Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T02:39:11.376Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Constitutional Drift: Toward the End of Federal Shop-Closing (Ladenschluss) Regulation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Craig T. Smith

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Germany's Federal Constitutional Court held on June 9, 2004, that the weekend and holiday closing requirements of the federal Shop-Closing Act (Ladenschlussgesetz) are compatible with the Basic Law. At the same time, however, the Court's decision in this Weekend Shop-Closing Case situated the Act's Saturday closing requirement – and by implication its weekday closing requirements too – perilously close to the brink of unconstitutionality.

Type
Public Law
Information
German Law Journal , Volume 5 , Issue 9 , 01 September 2004 , pp. 1031 - 1044
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

1 BVerfG, 1 BvR 636/02, 9 June 2004. The Act's formal name, Gesetz über den Ladenschluss, is typically shortened to Ladenschlussgesetz.Google Scholar

2 Wirtschaft, Recht, & Steuer, , Neuregelung des Ladenschlusses ist Ländersache, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 16 June 2004, at 25 [hereinafter “FAZ“].Google Scholar

3 Shop-Closing II, 1 BvR 760/57, 29 November 1961, BVerfGE 13, 237 (240) (citing the Act to Amend the Commercial Order (Gesetz betreffend Abänderung der Gewerbeordnung), 1 June 1891, RGBl. At 261).Google Scholar

4 Id. at 321.Google Scholar

5 Id.Google Scholar

6 Shop-Closing I, 1 BvL 3/51 & 4/51, 20 May 1952, BVerfGE 1, 283.Google Scholar

7 Id. at 293-99.Google Scholar

8 Shop-Closing Act (Gesetz über den Ladenschluss), 28 November 1956, BGBl. I at 875.Google Scholar

9 BVerfG, 1 BvR 636/02, 9 June 2004, § A.I.Google Scholar

10 BVerfG, 1 BvR 1236/99, 16 January 2002, 12, available at http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de (last visited on 27 July 2004) (citing Hufen, NJW 1986, p. 1291 at 1298). The quoted phrase is in German “eine arbeitnehmerfreundliche Verteilung der Arbeitszeit“).Google Scholar

11 Id.Google Scholar

12 BVerfG, 1 BvR 698, 771-79, 9 February 1982, BVerfGE 59, 336 (354).Google Scholar

13 Shop-Closing II, 1 BvR 760/57, 29 November 1961, BVerfGE 13, 237 at 238. See also Markus Dirk Dubber, “Michael Stolleis, The Law under the Swastika: Studies on Legal History in Nazi Germany,” 18 Law & Hist. Rev. 226, 227 (2000) (book review) (noting that Professor Maunz wrote “both the definitive commentary and textbook on the Basic Law” but also remained “a diehard Nazi”).Google Scholar

14 Shop-Closing II, 1 BvR 760/57, 29 November 1961, BVerfGE 13, 237 at 239.Google Scholar

15 Id. at 240-41.Google Scholar

16 Id. at 242-43.Google Scholar

17 See generally, Der Streit um den Ladenschluss, at http://www.tu-dresden.de/jfoeffl4/OeRimWWW/OeRAktuell.html (last visited 27 July 2004) (information compiled by Prof. Dr. Jochen Rozek, Technische Universität Dresden).Google Scholar

18 E.g., BVerwGE 65, 167, No. 1 C 157/79, 23 March 1982 (citing BVerwG 1 C 43.775, 5 February 1980).Google Scholar

19 Politik, Tankstellen dürfen nach Ladenschluss Reisebedarf verkaufen, FAZ, 27 October 1993 at 1; Wirtschaft, Mineralölwirtschaft erfreut über Urteil zum Tankstellenverkauf, FAZ, 3 November 1993 at 24.Google Scholar

20 BVerfG 1 BvR 698, 771-79, 9 February 1982, BVerfGE 59, 336.Google Scholar

21 BVerfG, 1 BvR 1236/99, 16 January 2002, available at http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de (last visited on 27 July 2004). See also Constitutional Standards, Working Time and Pharmacy Opening Hours: The FCC's Message to Managers and Law Makers, 3 German L.J. No. 3 (1 March 2002), at http://www.germanlawjournal.com/article.php?id=136.Google Scholar

22 BVerfG, 1 BvR 1236/99, 16 January 2002, available at http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de (last visited on 27 July 2004).Google Scholar

23 Hipp, Dietmar, et al., Kampf um den Sonntag, Der Spiegel, No. 32, 9 August 1999 at 22.; Joachim Hirzel, et al., Ladenschluss: Das letzte Tabu, Focus, No. 32, 9 August 1999 at 16.Google Scholar

24 Wirtschaft, , Niedersachsen erlaubt längere Ladenöffnung, FAZ, Oct. 22, 1999, at 22. See generally, Der Streit um den Ladenschluss, at http://www.tu-dresden.de/jfoeffl4/OeRimWWW/OeRAktuell.html (last visited 27 July 2004) (information compiled by Prof. Dr. Jochen Rozek, Technische Universität Dresden).Google Scholar

