CHAPTER 3
COMPARISON OF AMENDMENT POWER& PROCEDURE WITH FOREIGN COUNTRIES
“No work of man is perfect. It is inevitable that in the course of time, the imperfections of a written constitution will become apparent. Moreover, the passage of time will bring changes in society, which a constitution must accommodate if it is to remain suitable for the nation. It was imperative, therefore, that a practicable means of amending the constitution be provided.”
Thomas Jefferson
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Time is not stable. Instance changes according in the direction of necessitate of the life and the social order, the life of the nation is not stable, but dynamic, living and animate. Social traditions and principles change from time to time creating new troubles …show more content…
There are three periods in the history of the Basic Law, one of regular changes, one of near complete stability, and one of intense activity surrounding the reunification of Germany after the fall of the German Democratic Republic. The first was the attempt to override some of the weaknesses in the Basic Law at its inception. Once that plateau of stability had been achieved, there was a long period of tranquility in which the Basic Law was barely touched. However, the defining test of the German constitutional amendment model came in the early 1990s. The amendment process in Germany is a stringent one, but it still allows for the necessary changes to react to nationwide events and international problems. The swift decline of the Soviet Union and the release of its eastern European vassals initiated a wave of support inside, though not necessarily outside, Germany for reunification. The Basic Law could not merely be extended to incorporate new territory. This created a quandary for those in the German government that wished to reunify the country as quickly as possible without invoking the clauses of the Basic Law that seemed to indicate that a new constitution would need to be created upon reunification. However, there seemed to be an opening in Article 23 that provided for the constitution to be extended in “other parts of Germany after their accession.” To this end, the German government swiftly and decisively amended article 146 through the amended by unification treaty of 31 August 1990 and a federal statute on 23 September 1990 so that it was possible to merely admit the states of the former German Democratic republic into the Country. Article146 was thusly amended to read that; “This Basic law, which is valid for the entire German people following the achievement of
COMPARISON OF AMENDMENT POWER& PROCEDURE WITH FOREIGN COUNTRIES
“No work of man is perfect. It is inevitable that in the course of time, the imperfections of a written constitution will become apparent. Moreover, the passage of time will bring changes in society, which a constitution must accommodate if it is to remain suitable for the nation. It was imperative, therefore, that a practicable means of amending the constitution be provided.”
Thomas Jefferson
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Time is not stable. Instance changes according in the direction of necessitate of the life and the social order, the life of the nation is not stable, but dynamic, living and animate. Social traditions and principles change from time to time creating new troubles …show more content…
There are three periods in the history of the Basic Law, one of regular changes, one of near complete stability, and one of intense activity surrounding the reunification of Germany after the fall of the German Democratic Republic. The first was the attempt to override some of the weaknesses in the Basic Law at its inception. Once that plateau of stability had been achieved, there was a long period of tranquility in which the Basic Law was barely touched. However, the defining test of the German constitutional amendment model came in the early 1990s. The amendment process in Germany is a stringent one, but it still allows for the necessary changes to react to nationwide events and international problems. The swift decline of the Soviet Union and the release of its eastern European vassals initiated a wave of support inside, though not necessarily outside, Germany for reunification. The Basic Law could not merely be extended to incorporate new territory. This created a quandary for those in the German government that wished to reunify the country as quickly as possible without invoking the clauses of the Basic Law that seemed to indicate that a new constitution would need to be created upon reunification. However, there seemed to be an opening in Article 23 that provided for the constitution to be extended in “other parts of Germany after their accession.” To this end, the German government swiftly and decisively amended article 146 through the amended by unification treaty of 31 August 1990 and a federal statute on 23 September 1990 so that it was possible to merely admit the states of the former German Democratic republic into the Country. Article146 was thusly amended to read that; “This Basic law, which is valid for the entire German people following the achievement of