Herman Pünder and Christian Waldorf (eds), Debates in German Public Law
| DOI | 10.3366/elr.2016.0348 |
| Date | 01 May 2016 |
| Published date | 01 May 2016 |
| Pages | 239-240 |
| Author |
The editors of this timely and useful volume have embarked on a commendable enterprise by making current German public law debates accessible to an international readership. Written and edited in high-quality English and published by an international publisher, this book is likely to be disseminated widely and to contribute substantially to comparative public law discourse. At the same time, the endeavor also has a certain political significance, as illustrated by the preface written by the former German Federal Minister of the Interior.
The charm of this volume lies in its thematic variety, which lends itself for multiple connections to scholarly work in the field of public law around the globe. As the plural used in the book title “debates” illustrates, the intention is not to generate a common research framework, but to set the scene and explain German academic debate in various constitutional and administrative law matters against the background of the sixtieth anniversary of the German Basic Law. As the editors state in their preface, this book may hence help to tackle the problem of “Germania non leguntur” and to provide a “door opener for further research”. In that sense, it is mainly devoted to a foreign audience and should be quite hopeful of reaching that readership.
The contributing authors are all experts of German public law with an international and/or comparative outlook. The selection of case studies is convincing and fit for purpose. A majority of nine topics stem from constitutional law, ranging from judicial review (Christoph Möllers) to rule of law versus the welfare state (Thorsten Kingreen), fundamental rights (Christian Calliess and Axel Tschentscher from a doctrinal perspective; Wolfram Cremer and Bernd Grzeszick dealing with the free development of one's personality and the freedom to broadcast in particular), concepts of federalism (Christian Waldhoff), financing the state (Hanno Kube), and the relationship of the state and the church (Stefan Mückl). The four administrative law topics deal with issues of democratic legitimisation of administrative power (Matthias Jestaedt), conceptual aspects (Martin Eifert), the phenomenon of subjective public rights (Bernhard Wegener), and administrative procedure (Hermann Pünder). A chapter on European integration from a German perspective (Marcel Kaufmann) concludes the volume.
Each chapter starts with a useful table of contents (even though page references are not provided). Some chapters...
To continue reading
Request your trial