Article 1 [Human Dignity]
(1) Human dignity is inviolable.
To respect and protect it is
the duty of all state authority.
(2) The German People therefore acknowledge inviolable and
inalienable human rights as the basis of every human
community, of peace, and of justice in the world.
(3) The following basic rights are binding on legislature,
executive, and judiciary as directly enforceable law.
Article 2 [Liberty]
(1) Everyone has the right to free development of his
personality insofar as he does not violate the rights of others or
offend against the constitutional order or against morality.
(2) Everyone has the right to life and to physical integrity. The
freedom of the person is inviolable. Intrusion on these rights
may only be made pursuant to a statute.
Article 3 [Equality]
(1) All humans are equal before the law.
(2) Men and women are equal. The state supports the effective
realization of equality of women and men and works towards
abolishing present disadvantages.
(3) No one may be disadvantaged or favored because of his sex,
his parentage, his race, his language, his homeland and origin,
his faith, or his religious or political opinions. No one may be
disadvantaged because of his handicap.
Article 4 [Freedom of faith, of conscience, and of creed]
(1) Freedom of creed, of conscience, and freedom to profess a
religious or non-religious faith are inviolable.
(2) The undisturbed practice of religion is guaranteed.
(3) No one may be compelled against his conscience to render
war service involving the use of arms. Details are regulated by
a federal statute.
Article 5 [Freedom of Expression]
(1) Everyone has the right to freely express and disseminate his
opinion in speech, writing, and pictures and to freely inform
himself from generally accessible sources. Freedom of the
press and freedom of reporting by means of broadcasts and
films are guaranteed. There will be no censorship.
(2) These rights are subject to limitations in the provisions of
general statutes, in statutory provisions for the protection of the
youth, and in the right to personal honor.
(3) Art and science, research and teaching are free. The
freedom of teaching does not release from allegiance to the
constitution.
Article 6 [Marriage and family, illegitimate children]
(1) Marriage and family are under the special protection of the
state.
(2) Care and upbringing of children are the natural right of the
parents and primarily their duty. The state supervises the
exercise of the same.
(3) Against the will of the persons entitled to their upbringing,
children may only be separated from the family, pursuant to a
statute, where those so entitled failed or where, for other
reasons, the children are endangered to become seriously
neglected.
(4) Every mother is entitled to protection by and care of the
community.
(5) Illegitimate children, by legislation, have to be provided
with the same conditions for their physical and mental
development and for their place in society as are legitimate
children.
Article 7 [Education]
(1) The entire schooling system stands under the supervision of
the state.
(2) The persons entitled to the upbringing of a child have the
right to decide whether the child shall attend religion classes.
(3) Religion classes form part of the ordinary curriculum in
state schools, except for secular schools. Without prejudice to
the state's right of supervision, religious instruction is given in
accordance with the tenets of the religious communities. No
teacher may be obliged against his will to give religious
instruction
(4) The right to establish private schools is guaranteed. Private
schools, as a substitute for state schools, require the approval of
the state and are subject to the statutes of the States. Such
approval has to be given where private schools are not inferior
to the state schools in their educational aims, their facilities, and
the professional training of their teaching staff, and where
segregation of pupils according to the means of their parents is
not encouraged. Approval has to be withheld where the
economic and legal position of the teaching staff is not
sufficiently assured.
(5) A private elementary school has to be permitted only where
the education authority finds that it serves a special pedagogic
interest, or where, on the application of persons entitled to
upbringing of children, it is to be established as an
interdenominational school or as a school based on a particular
religious or non-religious faith and only if a state elementary
school of this type does not exist in the commune.
(6) Preliminary schools remain abolished.
Article 8 [Freedom of assembly]
(1) All Germans have the right, without prior notification or
permission, to assemble peaceably and unarmed.
(2) With regard to open-air assemblies, this right may be
restricted by or pursuant to a statute.
Article 9 [Freedom of association]
(1) All Germans have the right to form clubs and societies.
(2) Associations, the purposes or activities of which conflict
with criminal statutes or which are directed against the
constitutional order or the concept of international
understanding, are prohibited.
(3) The right to form associations to safeguard and improve
working and economic conditions is guaranteed to everyone and
for all professions. Agreements which restrict or seek to impair
this right are null and void, measures directed to this end are
illegal. Measures taken pursuant to Articles 12a,
35 (2) & (3), 87a (4), or 91 may not be
directed against industrial conflicts engaged in by associations
to safeguard and improve working and economic conditions in
the sense of the first sentence of this paragraph.
