Civil disobedience and the German courts : the Pershing missile protests in comparative perspective / Peter E. Quint.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Quint, Peter E.

Series:

University of Texas at Austin studies in foreign and transnational law

The University of Texas at Austin studies in foreign and transnational law

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Civil disobedience--Germany--History--20th century.

Civil disobedience.

Constitutional law--Germany.

Constitutional law.

History.

Germany.

Constitutional courts--Germany.

Constitutional courts.

Physical Description:

xii, 288 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge-Cavendish, 2008.

Summary:

In the 1980s, the West German peace movement-fearing that the stationing of NATO nuclear missiles in Germany threatened an imminent nuclear war in Europe-engaged in massive protests, including sustained civil disobedience in the form of sit-down demonstrations. Civil Disobedience and the German Courts traces the historical and philosophical background of this movement and follows a group of demonstrators through their trials in the German criminal courts up to the German Constitutional Court-in which their fate was determined in two important constitutional cases. In this context, the volume also analyzes the German Constitutional Court, as a crucial institution of government, in comparative perspective. The book is the first full-length, English-language treatment of these events and these constitutional decisions, and it also places the decisions at an important turning point in German constitutional history.

Contents:

1 The anti-missile demonstrations: the protests and their context 11

The sit-down blockades and the "double-track" decision 12

The historical background of the sit-down demonstrations: 1968 and the development of political protest in the Federal Republic 29

The philosophical background: Satyagraha and civil disobedience 36

The Jens-Offenloch debate 45

The sit-down cases: the facts 51

2 The sit-down blockades in the criminal courts 60

Introduction: the rule of law and the German Criminal Code-a comparative perspective 60

Coercion (Notigung) under the German Criminal Code 63

The Notigung statute and the sit-down demonstrations 69

The Grossengstingen and Mutlangen cases in the criminal courts 86

3 The sit-down blockades in the Constitutional Court: the Court and the arguments 106

The Federal Constitutional Court 106

The Basic Law 110

Constitutional rights and the sit-down demonstrations: Articles 8 and 103(2) 112

The 1986 case-the Constitutional Complaints 116

The 1986 case-the constitutional arguments of the parties 119

Arguments requested or solicited by the Court 128

The attempt to remove Judge Simon 136

The special role of the Reporter 141

The oral argument 142

4 The sit-down blockades in the Constitutional Court: the decisions of 1986 and 1995 151

The decision of 1986-the convictions upheld 151

Muller-Breuer and Ostermayer before the European Human Rights Commission 178

Nine years pass 182

The 1995 decision: convictions reversed 184

The immediate aftermath-acquiescence and patterns of resistance 198

5 The great cases of 1995: success for the "long march" of 1968? 203

Reaction to the 1995 Notigung decision 203

The Soldiers case 209

The Crucifix case 227

The three cases reconsidered 242

Appendix Selected constitutional and statutory provisions 264.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780415442855

0415442850

9780203933008

0203933001

OCLC:

166625663