Hans-Jürgen Paper

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Hans-Jürgen Paper (2014)
Hans-Jürgen Papier at the 13th congress of the Stasi commissioners in the Thuringian state parliament on April 24, 2009

Hans-Jürgen Papier [ ˈpaːpiɐ ] (born July 6, 1943 in Berlin ) is a German scholar of constitutional law . From April 2002 until his resignation on March 16, 2010, he was President of the Federal Constitutional Court .

Life

After graduating from the Eckener-Gymnasium in Berlin-Marie village in 1962 and the first state examination in 1967 paper in 1970 was at the Free University of Berlin with a thesis on The breach of public law doctorate in law doctorate . In 1971 the second state examination took place. Two years later he completed his habilitation with Karl August Bettermann with a thesis on the financial legal reservations and the constitutional principle of democracy: at the same time a contribution to the doctrine of the legal forms of the encroachment on fundamental rights . 1974 paper accepted a call from Bielefeld University to a constitutional professorship . In Bielefeld he was co-founder and first director of the Institute for Environmental Law . Paper taught here until 1992, when he accepted a professorship for German and Bavarian constitutional and administrative law as well as public social law at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich . From 1977 to 1987 he was also a part-time judge at the Higher Administrative Court for the State of North Rhine-Westphalia .

In addition to his academic work, Papier was chairman of the Independent Commission for the Review of the Assets of Parties and Mass Organizations of the GDR from 1991 to 1998 (see also: Assets of Parties and Associations of the GDR ), Member of the Commission of the Federal Republic of Germany on the Pension Rest and Compensation Act (1994 –1998) and from 1996 to 1998 deputy chairman of the ethics committee of the Bavarian State Medical Association.

On February 4, 1998, Papier, who is a member of the CSU , was appointed to the Federal Constitutional Court by the Bundestag as judge and by the Bundesrat as vice-president and chairman of the 1st Senate. His term of office began on February 27, 1998. After Jutta Limbach resigned as President, in 2002, Papier took over the presidency of the court.

In 2003 he became the Commander of the Order for Services to Lithuania . On 18 February 2003, he was from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki the dignity of Honorary Doctor of Laws conferred on 11 July 2006 by the Administrative Sciences Speyer . In 2006 he received the Grand Decoration of Honor in Gold on Ribbon for Services to the Republic of Austria .

He retired on March 16, 2010. His successor as President of the Court is Andreas Vosskuhle , and Ferdinand Kirchhof succeeded him as Chairman of the 1st Senate . Andreas Paulus succeeded the judge position that became vacant through retirement . On the occasion of his resignation from office shortly after his groundbreaking judgment on data retention, the then Federal President Horst Köhler awarded him the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany on March 16, 2010 . He received the Bavarian Order of Merit on July 20, 2011.

After his term of office he worked as a university lecturer for public law at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU) until September 30, 2011. Even after his retirement, he still holds lectures for the basic course in public law at the LMU.

In 2013 he took over the name chairmanship of the third German inn (group) of the international legal honor society Phi Delta Phi at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich .

In February 2014 he was appointed as a member of the ADAC advisory board .

Paper has been the Schufa's ombudsman since September 1, 2014 .

Scientific focus

Papier works on the Basic Law Commentary on Maunz / Dürig , named after the founding editors Theodor Maunz and Günter Dürig , and works on the area of ​​official liability claims in the Munich Commentary on the BGB . He also publishes the North Rhine-Westphalian constitutional and administrative law and is the author of constitutional and administrative law in Bavaria . His academic work also focuses on the doctrine of fundamental rights , public law , public finance law , constitutional foundations of social , administrative , economic administration , environmental and state liability law .

Paper takes a stand on political issues in public. For example, after the 2005 Bundestag election, he urged politicians not to jeopardize the trust of the citizens any further. People expected “responsible political leadership in the country” and “no demonstration of tactical skirmishes” or “smart sayings from the advertising department of the political consultancy”. Elsewhere, at the beginning of 2016, he sharply criticized the federal government for its actions in the wake of the asylum crisis . Among other things, he considered the protection of the EU's external borders to be insufficient .

Attitude to the measures in the context of the corona crisis

Paper commented on how the measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic have been implemented. The shutdown was initially necessary and appropriate to keep the health system from collapsing. However, the development is dynamic. In view of the fundamental rights, it is not the relaxation that needs justification, but the maintenance of the measures. Fundamental rights can be restricted in the general interest, but this must always be proportionate. Papier expressed understanding for demonstrators "who wonder whether the freedom rights of our constitution are still adequately safeguarded." However, he distanced himself from critics who believe that the effects of COVID-19 are being deliberately exaggerated by the state.

He criticized that the restrictions were mainly based on legal ordinances of the state governments. However, all major decisions would have to be made by the democratically elected parliaments. A shutdown was not expressly provided for in the Infection Protection Act, and such a massive restriction on public life should not be based on a general clause. Clear and unambiguous legal bases are needed. The paper also criticized the distribution of competencies between the federal government and the federal states and called for the Bundestag to set the basic course in the event of an epidemic of national scope.

Publications (selection)

  • An extensive list of publications can be found in Appendix 1 in: Wolfgang Durner, Franz-Joseph Peine, Foroud Shirvani (eds.): Freedom and Security in Germany and Europe. Festschrift for Hans-Jürgen Papier on his 70th birthday. Public Law Writings, Volume 1238. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-428-13840-1 .
  • Constitution and constitutional change. In: Caroline Y. Robertson-von Trotha (ed.): 60 years of the Basic Law. Interdisciplinary Perspectives (= Kulturwissenschaft interdisciplinary / Interdisciplinary Studies on Culture and Society, Vol. 4), Nomos, Baden-Baden 2009, ISBN 978-3-8329-4865-8 .
  • The warning. How the rule of law is being undermined. Germany's highest former judge is indicting. Heyne, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-453-20725-7 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Hans-Jürgen Papier  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952, page 1760 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
  2. ^ Vosskuhle becomes the new President of the Constitutional Court , Zeit Online from March 5, 2010
  3. ↑ Address by the Federal President . Adoption of the President of the Federal Constitutional Court on March 16, 2010
  4. ^ Curriculum vitae ( memento from October 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) on the website of the Faculty of Law, Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich
  5. ↑ On the person ( memento of October 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) on the website of the Law Faculty, LMU Munich, as of 2013
  6. ^ ADAC wins Hans-Jürgen Papier as a consultant , Spiegel Online February 14, 2014
  7. ↑ Ex-constitutional judge: paper settles with German refugee policy. WELT.de, accessed on July 26, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Christian Rath: Corona restrictions: Ex-constitutional judge Hans-Jürgen Papier worries about basic rights. May 18, 2020, accessed May 23, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Göran Schattauer: Ex-Federal Judge Paper criticizes German asylum policy: "Compassion does not replace law" , review, Focus online, January 22, 2020.
personal data
SURNAME Paper, Hans-Jürgen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German constitutional law scholar and President of the Federal Constitutional Court
DATE OF BIRTH July 6, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin