Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany

The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany

The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Basic Law. Published by the Federal Agency for Civic Education

The Grundrechte at Jakob Kaiser House, Berlin

The Basic Law was approved on 8 May 1949 in Bonn, and, with the signature of the occupying western Allies of World War II on 12 May, came into effect on 23 May. Its original field of application (German: Geltungsbereich) — that is, the states that were initially included in the Federal Republic of Germany — consisted of the three Western Allies' zones of occupation, but at the insistence of the Western Allies, formally excluded West Berlin. In 1990, the Two Plus Four Agreement between the two parts of Germany and all four Allied Powers stipulated the implementation of a number of amendments. In the subsequent Unification Treaty of 1990, this amended Basic Law was adopted as the constitution of a united Germany.

The German word Grundgesetz may be translated as either Basic Law or Fundamental Law (Grund- is cognate with the English word ground). The term Verfassung (constitution) was deliberately avoided as the drafters regarded the Grundgesetz as an interim arrangement for a provisional West German state, expecting that an eventual reunified Germany would adopt a proper constitution, enacted under the provisions of Article 146 of the Basic Law, which stipulates that such a constitution must be "freely adopted by the German people". Nevertheless, although the amended Basic Law would finally be approved in 1990 by all four Allied Powers (who thereby relinquished their continued reserved constitutional rights), it was never submitted to a popular vote, neither in 1949 nor in 1990.

In the preamble to the Basic Law, its adoption was declared as an action of the "German people", and article 20 states "All state authority is derived from the people". These statements embody the constitutional principles that 'Germany' is always to be identified in the Basic Law with the German people, and that the German people act constitutionally as the primary institution of the German state. Where the Basic Law refers to the territory under the jurisdiction of this German state, it refers to it as the 'federal territory', so avoiding any inference of there being a constitutionally established 'German national territory'.

The authors of the Basic Law sought to ensure that a potential dictator would never again be able to come to power in the country. Although some of the Basic Law is based on the Weimar Republic's constitution, the authors also elevated human rights and human dignity to core values protected by the Basic Law. The principles of democracy, republicanism, social responsibility, and federalism are key components of the Basic Law; the principles and fundamental rights underlying these articles are constitutionally entrenched; and, although several of these articles have since been reworded, extended or refined, they are barred from being removed or repealed by the normal amendment process.