Article 10 [Privacy of letters, posts and telecommunications]
(1) The privacy of letters as well as the secrecy of post and
telecommunication is inviolable.
(2) Restrictions may only be ordered pursuant to a statute.
Where a restriction serves the protection of the free democratic
basic order or the existence or security of the Federation or a
State, the statute may stipulate that the person affected shall not
be informed and that recourse to the courts shall be replaced by
a review of the case by bodies and auxiliary bodies appointed
by Parliament.
Article 11 [Freedom of movement]
(1) All Germans enjoy freedom of movement throughout the
federal territory.
(2) This right may be restricted only by or pursuant to a statute
and only in cases in which an adequate basis for personal
existence is lacking and special burdens would result therefrom
for the community, or in which such restriction is necessary to
avert an imminent danger to the existence or the free
democratic basic order of the Federation or a State, to combat
the danger of epidemics, to deal with natural disasters or
particularly grave accidents, to protect young people from
neglect, or to prevent crime.
Article 12 [Right to choose an occupation, prohibition of
forced labor]
(1) All Germans have the right to freely choose their
occupation, their place of work, and their place of study or
training. The practice of an occupation can be regulated by or
pursuant to a statute.
(2) No person may be forced to perform work of a particular
kind except within the framework of a traditional compulsory
community service that applies generally and equally to all.
(3) Forced labor may he imposed only on persons deprived of
their liberty by court sentence.
Article 12a [Liability to military and other service]
(1) Men who have attained the age of eighteen years can be
required to serve in the Armed Forces, in the Federal Border
Guard, or in a civil defence organization.
(2) A person who refuses, on grounds of conscience, to render
war service involving the use of arms can be required to render
a substitute service. The duration of such substitute service
may not exceed the duration of military service. Details are
regulated by a statute which may not interfere with freedom to
take a decision based on conscience and which must also
provide for the possibility of a substitute service not connected
with units of the Armed Forces or of the Federal Border Guard.
(3) Persons liable to military service who are not required to
render service pursuant to Paragraph (1) or (2) can, during a
state of defence, be assigned by or pursuant to a statute to an
employment involving civilian services for defence purposes,
including the protection of the civilian population; assignments
to employments subject to public law are only admissible for
the purpose of discharging police functions or such other
functions of public administration as can only be discharged by
persons employed under public law. Employments according to
the first sentence of this paragraph can also be established with
the Armed Forces, in the area of their supply services, or with
public administrative authorities; assignments to employment
connected with supply services for the civilian population are
only admissible to provide for their vital provisions or to
guarantee their safety.
(4) Where, during a state of defence, civilian service
requirements in the civilian health system or in the stationary
military hospital organization cannot be met on a voluntary
basis, women between eighteen and fifty-five years of age can
be assigned to such services by or pursuant to a statute. They
may in no case render service involving the use of arms.
(5) Prior to the existence of a state of defence, assignments
under Paragraph (3) may only be made where the requirements
of Article 80a (1) are satisfied. To prepare services
mentioned in Paragraph (3) for which special knowledge or
skills are required, persons can be obliged by or pursuant to a
statute to attend training courses. Insofar, the first sentence of
this paragraph does not apply.
(6) Where, during a state of defence, staffing requirements for
the purposes referred to in Paragraph (3) 1 cannot be met on a
voluntary basis, the freedom of Germans to quit the pursuit of
his occupation or quit his place of work may be restricted by or
pursuant to a statute in order to meet these requirements.
Paragraph (5) 1 applies mutatis mutandis prior to the existence
of a state of defence.
Article 13 [Inviolability of the home]
(1) The home is inviolable.
(2) Searches may be ordered only by a judge or, in the event of
danger resulting from any delay, by other organs legally
specified, and they may be carried out only in the form
prescribed by law.
(3) Intrusions and restrictions may otherwise only be made to
avert a general danger or a mortal danger to individuals, or,
pursuant to a statute, to prevent present danger to public safety
and order, particularly to relieve a housing shortage, to combat
the danger of epidemics, or to protect endangered juveniles.
Article 14 [Property, right of inheritance, taking of property]
(1) Property and the right of inheritance are guaranteed. Their
content and limits are determined by statute.
