31 Art. 92 et seq. GG: Jurisprudence

This chapter discusses the position of the Federal Constitutional Court with regard to judicial power, taking into account the relevant provisions of Art. 92 et seq. of the Grundgesetz (GG). In particular, it examines those aspects which cast light on the distinctive position of constitutional jurisprudence within the overall framework of judicial power. To this end, the chapter analyses the Court's jurisprudence, citing an instance in which it used a constitutional complaint concerning tax notices and penalties to address the concept of ‘judicial power’. It also considers a 2001 ruling by the Court, which added a functional element to the concept of the judicial power in a case involving the Election Review Court; the legal position of judges, which the Court describes as having three pillars — ‘objective independence’, ‘personal independence’, and ‘organisational independence’; and the Court's emphasis on the importance and substance of the right to a lawful judge.