The Federal Constitutional Court

The first decade

The Annual Statistics 2009 is also a review of the first decade of the third millennium. In these ten years, 55,192 proceedings altogether were brought before the Federal Constitutional Court, which amounts to an average of almost 5,520 proceedings per year. In each of the last four years, however, more than 6,000 new proceedings reached the Federal Constitutional Court. In 2009, the number of new proceedings was above 6,500 for the first time. On the other hand, 52,436 proceedings were terminated by Senate or Chamber decisions and 2,722 in other ways, which constitutes a total of 55,158 terminated proceedings. Thus, the balance between new and terminated proceedings was completely harmonious in these ten years. As regards the years 2008 and 2009, however, a slight backlog can be observed in comparison with the new proceedings even though the figures concerning the terminated proceedings remained on the same very high level (chart p. 13). This can exclusively be attributed to the further increase in new proceedings.

In 2009, the numbers of new proceedings were quite balanced in both Senates as well. This is due to a change in the First and the Second Senate’s competences which took place at the end of the judicial year 2008. The Second Senate was thereby assigned eight additional legal areas in which it is now competent for proceedings that involve the review of statutes and for constitutional complaints. In concrete terms, the First Senate was assigned 3,321 proceedings in 2009, the Second Senate 3,187 proceedings.

Especially when decisions are passed which establish the unconstitutionality of a statute or declare it void, the question of the quality of legislation in Germany is raised time and again by the public and the media. Also in this respect, the Statistics (p. 28), with its overview of almost 60 years of adjudication by the Federal Constitutional Court, provides clear and precise information: Since 1951, the Federal Constitutional Court has declared a total of 619 laws and ordinances, or individual provisions thereof, completely or partially void or incompatible with the Constitution. This figure encompasses laws and ordinances, and individual provisions thereof, enacted by the Federation and by the Länder. In view of the large number of laws and ordinances enacted on the Federal and Länder level, the number of statutes dismissed by the Federal Constitutional Court is hence less than a thousandth.

A review of the year 2009 cannot end otherwise than by remembering May 23, 1949, and the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Basic Law and thus of the constitutional foundation of the Federal Constitutional Court’s existence and activity. Many surveys have dealt with the question of the confidence which the citizens place in an institution (as a general rule, this term comprises constitutional bodies, public authorities, courts, etc.). Exactly this Annual Statistics, the figures of new proceedings which it contains, but also the low number of constitutional complaints in which the relief sought is granted, show in a significant manner that the Basic Law is ubiquitous for the citizens and also for the courts, the parliaments and the governments on the federal and on the Länder level. The Basic Law is not only the foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany; it is filled with life in Germany.

Karlsruhe, February 2010

Prof. Dr. Dres. h.c. Hans-Jürgen Papier

President of the Federal Constitutional Court