(2) Property imposes duties. Its use should also serve the
public weal.
(3) The taking of property is only permissible in the public
weal. It may be imposed only by or pursuant to a statute
regulating the nature and extent of compensation. Such
compensation has to be determined by establishing an equitable
balance between the public interest and the interests of those
affected. Regarding disputes about the amount of
compensation, recourse to the courts of ordinary jurisdiction is
available.
Article 15 [Socialization]
State, natural resources, and means of production can, for the
purpose of socialization, be transferred to public ownership or
other forms of collective enterprise by a statute regulating the
nature and extent of compensation. Regarding such
compensation, Article 14 (3) 3 & 4 applies mutatis
mutandis.
Article 16 [Deprivation of citizenship, extradition, right of
asylum]
(1) German citizenship may not be taken away. The loss of
citizenship may may only be imposed pursuant to a statute and
against the will of the person affected only where such person
does not become stateless as a result thereof.
(2) No German may be extradited to a foreign country.
Article 16a
(1) Persons persecuted on political grounds enjoy the right of
asylum.
(2) The right of Paragraph (1) cannot claim who enters from a
European Communities country or from another country where
the application of the Convention on the Legal Status of
Refugees and the Convention to Protect Human Rights and
Civil Liberties is ensured. States outside of the European
Communities for which the prerequisites of the first sentence
hold true are determined by a statute requiring the consent of
the Senate. In the cases of the first sentence, measures to end a
stay can be effectuated independent of recourse to the course
sought against these measures.
(3) By statute requiring the consent of the Senate, states can be
determined in which on the basis of law, law application, or
general political conditions it seems to be guaranteed that
neither persecution on political grounds nor inhuman or
derogatory punishment and treatment takes place. A foreigner
from such a state is presumed to not being persecuted unless he
asserts facts supporting that, contrary to this presumption, he is
politically persecuted.
(4) The effectuation of measures to end a stay will, in the cases
of Paragraph (3), only be suspended by court order if serious
doubts arise concerning the legality of the measure; the scope of
scrutiny can be limited and delayed assertions ignored. Details
are regulated by a statute.
(5) Paragraphs (1) to (4) are not contrary to public law
contracts of European Communities member states among each
other and with other states which, honoring the obligations
arising from the Convention on the Legal Status of Refugees
and the Convention to Protect Human Rights and Civil Liberties
the application of which has to be ensured in the contracting
states, regulate responsibilities to examine claims of asylum
including mutual acknowledgement of asylum decisions.
Article 17 [Right of petition]
Everyone has the right, individually or jointly with others, to
address written requests or complaints to the competent
agencies and to parliaments.
Article 17a [Defence and Substitute Service]
(1) Statutes concerning military service and substitute service
can, by provisions applying to members of the Armed Forces
and of the substitute services during their period of military or
substitute service, restrict the basic right to freely express and
disseminate opinions in speech, writing, and pictures (first
half-sentence of Article 5 (1)), the basic right of
assembly (Article 8), and the right of petition (Article
17) insofar as this right permits the submission of
requests or complaints jointly with others.
(2) Statutes serving defence purposes including the protection of
the civilian population can provide for the restriction of the
basic rights of freedom of movement (Article 11) and
inviolability of the home (Article 13).
Article 18 [Forfeiture of basic rights]
Whoever abuses freedom of expression of opinion, in particular
freedom of the press (Article 5 (1)), freedom of
teaching (Article 5 (3)), freedom of assembly (Article
8), freedom of association (Article 9), privacy of
letters and secrecy of post and telecommunication (Article
10), property (Article 14), or the right to
asylum (Article 16a) in order to combat the free
democratic basic order forfeit these basic rights. Such
forfeiture and the extent thereof is determined by the Federal
Constitutional Court.
Article 19 [Restriction of basic rights]
(1) Insofar as a basic right may, under this Constitution, be
restricted by or pursuant to a statute, such statute must apply
generally and not solely to an individual case. Furthermore,
such statute must name the basic right, indicating the relevant
Article.
(2) In no case may the essence of a basic right be infringed.
(3) Basic rights also apply to domestic legal persons to the
extent that the nature of such rights permits.
(4) Should any person's rights be violated by public authority,
recourse to the court is open to him. Insofar as no other
jurisdiction has been established, recourse is available to the
courts of ordinary jurisdiction. Article 10 (2) 2 is not
affected by the provisions of this paragraph.