The (individual) constitutional complaint (German: (Individual-)Verfassungsbeschwerde) is an extraordinary legal remedy in German law. The procedure serves to vindicate constitutional rights under the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany (Grundgesetz, abbreviated GG). Constitutional complaints are adjudicated solely by the Federal Constitutional Court.
In the business year 2018, the Court recorded 5678 constitutional complaints filed, of which only 92 were granted relief, in total.[1] Such relief may even extend, however, to voiding the statute found unconstitutional.[a]
The constitutional complaint is set out in the Bundesverfassungsgerichtsgesetz (abbreviated BVerfGG),[b] which is the law establishing the Federal Constitutional Court itself, pursuant to GG art. 93, para. 2.
The constitutional complaint was originally codified in federal law (BVerfGG §§ 90 et seq.) and was not initially guaranteed by the constitution itself.[2] It was incorporated into the constitution in 1969 as a political bargain. The constitution was then controversially amended to allow the declaration of a state of exception (Notstandsverfassung), allowing temporary restrictions on Basic Rights. It was felt that the constitutional complaint remedy had to be enshrined in the constitution to prevent its abolition by a simple repeal of the BVerfGG.
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