Germany: Status of European Convention on Human Rights in domestic law

International Journal of Constitutional Law

Volumn 4, Issue 4, 2006, Pages 722-731

  Hoffmeister, Frank ^a  

^a EUROPEAN COMMISSION   (Belgium)

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EID: 33749862996     PISSN: 14742640     EISSN: 14742659     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/icon/mol033     Document Type: Article

References (71)

1. Görgülü, BVerfGE [Federal Constitutional Court] Oct. 14, 2004, 2 BvR 1481/04, not yet reported. Available at www.bverfg.de/ entscheidungen/rs20041014_2bvr148104.html (in German).
2. Görgülü v. Germany, 74959/01 [2004] Eur. Ct. H.R. 89 (Feb. 26, 2004). Available at cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/ search.asp?sessionid=7919427&skin=hudoc-en.
3. Id. at §42.
4. Id. at §46.
5. Id. at §48.
6. Id. at §64.
7. Convention for the Protection of HumanRights and Basic Liberties, Aug. 7, 1952, BGBl. II at 685.
8. Article 59(2) of the Grundgesetz [GG] [Basic Law] reads: "Treaties which regulate the political relations of the Federation or relate to matters of federal legislation shall require the approval or participation of the appropriate legislative body in the form of a federal law."
9. Görgülü, supra note 1, at §32.
10. Id. at §34.
11. Id. at §36.
12. Görgülü, supra note 2, at §41.
13. Görgülü, supra note 2, at §45-46.
14. Article 20(3) of the Basic Law stipulates: "The legislature shall be bound by the constitutional order, the executive and the judiciary by law and justice."
15. Görgülü, supra note 2, at §47.
16. The FCC cites here VonHannoverv. Germany, [2004] Eur. Ct.H.R. 294 (June 24, 2004)
17. see Beate Rudolf, Council of Europe: Von Hannover v. Germany, 4 Int'l J. Const. L. (I·CON) 533 (2006).
18. Görgülü, supra note 1, at §§ 57-59.
19. Article 1(2) of the Basic Law reads: "The German people therefore uphold human rights as inviolable and inalienable and as the basis of every community, of peace and justice in the world."
20. Görgülü, supra note 1, at §62.
21. Id. at §63.
22. Article 6 of the Basic Law provides: (1) Marriage and the family shall enjoy the special protection of the State. (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.
23. For recent survey of the relevant doctrine on the subject, see Eckhard Pache, Die Europäische Menschenrechtskonvention und die deutsche Rechtsordnung [The European Convention on Human Rights and the German Legal Order], 39 Europarecht 393, 398-402 (2004).
24. BVerfGE 82, 106, 120.
25. Belgium Const. art. 68(2), as of 1953 (prior to subsequent revisions)
26. Finland Const. §33(1) (prior to the revision of 2000)
27. Italy Const. art. 80; Liechtenstein Const. art. 8(2)
28. Lithuania Const. art. 138, cf. Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, Conclusion on the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Jan. 24, 1995, with annotation from Vilenas Vadapalas, 55 Zeitschrift Für Ausländisches Öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht [ZaöRV] [J. Int'l & Foreign Pub. L.] 1077 (1995)
29. Legge per la regolamentazione delle Missioni diplomatiche e degli Uffici consolari [Law for the Regulation of Diplomatic Missions and Consular Offices], Nr. 13, art. 1(4), Apr. 19, 1979 (San Marino)
30. Hungary Const. art. 19(3), (revised 1989)
31. Act No. 285, Apr. 29, 1992 (Denmark), with commentary from Rainer Hofmann, Das dänische Gesetz vom 29. April 1992 zur innerstaatlichen Anwendung der EMRK [The Danish Law of April 29, 1992 on the Domestic Application of the European Convention on Human Rights], 19 Europäische Grundrechtezeitschrift [EuGRZ] [Eur. J. Fundamental Rts.] 253 (1992)
32. Svensk Författningssamling [SFS] 1994:1219, May 5, 1994 (Sweden), with commentary from Jacob W. F. Sundberg, The European Convention on Human Rights in Swedish Law, 37 German Y.B. Int'l L. 558 (1996)
33. Act No. 62/1994, Apr. 19, 1994 (Iceland), with commentary from Jacob W. F. Sundberg, The European Convention on Human Rights and the Nordic Countries, 39 German Y.B. Int'l L. 181, 202 (1998)
34. Human Rights Act, 1998, c. 42 (Eng.), with commentary from Steven Greer, A Guide to the Human Rights Act 1998, 24 Eur. L. Rev. 3 (1999).
35. Bulgaria Const. art. 5(4)
36. Estonia Const. art. 122(2), (as revised 1992)
37. France Const. art. 55
38. Greece Const. art. 28(1)
39. Netherlands Const. arts. 93-94,
