Res sacra
As a res sacra (lat. "Sacred cause" Pl. Res sacrae) is called in the German state church law assets of religious and philosophical communities that directly cultic serve purposes. They are specially protected by state law. It is irrelevant whether the respective community is organized under private or public law ; the corporate status is therefore not required. Often the term is imprecisely equated with that of the church public cause .
Examples
.jpg)
Well-known res sacrae of Christian communities are the sacred implements ( liturgical implements ), especially the liturgical vessels ( vasae sacrae ), as well as the bells , church buildings and cemeteries . Depending on the denomination of the respective communities, the term Res sacra includes a wide variety of objects.
protection
The special protection of the res sacrae has constitutional status: it arises from the basic right of religious freedom , the right of self-determination of religious and ideological communities and the guarantee of church property . It can become important, for example, in foreclosure (cf. § 882a Paragraphs 2, 3 ZPO). Under Section 304, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, damage to res sacrae is punished more severely than damage to "ordinary" things. The theft of a res sacra is taken into account as a standard example according to Section 243, Paragraph 1, Sentence 2, No. 4 of the Criminal Code when determining the sentence.
Demarcation
This protection brings the res sacrae closer to the status of public things . In fact, in their capacity as public corporations, the churches are able to dedicate public matters. Nevertheless, the two terms must be distinguished from one another:
On the one hand, private law communities such as associations can also dispose of res sacrae. Dedication is not possible for them due to their lack of corporate status.
Conversely, however, not all matters of public law communities are res sacrae, not z. B. ecclesiastical administrative assets because they do not serve directly cultic purposes.
literature
- Helmut Goerlich , Torsten Schmidt: Res sacrae in the new federal states - legal questions for the reconstruction of the university church in Leipzig. Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, 2009. ISBN 978-3-8305-1703-0
Individual evidence
- ↑ res sacrae Rechtslexikon.net, accessed on March 23, 2019
- ↑ cf. BVerfG, decision of October 13, 1998 - 2 BvR 1275/96 para. 80 f.
- ↑ BVerwG, judgment of October 7, 1983 - 7 C 44.81 para. 14th
