UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE

Between Socialism and Welfare State? Emergence and Reception of Article 15 of the Basic Law

For the first time since the commencement of the Basic Law, the initiative "Deutsche Wohnen & Co. Enteignen!", socialisation of private property seems to be becoming a realistic political reality. The instrument of socialisation has its legal basis in Article 15 of the Basic Law, according to which "land, natural resources and means of production [...] may be transferred to common ownership or other forms of common economy for the purpose of socialisation [...]". After being in oblivion for 70 years, the provision was now resurrected from its dormancy.

The awakening marked the beginning of a discussion in a multitude of expert opinions and essays in which ideologies clashed: Is this an intervention in property, similar to expropriation under Article 14 (3) of the Basic Law? Or is it a "norm of openness" that is supposed to enable the freedom of the many, even a collective fundamental right to socialisation? These questions show that it is not only ideologies that are brought to the surface by Article 15 of the Basic Law, but also fundamental questions of constitutional theory. These lie at such a distance from each other that there is often a lack of understanding for the opposite side.

This is where the dissertation aims to begin by providing explanations from a historical perspective. In the first part, which deals with the history of the origins of the constitution, it is outlined which ideas and interests, beginning with the labour movement and the Weimar debates on socialisation and ending with the enactment of the regional constitutions, found their way into the Parliamentary Council. In the second part, the whole literature on Article 15 of the Basic Law is reviewed and contextualised. The provision functions as a magnifying glass for the development of constitutional and, in particular, fundamental rights dogmatics since 1949. In the politically charged current debate, the aim is to create the possibility for mutual understanding and the finding of appropriate solutions for the present.