fundamental rights

noun · Grundrechte

Grundrechte, and they bite harder than UK human rights: they bind all three branches as directly applicable law, Art. 1 Abs. 3 GG, a statute infringing them can be struck down by the Bundesverfassungsgericht, and some of them are open only to German citizens.

Which translation, when

Grundrechtethe catalogue of Art. 1 to 19 GG, binding legislature, executive and judiciary as directly applicable law, Art. 1 Abs. 3 GG, not merely a standard for interpreting statutes.

Wesensgehaltthe hard core: a statute that infringes a Grundrecht can be reviewed and declared void, and in no case may the essence of the right be touched, Art. 19 Abs. 2 GG, unlike the UK position where primary legislation stands.

Deutschen- und Jedermann-Grundrechtethe citizenship split: some rights, such as assembly, association and occupation, Art. 8, 9 and 12 GG, are reserved to Germans, while others are open to everyone, so who may invoke a right is not uniform.

Why

Fundamental rights translates as Grundrechte, and the word is safe while the constitutional weight behind it is not. Under Art. 1 Abs. 3 GG the Grundrechte bind the legislature, the executive and the judiciary as directly applicable law, which means a court can test an ordinary statute against them and, through the Bundesverfassungsgericht, declare it void; Art. 19 Abs. 2 GG adds that the essence of a right may never be touched. The UK works the other way. Under the Human Rights Act 1998 the courts read legislation compatibly so far as possible and, where they cannot, issue a declaration of incompatibility that leaves the statute in force, because Parliament remains sovereign. So a German Grundrecht can defeat a statute where a UK Convention right cannot. A second difference is personal scope: some Grundrechte are Deutschengrundrechte, open only to German citizens, among them assembly, association and occupation, Art. 8, 9 and 12 GG, while others are Jedermanngrundrechte open to all. So rendering fundamental rights as Grundrechte is correct, but carrying the UK assumptions with it, that rights bend to statute and belong equally to everyone, understates both their force and their limits.

Typical mistakes

German Grundrechte bind all state power as directly applicable law, Art. 1 Abs. 3 GG, and a statute infringing them can be struck down, so treating them like UK Convention rights, which yield to sovereign Parliament, understates their force.
Some Grundrechte are open only to German citizens, Art. 8, 9 and 12 GG, so assuming every right is available to everyone is wrong for the Deutschengrundrechte.
Grundrechte are the constitutional rights against the state; ordinary statutory or contractual entitlements are not Grundrechte, and calling them so inflates their rank.

What matters

Advising whether a German measure can be resisted, the memo turns on the Grundrechte binding all state power as directly applicable law, Art. 1 Abs. 3 GG, and on the fact that a statute can be struck down, which the UK declaration of incompatibility cannot achieve. For a non-German client the Deutschen-Jedermann split, Art. 8, 9 and 12 GG, decides whether the right is even available.

Authority

Art. 1 GG
Art. 19 GG
Human Rights Act 1998

What the machine misses

Machine output renders fundamental rights as Grundrechte, which is right, and then imports the UK frame. It leaves the reader assuming the rights only guide interpretation and bend to sovereign Parliament, when Art. 1 Abs. 3 GG makes them directly applicable law binding all state power and a statute infringing them can be declared void. It also misses that some rights are open only to German citizens, Art. 8, 9 and 12 GG.

See what the machine does with this clause →

Examples

a breach of fundamental rights	eine Verletzung der Grundrechte
fundamental rights bind all state authority	die Grundrechte binden alle staatliche Gewalt
invoke a fundamental right	sich auf ein Grundrecht berufen
the essence of the fundamental right	der Wesensgehalt des Grundrechts