40. cf. Evert Albert Alkema, Die Erfahrungen der Niederlande mit der direkten Anwendbarkeit völkerrechtlicher Verträge, insbesondere der EMRK [The Experience of the Netherlands with Direct Effect of International Treaties, in Particular the European Convention on Human Rights], 1 Zeitschrift Für Europäische Studien [ZeuS] [J. Eur. Studies] 219 (1998)
41. Luxembourg Const. art. 37(1)
42. Poland Const. art. 91(2)
43. Portugal Const. art. 8(1)
44. Russia Const. art. 15(4)
45. Slovenia Const. arts. 8, 153
46. Spain Const. art. 96(1),
47. cf. Søren Stenderup Jensen & Angel Rodriguez-Vergara-Diaz, The European Convention on Human Rights in Domestic Law: A Comparative Study of the Convention's Position in Denmark and Spain, 63 Nordic J. Int'l L. 139 (1994)
48. Cyprus Const. art. 169(3)
49. Law on the Constitutional Court, 1997, art. 16(6) (Latvia)
50. European Convention Act, Act XIV, Aug. 19, 1987, art. 3(2) (Malta)
51. Human Rights Act, No. 30, May 21, 1999 (Norway)
52. Romania Const. art. 20(2)
53. Czech Republic Const. art. 10 (before the 2001 revision)
54. Slovak Republic Const. art. 11, (before the 2002 revision)
55. Turkey Const. art. 90 (as revised in May 2004).
56. Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz [B-VG] [Federal Constitutional Law] BGBI I No. 1/1930 (Austria).
57. Bundesverfassung der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft [BV], Constitution féedérale de la Confédération Suisse [Cst] [Constitution] Apr. 18, 1999, SR 101, RO 101, arts. 5(4) and 189(c) (Switzerland).
58. BVerfGE 74, 358 (370).
59. Kai-Peter Sommermann, Die Menschenrechtsfreundlichkeit des Grundgesetzes [The Openness of the Basic Law towards Human Rights], 114 Archiv Des öffentlichen Rechts [AöR] [Archive of Pub. Rts.] 391, 413 (1989).
60. For a critical assessment, see, e.g., Jochen Frowein, Kritische Bemerkungen zur Lage des deutschen Staatsrechts aus rechtsvergleichender Sicht [Critical Remarks on the Situation of German State Law from a Comparative Perspective], 51 Die öffentliche Verwaltung [DöV] [Pub. Admin.] 806, 809 (1998). A review of German practice as regards the Convention in the years 2001-2003 leads Pache, supra note 22, at 411, to the - opposite - conclusion that the Convention is now "homeland" for German courts.
61. BVerfGE 74, 358 (370); the formulation could have referred to the additional protocols only.
62. Assanidze v. Georgia, 71503/01 [2004] Eur. Ct. H.R. 198 (Apr. 8, 2004).
63. Görgülü, supra note 2, at §64.
64. See Rudolf, supra note 16.
65. In their first reaction to the present decision, the president of the ECtHR, Luzius Wildhaber, and the German judge, Georg Ress, saw the danger that the judgment could be read in, for example, Russia, the Ukraine, or Turkey, as a message that the judgments of the European Court do not have to be strictly followed. Im Ausland missverständlich [Misleading Abroad], Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Oct. 23, 2004, at 5.
66. Hans-Jürgen Papier, Strassburg ist kein oberstes Rechtsmittelgericht [Strasbourg is Not a High Court of Appeal], Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Dec. 9, 2004, at 5: "Es geht auch - und vielleicht in erster Linie - um eine Kooperation bei der Wahrnehmung gleichgerichteter Aufgaben des Schutzes von Grund- und Menschenrechten" ("The decision is also - and may be foremost - about cooperation in carrying out similar tasks of protection of human and basic rights").
67. BverfGE 89, 155, with commentary from Juliane Kokott, German Constitutional Jurisprudence and European Integration II, 2 Eur. Pub. L. 413, 428-436 (1996).
68. See in particular BVerfGE Feb. 17, 2000, 1 BvR 1210/98; and BVerfGE June 7, 2000, 2 BvL 1/97; with annotation by Frank Hoffmeister, German Bundesverfassungsgericht: Alcan Decision of 17 February 2000; Constitutional Review of EC Regulation on Bananas, Decision of 7 June 2000, 38 Common Mkt. L. Rev. 791-804 (2001).
69. The president of the Constitutional Court, Hans-Jürgen Papier, supra note 36, stresses that this shift of the jurisprudence constitutes a "remarkable aspect" of the international law friendly approach of the Court.
70. Supra note 18.
71. Frank Hoffmeister, Die Europäische Menschenrechtskonvention als Grundrechtsverfassung und ihre Bedeutung in Deutschland [The European Convention on Human Rights as a Human Rights Constitution and its Significance for Germany], 40 Der Staat 349, 367-375 (2001).