Public order
The public order is an abstract legal interest . The German Federal Constitutional Court understands public order to mean the entirety of unwritten rules, the observance of which is viewed as an indispensable prerequisite for an orderly human coexistence within a certain area according to the prevailing social and ethical views.
As early as 1933, the Prussian Higher Administrative Court understood this to mean the entirety of unwritten rules for the conduct of individuals in public , insofar as the prevailing views consider compliance with these rules to be an indispensable prerequisite for an orderly community life.
The area of application of “public order” is partly called into question because it is difficult to reconcile with the requirement of certainty under Article 103 (2) of the Basic Law , and because it is adequately covered by Section 118 of the OWiG (formerly Gross Nonsense ).
Task assignment
Maintaining public safety or order in Germany is the primary task of the regulatory authorities as well as the police, although this assignment of tasks is not standardized in all police laws. From a legal point of view, the prosecution of criminal offenses and administrative offenses is only an “accessory”, but in practice represents the predominant activity of the police. The states of Bremen and Schleswig-Holstein for example dispense with the concept of public order in their police and regulatory laws. In Lower Saxony and Saarland, however, the term was reintroduced.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, the amendment to the police law was passed by the state parliament on February 9, 2010. Since its publication in the State Law Gazette, public order has once again been incorporated into the task of the police. In accordance with the draft law, this is intended to make it clear that the police, like the regulatory authorities, are authorized to prevent even minor violations of public order. The police are thereby empowered to intervene in individual cases against harassing behavior in public that still falls below the threshold of an administrative offense ( Section 116 ff. OWiG).
See also
- Public policy (Germany)
- Disruption of public order (Austria)
- Offenses against the public order of the German Criminal Code
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ BVerfGE 69, 315 (352) - Brokdorf decision
- ↑ PrOVGE 91, 139, 140
- ↑ "Law amending the Police Act of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia." In: Gesetz- und Verordnungsblatt NRW. Edition 2010, No. 7. Article 1–3, pp. 131–142.
