constituteproject.org
German Federal Republic's
Constitution of 1949 with
Amendments through 2012
Conscious of their responsibility before God and man, Inspired by the determination to promote world peace as an equal partner in a united Europe, the German people, in the exercise of their constituent power, have adopted this Basic Law. Germans in the Länder of Baden-Württemberg,
Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western
Pomerania, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt,
Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia have achieved the unity and freedom of Germany in free self-determination. This Basic Law thus applies to the entire German people.
This complete constitution has been generated from excerpts of texts from the repository of the
Comparative Constitutions Project, and distributed on constituteproject.org. constituteproject.org
PDF generated: 19 Sep 2013, 02:34
I.
Basic Rights
Article 1 [Human dignity - Human rights - Legally binding force of basic rights] (1)
Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.
(2)
The German people therefore acknowledge inviolable and inalienable human rights as the basis of every community, of peace and of justice in the world.
(3)
The following basic rights shall bind the legislature, the executive and the judiciary as directly applicable law.
Article 2 [Personal freedoms]
(1)
Every person shall have the right to free development of his personality insofar as he does not violate the rights of others or offend against the constitutional order or the moral law.
(2)
Every person shall have the right to life and physical integrity. Freedom of the person shall be inviolable. These rights may be interfered with only pursuant to a law.
Article 3 [Equality before the law]
(1)
All persons shall be equal before the law.