Law on Religious Upbringing of Children

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Basic data
Title: Law on Religious Upbringing of Children
Abbreviation: RelKErzG, KErzG
Type: Federal law
Scope: Federal Republic of Germany
Legal matter: Civil Law
References : 404-9
Issued on: July 15, 1921 ( RGBl. P. 939)
Effective on: January 1, 1922
Last change by: Art. 63 G of December 17, 2008 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 2586, 2728 )
Effective date of the
last change: 		September 1, 2009 (Art. 112 (1) G of December 17, 2008)
Weblink: Text of the law
Please note the note on the applicable legal version.

The (Reich) Law on Religious Upbringing of Children (RelKErzG, KErzG) regulates and limits the right of parents to decide on a nationwide basis with regard to the religious upbringing of children in a religious belief or a non-religious worldview ( Section 6 ). It mainly serves to guarantee the basic right of positive and negative religious freedom and therefore has an influence on constitutional and state church law, although it is regulated under private law . The RelKErzG comprises eleven paragraphs, two of which (§§ 9 f.) Have become obsolete due to the passage of time.

Historical background

Wilhelm Marx played a key role in the creation of the Reich Law on Religious Raising of Children ; He also wrote the commentary on the law.

All provisions of the state laws contrary to the RelKErzG as well as Article 134 of the Introductory Act to the Civil Code have been repealed.

Content

Parents 1 to 3 regulate the parents' right to religious upbringing as part of personal care. In particular, rules are made in the event that the parents cannot agree or a guardian or carer has been appointed. This is important for the representation of the child at baptism , church entry and exit as well as for participation in religious instruction . Regarding religious instruction, however, there are different regulations in Bavaria and Saarland (cf. Art. 137 Para. 1 of the Bavarian Constitution and Art. 29 of the Saarland Constitution) for students belonging to the denomination.

Section 2 (2) states: “However, during an existing marriage, neither parent can determine, without the consent of the other, that the child will be brought up in a different denomination than the one common at the time of the marriage or in a different denomination than previously, or that a child should be de-registered from religious education. "For legal disputes, Paragraph 3 stipulates:" The child can be heard when it has completed the tenth year. "

Section 4 of the RelKErzG stipulates that contracts on the religious upbringing of a child are "without civil effect", that is, may have legal consequences in the internal law of a religious community ( church law ).

Finally, § 5 regulates the age of religious majority :

After reaching the age of fourteen, the child has the right to decide which religious denomination he or she wants to adhere to. Once the child has reached the age of twelve, it cannot be brought up against its will in a different creed than before.

Here the conflict between religious freedom and upbringing rights of the parents on the one hand and the religious freedom of the child on the other hand is resolved. When the child comes of religious maturity, the child can carry out the aforementioned legal acts without the involvement of the parents. Confirmation celebrated in Protestant churches as a separate confirmation of baptism is linked to this age limit.

In proceedings before the Federal Constitutional Court, religious maturity leads to legal maturity and thus legal capacity . From this age onwards, the child can raise a constitutional complaint based on a violation of Art. 4 GG without being represented by the parents . In this respect, the pre-constitutional RelKErzG has the effect of substantive constitutional law.

The family court is responsible for disputes arising from the RelKErzG (Section 7).

See also

Web links

  • Text of the law
  • Original version with the obsolete Sections 9 and 10 . The provisions concerned civil contracts on religious upbringing that were concluded before the law was promulgated as well as regulations on the religious upbringing of orphans if both parents had died before the law came into force but were in agreement on religious upbringing. Section 9 became obsolete on July 28, 1935 and Section 10 on December 31, 1935.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ As Art. 125 No. 2 GG shows, the states were able to amend imperial law between May 8, 1945 and the entry into force of the Basic Law. In any case, as long as the federal legislature does not renew the regulation, the different age groups remain (cf. Axel Freiherr von Campenhausen , Staatskirchenrecht, 3rd edition Munich 1996, p. 245 fn. 24). It is also conceivable that the regulation of § 5, as far as it relates to the school system, has become state law in reverse to Article 124 of the Basic Law because the federal legislature (unlike under the Weimar Constitution) no longer has legislative competence for school law.
  2. ↑ Art. 46 Paragraph 1 BayEUG and Section 10 SL-SchoG