KritV Kritische Vierteljahresschrift für Gesetzgebung und Rechtswissenschaft

This paper attempts to give a more qualified measurement of what is known as democratic deficit, through a comparison of democratization criteria in Classical Athens and modern Greece. We first present a short analysis of the Classical Athenian...

From the politically definable concepts of autonomy, immediacy and participation, legal philosophy, legal theory and the practice of Athenian democracy in the 5th century BC derive a focal point: the principle of direct democracy as an effect of...

Contrary to a common contemporary perception of direct democracy as an unorganized, mass democracy Athenian democracy was a structured democracy with a deeply cultivated sense of justice. The element of deliberation, that is, of organized discussion...

To confront the issues that are rooted in the problem of citizen representation via the intermediation of political parties, democracies have adopted laws and enforcement mechanisms to make sure that the elected officials act for the public interest...

Until well into the present day, the ancient democracy of the Athenians was regarded by historians as an aliud unsuitable as a role model. After the horrors of the French Revolution, discrediting it as mass rule leading to ruin was the programme of...

The article deals with the conceptual development and current challenges of democratic systems, particularly in the area of tension between citizen participation and professional expertise. Direct democracy, in which citizens made political...

The article traces the roots of the rule of law in ancient Greece. The people's assembly, the people's court, the creation of law and the administration of justice were transferred into the hands of the citizens. The result was legally created...

After strict COVID-measures ended, the German ‘climate movement’ had attracted attention with increasingly intrusive means of protest. Whilst their motive to generate more climate protection is not subject to criticism, the choice of means is...

In 1938, the publishing house C. H. Beck (Munich/Berlin) published a commentary on the German Civil Code (BGB), which was conceived as a one-volume short commentary and offered the user reliable and up-to-date explanatory information in a concise...

This article aims to shed light on the phenomenon of the expansion of criminal law and its causes in the personal lives of individuals. Fear, insecurity and a feeling of loss of control on the part of the individual in an increasingly complex...

The Federal Constitutional Court is repeatedly faced with a dilemma when dealing with the fundamental rights of the constitution. The limits or boundaries of important fundamental rights are undefined or not regulated at all and must therefore be...

The article outlines the significance and causes of armed conflicts and, on this basis, develops approaches for dealing with the war in Ukraine.

The paper aims to supplement the predominantly functional arguments for lawmaker’s margins of appreciation within constitutional rights proportionality with an argument from legal theory. It holds that it is the analytical (or logical) evidence of...

The article illustrates the course of social and legal transformation processes using the example of the regulation of the state's use of AI video surveillance. At an abstract level, it shows the multiple connections and interactions between...

Immanuel Kant's birthday was 300 years ago recently. His essay 'On Perpetual Peace' (Reclam 2014) can be understood as a frame of reference and an early wise warning against (currently misguided) globalisation, which he mockingly referred to as...

Productivity growth in the US has been higher than in Europe for many years, leading to ever-widening differences in per capita income between the two countries. This article documents that lower firm dynamics, i.e. fewer firms entering and leaving...

The White Paper on the Future of Europe presented by then Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in 2017 outlined five possible scenarios for the development of the European Union up to 2025. Against the background of these scenarios, this article...

The prospect of enlargement and the geopolitical challenges of the „Zeitenwende“ (watershed) make reforms in the EU indispensable. Enlargement and reforms must take place in parallel. While the European Parliament, the European Council and the...

The responsibility of the euro member states for their respective independent economic and fiscal policies leads to heterogeneity in the economic fundamentals of the euro member states, which has an impact on the risk premiums for government bonds,...