State Liability Act (Germany)
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | State Liability Act |
| Abbreviation: | StHG |
| Type: | Federal law |
| Scope: | Federal Republic of Germany |
| Legal matter: |
State liability law , administrative law |
| References : | 14-1 a. F. |
| Issued on: | June 26, 1981 ( BGBl. I p. 553 ) |
| Entry into force on: | January 1, 1982 |
| Expiry: | October 19, 1982 ( BVerfG - 2 BvF 1/81 - from October 19, 1982, Federal Law Gazette I p. 1493 ) |
| Please note the note on the applicable legal version. | |
The State Liability Act regulated liability for illegal behavior by public authorities in the Federal Republic of Germany from January 1, 1982 to October 18, 1982 . On October 19, 1982 it was declared null and void by the Federal Constitutional Court .
Initial situation and problem
The federal German state liability law was - unlike the state liability law of the GDR - not codified . On February 12, 1981 (at that time an SPD-FDP coalition ruled under Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt), the German Bundestag passed a law that regulated state liability law in 20 paragraphs and changes to other legal provisions in another 18 paragraphs and contained transitional provisions. The Federal Council did not approve the law on March 13, 1981. He took the position that the federal government lacks the necessary legislative competence . Federal President Karl Carstens also voiced constitutional concerns; however, he signed the law on July 26, 1981.
On October 19, 1982, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled in a procedure of abstract norm control that the law was incompatible with Article 70 of the Basic Law and therefore void for formal reasons: The federal government was not authorized to enact a state liability law for the federal government, states and municipalities due to a lack of legislative competence .
Current situation
A codification of state liability law is still missing today. Although a competing legislative competence of the federal government for state liability law was created as part of the constitutional reform in 1994 , no such law was passed. In 2004, the federal government responded to a small inquiry that there was no need to create a state liability law.
Both the coalition agreement of the 17th electoral term (2009) and the 18th electoral term (2013) of the Bundestag contain the goal of codifying state liability law through federal law.
In 2016, the President of the Federal Administrative Court, Klaus Rennert , demanded the enactment of a state liability law that meets “modern demands”. In order to avoid contradicting court decisions, the administrative courts should have jurisdiction both for legal protection against harmful state measures and for state liability claims.
Web links
- Text of the State Liability Act ( Memento of September 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- BVerfGE 61, 149 , judgment of the Second Senate of October 19, 1982, Az. 2 BvF 1/81.
- Cover letter from the Federal President
Footnotes
- ↑ Cover letter from Federal President Karl Carstens to the Federal Chancellor and the Presidents of the Bundestag and Bundesrat regarding the signing of the State Liability Act (full text)
- ↑ Johannes Böhmel: On the reform of the state liability law. In: The Public Service 12/1981, pp. 265–267.
- ↑ BVerfGE 61, 149 , judgment of the Second Senate of October 19, 1982, Az. 2 BvF 1/81.
- ↑ BT-Drs. 15/3952 (PDF; 228 kB) from October 20, 2004.
- ^ Coalition Agreement (2009) (PDF; 5.0 MB) page 112; Coalition Agreement (2013) (PDF) page 112, page 154.
- ^ Klaus Rennert: Theses on a state liability law. In: NJW-aktuell 17/2016 p. 3.