25 BVerfG, 1 BvR 636/02, 9 June 2004, § A.I (citing BGBl I p. 875 and the Shop-Closing Act § 3(1)).Google Scholar

26 Shop-Closing Act §§ 4-10.Google Scholar

27 Pfundt, Kai, Ladenschluss: Wie Lange Noch?, General-Anzeiger (Bonn), Politik, 17 January 2002 at 1.Google Scholar

28 Weichmann, Diethard, Pyrrhussieg für Ladenschluss, Lebensmittel Zeitung, 11 June 2004 at 2.Google Scholar

29 BVerfG, 1 BvR 636/02, 9 June 2004, § B.I.a)(bb)(3); Hans D. Jarass & Bodo Pieroth, Grundgesetz Kommentar, Art. 72, Note 1 (4th ed. 1997), (citing BT-Drucksache 12/6000 at 32).Google Scholar

30 Hans D. Jarass & Bodo Pieroth, Grundgesetz Kommentar, Art. 72, Note 7 (4th ed. 1997).Google Scholar

31 Bundestag, Formation Decrees, Joint Bundestag-Bundesrat Commission on Modernizing the Federal Order, 16 October 2003, BT-Drucksache 15/1685, at http://www1.bundesrat.de/Site/Inhalt/DE/1_20Aktuelles/1.1_20Bundesstaatskommission/HI/Bundesstaatskommission.html (last visited 27 July 2004).Google Scholar

32 Id. at § 2.Google Scholar

33 Wirtschaft Clement: Der Ladenschluß wird künftig Sache der Länder sein, FAZ, 11 June 2004, at 13.; Wirtschaft, Länder ohne gemeinsame Linie für neuen Ladenschluss, Deutsche Presse-Agentur –Europadienst, 11 June 2004, available at http://www.lexis.com/ (visited 2 August 2004).Google Scholar

34 BVerfG, 1 BvR 1778/01, 16 March 2004.Google Scholar

35 BVerfG, 2 BvF 2/02, 27 July 2004 (voiding the Fünfte Gesetz zur Änderung des Hochschulrahmengesetzes und anderer Vorschriften (5. HRGÄndG) of 16 February 2002, BGBl I at 693). See also Frieder Dünkel & Dirk van Zyl Smit, Preventive Detention of Dangerous Offenders Re-examined: A Comment on Two Decisions of the German Federal Constitutional Court, 5 German L.J. No. 6 (1 June 2004), available at http://www.germanlawjournal.com/article.php?id=453 (analyzing another recent federalism ruling by the Court).Google Scholar

36 Id.Google Scholar

37 Hirzel, , supra note 23; Kurzporträt Kaufhhof Warenhaus AG, at http://www.galeriakaufhof.de/sales/coco/co_unternehmen_011_kurzportrait.asp?FLEXID=0 (last visited July 28, 2004).Google Scholar

38 Hirzel, , supra note 23; Christoph Seils, Porträt: Umtriebig, Frankfurter Rundschau, Thema des Tages, June 2004 at 29.Google Scholar

39 Hirzel, , supra note 23.Google Scholar

40 Hipp, , supra note 23.Google Scholar

41 Id.Google Scholar

42 BVerfG, 1 BvR 636/02, 9 June 2004, § A.II.Google Scholar

43 Id.Google Scholar

44 Id. at §§ B.I.1.a).aa) & B.I.1.b).dd).(2)(a)(ee).Google Scholar

45 Id. § B.I.1.b).dd)(2)(a)(ee).Google Scholar

46 Art. 140 GG. The incorporated provision states: “Sunday and the public holidays recognized by the state remain legally protected as days of rest from work and of spiritual edification.” Art. 139 WRV, translated in Axel Tschentscher, The Basic Law (Grundgesetz): The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany 106 (Jurisprudentia, 2002-2003), available at http://www.jurisprudentia.de/jurisprudentia.html (last visited July 9, 2004).Google Scholar

47 BVerfG, 1 BvR 636/02, 9 June 2004, § B.II.1.a).Google Scholar

48 Id. at § B.II.1.Google Scholar

49 Art. 140 GG. The incorporated provision states: “Sunday and the public holidays recognized by the state remain legally protected as days of rest from work and of spiritual edification.” Art. 139 WRV, translated in Tschentscher, (note 45).Google Scholar

50 Hirzel, , supra note 23.Google Scholar

51 BVerfG, 1 BvR 636/02, 9 June 2004, § B.I.a).(bb)(3) (citing BVerfGE 106, 62 (136)).Google Scholar

52 Art. 125a(2)92d sentence) GG.Google Scholar

53 Id. at § B.I.a)(bb).Google Scholar

54 Id. at § B.I.a)(bb)(3).Google Scholar

55 Id.Google Scholar

56 Id. at § B.I.a)(cc).Google Scholar

57 Id. at § B.I.1.b)aa)-cc).Google Scholar

58 Id. at § B.I.1.b)dd)(2)(a).Google Scholar

59 Id.Google Scholar

60 Id. at § B.I.1.b)dd)(2)(b).Google Scholar

61 Id.Google Scholar

62 Tennessee v. Lane, 124 U.S. 1978, 2000-03 (2004).Google Scholar

63 BVerfG, 2 BvF 2/02, 27 July 2004 (Osterloh, Lübbe-Wolff, and Gerhardt, dissenting).Google Scholar

64 Suemmerer, Thomas, Abschied von einem Ladenhüter, Textilwirtschaft, News Kommentar, 17 June 2004, at 16.Google Scholar