A collection of essays from Dieter Grimm, Germany''s most renowned constitutional scholar, shining a light on the jurisprudence of the German Constitutional Court. Established in 1951, the court has become a blueprint for new courts ever since and its jurisprudence, particularly in the field of fundamental rights, has influenced the decisions of judges throughout the world. After the seismic constitutional changes of the years 1989-90 in Germany and beyond, many countries adopted new democratic constitutions and established constitutional courts in order to make their constitutions effective. Today, many of these courts are under attack both politically and intellectually. In this book, Grimm considers some of the fundamental questions under academic scrutiny today: are constitutional courts political or legal institutions? Is judicial review a political or a legal activity? Is it a threat to, or a condition, of democracy? Should these courts be abolished or strengthened? Is a rational interpretation of constitutional law possible? The essays provide answers to these questions and describe how constitutional courts work if they properly fulfill their function of enforcing the constitution. A special emphasis is put on the importance of constitutional interpretation: something, the author argues, that most critics of constitutional adjudication neglect.>

Vorwort
A collection of essays from Dieter Grimm, Germany's most renowned constitutional scholar, shining a light on the jurisprudence of the German Constitutional Court.

Autorentext
Dieter Grimm is an internationally renowned authority on constitutional law, constitutional theory, constitutional history and constitutional adjudication, Germany.

Inhalt

Preface Part One: An Overview 1. The German Constitutional Court Part Two: Constitutional Adjudication and Democracy 2. Constitutional Adjudication in Democratic Systems 3. Neither Contradiction nor Condition: Judicial Review and Democracy Part Three: Judicial Review: Law or Politics? 4. What is Political about Judicial Review? 5. Law or Politics? The Kelsen-Schmitt-Controversy about Constitutional Adjudication Part Four: Constitutional Interpretation 6. Constitution, Constitutional Adjudication, Constitutional Interpretation at the Interface of Law and Politics 7. The Relationship between Doctrine of Interpretation, Constitutional Adjudication, and the Principle of Democracy with Kelsen 8. Habermas on Constitutional Jurisprudence 9. A Look into the Black Box: The Making of "Elfes" 10. The Relationship between Constitutional Law Science and Constitutional Practice Part Five: Institutional Problems 11. Problems of a Specialized Constitutional Adjudication in Germany 12. The Relationship between Constitutional Court and Ordinary Courts Part Six: Competition among Courts 13. The Role of National Constitutional Courts in the European Union 14. Karlsruhe v. Luxemburg: The ECB-Judgment of the German Constitutional Court Part Seven: Adversaries 15. A New Radical Rejection of Judicial Review