the german constitutional court Flashcards
how is the german constitutional court made up?
it is made up of 2 courts.
one is for interpreting the basic rights from articles 1-17.
one is for the loss or giving up of rights, complaints relating to the scrutiny of elections, impeachment of the federal president and judges, disputes between organs.
what if the decisions of the panels competency is disputed?
then the matter is taken in front of a new panel of the president, the vice-president and 2 judges from each court.
how many years are judges in office for?
they are all in office for 12 years.
what is the role of the president?
the president appoints, dismisses and can retire judges.
what kind of court is the constitutional court?
it is not a court of first or last instance, it is more of a court which is its own court and is not connected to the othe courts. it decides cases which are only around the basic law. the constitutional court does not investigate things but rather people go to the constitutional court to resolve their disputes. the consitutional court is an organ of the state. its pourpose is to keep a seperation of powers in the state between the judiciary, parliament, house of lords and of other organs. it is its own organ as stated in the basic law- sections 92-94, 99, 100 and 115..
it is both a court and an organ which maintains a seperation of powers.
political effect
the court naturally has a strong political effect as it decides o highly debated issues. it has final binding force and usually parliament change legislation if needed to be changed by advice from the constitutiona court.
what are the powers of the constitutional court?
it resolves disputes between different organs of the state.
it strikes down any legislation which is not enacted in conformity of the basic law.
it ensures that authoraties act within their powers and adhere to the basic law when making decisons.
forfeture of basic rights.
prohibition of a party which is hostile to the constitution.
scrutiny of elections where they check the validity of an election.
impeachment of federal president and judges.
disputes between governmental organs
disputes between federation and the laender
disputes with the land
review of law
review of law in general
review of specific laws
constitutional complaints.
