Prompted by a commenter, I found this reference site and at his suggestion focussed on Article 20 of the German Constitution:
"Article 20 [Basic institutional principles; defense of the constitutional order]
(1) The Federal Republic of Germany is a democratic and social federal state.
(2) All state authority is derived from the people. It shall be exercised by the people through elections and other votes and through specific legislative, executive, and judicial bodies.
(3) The legislature shall be bound by the constitutional order, the executive and the judiciary by law and justice.
(4) All Germans shall have the right to resist any person seeking to abolish this constitutional order, if no other remedy is available."
So, in Germany all state authority is derived from the people. In Britain, where we do not have a constitution per se, it is accepted that sovereignty of the people is the political principle that the legitimacy of the state is created by the will or consent of its people who are the source of all political power; ie all state authority is derived from the people.
In Germany it is reported that a majority want a return to the deutschmark. In Britain it is reported that the majority want a referendum on membership of the European Union. What does wishing for a return to the deutschmark and a wish for a referendum on membership of the European Union have in common?
I think Benjamin Franklin answered that some time ago when he wrote:
"In free governments, the rulers are the servants and the people their superiors and sovereigns." (Emphasis mine)
4 comments:
Anyone who thought the outcome would be different aint been paying attention.
This motley crew of modern day judiciary mirrors the bench that tried to do for Geert Wilders in Holland. The same crew that In the UK decided that manifesto pledges, made by political parties, are not enforceable by law, the same crew that in England judged that squatting is good for the "community".
Etc. Etc.
Check this out.
http://forum.spiegel.de/showthread.php?t=43261
Don't forget to translate into english, google chrome has a tab for this.
The average German on this forum ?
They are not happy little bunnies about this are they.
Only three of the "Judges" in the 2nd Senate of the German Constitutional Court appear ever to have been in a courtroom. As is typical in Continental Europe the others have been working in Ministries of Justice or in Universities.
They are "elected"
The Court's judges are elected by the Bundestag and the Bundesrat. According to the Basic Law, each of these bodies selects four members of each Senate, while the authority to select the Court's President alternates between them. The selection of a judge requires a two-thirds majority.
The Bundestag has delegated this task to a special body ("Richterwahlausschuss", judges election board), consisting of a small number of Bundestag members. This procedure has caused some constitutional concern and is considered to be unconstitutional by many scholars. However, it has never been challenged in a court.
The judges are elected for a 12-year term, but they must retire upon reaching the age of 68. A judge must be at least 40 years old and must be a well-trained jurist. Three out of eight members of each Senate must have served as a judge of a Federal Supreme Court. Of the other five members of each Senate, most judges previously served as an academic jurist at a university, as a public servant or as a lawyer. After ending their term, most judges withdraw themselves from public life
Anon1: I know, I know.......:(
Anon2: Twould appear not, as TT has commented on other threads....
TT: Saw that and meant to include it, so thanks for rectifying my error with your comment!
Post a Comment