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political
integration, which will, among other
things, create responsible European institutions.
Dr. Maes said
that these institutions would
include a more powerful central authority with a
much more stronger parliament elected. These, he
added, were aspects well worth
remembering
"and, perhaps, too little attention has been paid
to them in the U.K."
Later in his paper, Dr. Maes said that the Euro
pean Community's attitude to agricultural mar
keting arrangements had gone through drastic
reappraisal in the last two years and there was
still an amount of uncertainty on this subject in
the Community. It should also be remembered
that the Common Agricultural Policy was in the
process of having to undergo a profound re-exam
ination. It seemed to him that this unhealthy state
of affairs could be partly attributed to the lack of
co-ordinated and organised marketing structures
in the Community.
Mr. Victor Cosse, of Brussels, said that the
Treaty of Rome emphasised in its preamble the
desire of assuring stability in expansion, balance
in exchanges and loyalty in competition. For this
Article 3 of the Treaty of Rome provides for the
abolition of customs duties and quantitive restric
tions at the arrival and departure of goods and the
abolition of obstacles to the free movement of
travellers, of services and of capital between
member States.
Mr. Cosse said that the elimination of quanti
tive restrictions between member-States was the
subject of Chapter 11 of Title 1 of the Treaty of
Rome. It concerned Articles 30 to 37. "Article
37, in fact, speaks explicitly of national mono
polies and foresees that at the end of the transi
tory period national monopolies shall be arranged
so as to exclude all discrimination between nati
onals of member-States in the field of supplies
and outlets.
"Paragraph 4 of Article 37 specifies that 'in a
commercial monopoly which includes a regulation
designed to facilitate the outflow or valorisation of
agricultural products, it is advisable, in the appli
cation of the rules of this article, to assure equiva
lent guarantees for the employment and standard
of
living for
the producers concerned,
taking
account of the pace of the possible adjustments
and necessary specialisations'."
[from
The Irish Times,
3 and 5 October 1970]
A GLIMPSE AT THE
ADMINISTRATION OF LAW IN THE
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
by
BRENDAN BYRNE, Solicitor
Although German political
integration was
achieved in 1871, the unification of its laws came
later. It was not until 1900 that the codification of
its laws was completed. By that time, Germany
had as comprehensive a codification as the "cinq
codes" of France and the "cinque codici" of Italy.
These German codes are known as the Civil Code,
the Code of Civil Procedure, the Criminal Code,
the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Commer
cial Code. The Civil Code was the last to emerge
and is regarded as something of an achievement.
Much of the legal system of Germany (including
its codes) has been adopted in countries as far
apart and as different as Japan, Austria, Turkey
and Brazil.
The effect of these comprehensive codes was to
make the former German legal history almost irre
levant. A new literature came into being and "by
a stroke of the pen entire law libraries were turned
into waste paper".
The constitution of the Federal Republic
is
contained in the Basic Law (Grundgesetz) and all
questions of interpretation are reserved
to
the
Bundesverfassungsgericht
(Federal Constitutional
Court). This court is exceptional in Germany in
that the majority of the court does not consist of
the career judges but of eminent lawyers from all
walks of
life. The Bundesverfassungsgericht
is
regarded by many Germans as the most important
court in
the Federal Republic, since it is
the
custodian of constitutional rights and individual
liberties. Its nine judges are elected by the Federal
Parliament and remain on the bench for a term
of eight years. Since 1968, judges of the Constitu
tional Court may deliver minority judgments—a
most
important
innovation
in German
juris
prudence.
The Courts
Western Germany
is a federation of eleven
lander (provinces),
i.e. Bavaria, Baden-Wurtem-
berg, etc., each with its own legislature and system
of courts as in the United States. All courts of
first instance and courts of appeal are Land Courts.
There is a right of appeal from the Land Courts
to the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Appeal Court).
109