantages that now exist.
• Equality regardless of gender 3. No person shall be favoured or disfavoured because of sex, parentage, race, • Equality regardless of political party • Equality regardless of parentage language, homeland and origin, faith, or religious or political opinions. No person • Equality regardless of origin • Equality regardless of race shall be disfavoured because of disability. • Equality regardless of language • Equality regardless of religion • Equality for persons with disabilities Article 4: [Freedom of faith and conscience] • Freedom of religion 1.
Freedom of faith and of conscience, and freedom to profess a religious or • Inalienable rights • Freedom of opinion/thought/conscience philosophical creed, shall be inviolable. The undisturbed practice of religion shall be guaranteed. • Right to conscientious objection 3. No person shall be compelled against his conscience to render military service involving the use of arms.
Details shall be regulated by a federal law.org PDF generated: 28 Mar 2017, 18:57 Article 5: [Freedom of expression, arts and sciences] • Freedom of expression 1. Every person shall have the right freely to express and disseminate his opinions • Freedom of press • Radio in speech, writing and pictures, and to inform himself without hindrance from • Telecommunications generally accessible sources. Freedom of the press and freedom of reporting by means of broadcasts and films shall be guaranteed. There shall be no censorship.
• Right to protect one's reputation 2. These rights shall find their limits in the provisions of general laws, in provisions for the protection of young persons, and in the right to personal honour. • Right to academic freedom 3. Arts and sciences, research and teaching shall be free.
The freedom of teaching • Reference to art shall not release any person from allegiance to the constitution. Article 6: [Marriage - Family - Children] • Right to found a family 1. Marriage and the family shall enjoy the special protection of the state. • Right to marry • Right to found a family 2.
The care and upbringing of children is the natural right of parents and a duty primarily incumbent upon them. The state shall watch over them in the performance of this duty. • Rights of children 3. Children may be separated from their families against the will of their parents or guardians only pursuant to a law, and only if the parents or guardians fail in their duties or the children are otherwise in danger of serious neglect.
Every mother shall be entitled to the protection and care of the community. • Rights of children 5. Children born outside of marriage shall be provided by legislation with the same opportunities for physical and mental development and for their position in society as are enjoyed by those born within marriage. Article 7: [School system] • Free education 1.
The entire school system shall be under the supervision of the state. Parents and guardians shall have the right to decide whether children shall receive religious instruction. Religious instruction shall form part of the regular curriculum in state schools, with the exception of non-denominational schools. Without prejudice to the state's right of supervision, religious instruction shall be given in accordance with the tenets of the religious community concerned.
Teachers may not be obliged against their will to give religious instruction. The right to establish private schools shall be guaranteed. Private schools that serve as alternatives to state schools shall require the approval of the state and shall be subject to the laws of the Länder. Such approval shall be given when private schools are not inferior to the state schools in terms of their educational aims, their facilities, or the professional training of their teaching staff, and when segregation of pupils according to the means of their parents will not be encouraged thereby.
Approval shall be withheld if the economic and legal position of the teaching staff is not adequately assured. A private elementary school shall be approved only if the educational authority finds that it serves a special pedagogical interest or if, on the application of parents or guardians, it is to be established as a denominational or interdenominational school or as a school based on a particular philosophy and no state elementary school of that type exists in the municipality. • Access to higher education 6. Preparatory schools shall remain abolished.
All Germans shall have the right to assemble peacefully and unarmed without prior notification or permission.org PDF generated: 28 Mar 2017, 18:57 2. In the case of outdoor assemblies, this right may be restricted by or pursuant to a law. Article 9: [Freedom of association] • Freedom of association 1. All Germans shall have the right to form corporations and other associations.
• Freedom of association 2. Associations whose aims or activities contravene the criminal laws, or that are directed against the constitutional order or the concept of international understanding, shall be prohibited. • Right to join trade unions 3. The right to form associations to safeguard and improve working and economic conditions shall be guaranteed to every individual and to every occupation or profession.
Agreements that restrict or seek to impair this right shall be null and void; measures directed to this end shall be unlawful. Measures taken pursuant to Article 12a, to paragraphs (2) and (3) of Article 35, to paragraph (4) of Article 87a, or to Article 91 may not be directed against industrial disputes engaged in by associations within the meaning of the first sentence of this paragraph in order to safeguard and improve working and economic conditions. Article 10: [Privacy of correspondence, posts and telecommunications] • Inalienable rights 1. The privacy of correspondence, posts and telecommunications shall be • Right to privacy • Telecommunications inviolable.
Restrictions may be ordered only pursuant to a law. If the restriction serves to protect the free democratic basic order or the existence or security of the Federation or of a Land, the law may provide that the person affected shall not be informed of the restriction and that recourse to the courts shall be replaced by a review of the case by agencies and auxiliary agencies appointed by the legislature. Article 11: [Freedom of movement] • Freedom of movement 1. All Germans shall have the right to move freely throughout the federal territory.
This right may be restricted only by or pursuant to a law, and only in cases in which the absence of adequate means of support would result in a particular burden for the community, or in which such restriction is necessary to avert an imminent danger to the existence or the free democratic basic order of the Federation or of a Land, to combat the danger of an epidemic, to respond to a grave accident or natural disaster, to protect young persons from serious neglect, or to prevent crime. Article 12: [Occupational freedom] • Right to choose occupation 1. All Germans shall have the right freely to choose their occupation or profession, their place of work and their place of training. The practice of an occupation or profession may be regulated by or pursuant to a law.
No person may be required to perform work of a particular kind except within the framework of a traditional duty of community service that applies generally and equally to all. • Prohibition of slavery 3. Forced labour may be imposed only on persons deprived of their liberty by the judgment of a court.org PDF generated: 28 Mar 2017, 18:57 Article 12a: [Compulsory military and alternative civilian service] • Duty to serve in the military 1. Men who have attained the age of eighteen may be required to serve in the Armed Forces, in the Federal Border Police, or in a civil defence organisation.
• Right to conscientious objection 2. Any person who, on grounds of conscience, refuses to render military service involving the use of arms may be required to perform alternative service. The duration of alternative service shall not exceed that of military service. Details shall be regulated by a law, which shall not interfere with the freedom to make a decision in accordance with the dictates of conscience, and which shall also provide for the possibility of alternative service not connected with units of the Armed Forces or of the Federal Border Police.
Persons liable to compulsory military service who are not called upon to render service pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) of this Article may, when a state of defence is in effect, be assigned by or pursuant to a law to employment involving civilian services for defence purposes, including the protection of the civilian population; they may be assigned to public employment only for the purpose of discharging police functions or such other sovereign functions of public administration as can be discharged only by persons employed in the public service.