basic law

Which translation, when

Why

Basic Law is Grundgesetz, the proper name of the German constitution, and two things need care. First, the name itself: in 1949 the framers deliberately called it a Grundgesetz rather than a Verfassung, to mark it as a provisional arrangement that should not cement the division of Germany, with a full constitution to be adopted by the whole people after reunification, Art. 146 GG. Reunification came in 1990, the eastern Länder acceded, and the provisional Grundgesetz stayed; in substance it has always been a full constitution. So the German constitution is das Grundgesetz, and Basic Law is its established English name, not a loose paraphrase. Second, the asymmetry between noun and adjective: although the document is the Grundgesetz, the adjectival and compound forms are built on verfassungs-, from Verfassung. Constitutional law is Verfassungsrecht, the constitutional court is the Bundesverfassungsgericht, a constitutional complaint is a Verfassungsbeschwerde, and unconstitutional is verfassungswidrig; the Grundgesetz-based forms are not used for these. So rendering the constitution generically, or building constitutional adjectives on Grundgesetz, misses both the proper name and the settled usage.

Typical mistakes

• The German constitution has a proper name, das Grundgesetz, rendered in English as the Basic Law, so a generic paraphrase such as grundlegendes Gesetz misses the name.
• The noun is Grundgesetz but the constitutional adjectives run on verfassungs-, so constitutional is verfassungsrechtlich and unconstitutional verfassungswidrig, not Grundgesetz-based forms.
• Germans normally call their constitution das Grundgesetz rather than die Verfassung, though it is a constitution in substance, so defaulting to Verfassung as the name reads oddly.

What matters

Referring to the German constitution, the translation should name it das Grundgesetz, render Basic Law as its English equivalent, and keep the constitutional adjectives on verfassungs-, verfassungsrechtlich and verfassungswidrig. A generic phrase for the document, or a Grundgesetz-based adjective, misses the settled usage.

Examples