A Kleingarten, an allotment garden, is a private space of one’s own. It is also regulated by a federal law, in force since 1 April 1983. The garden is for growing produce for one’s own use and for recreation, not for business. The garden hut may cover at most 24 square meters, including a covered seating area. In 2004, the Federal Court of Justice ruled that, as a rule, at least a third of the plot should be used to grow fruit and vegetables for the household.
One Format, Many Broadcasters
The crime series Tatort first aired on 29 November 1970 with the episode Taxi nach Leipzig. From the start, it was a fixed Sunday evening slot that the participating broadcasters were to fill on their own. Each regional broadcaster of ARD is responsible for its own area and sets its episodes there. Since the late 1980s, every episode has run about ninety minutes. The opening credits have hardly changed, and Klaus Doldinger’s theme music from 1970 was modified only in 1979 and 2004. Inside this frame, some episodes break completely with the usual form. One, Murot und das Murmeltier, is set in a time loop.
Plan the Forms, Not the Process
From 1932, economists of the Freiburg School around Walter Eucken developed ordoliberalism. In this view, the state creates an Ordnungsrahmen, a framework of order, that guarantees competition and the freedom of citizens in the market. Eucken’s formula is often quoted: Staatliche Planung der Formen – ja; staatliche Planung und Lenkung des Wirtschaftsprozesses – nein. (State planning of the forms, yes. State planning and steering of the economic process, no.) Ludwig Erhard’s economic policy after the war drew on these ideas. Ordnungspolitik, policy that shapes the economic order through stable framework conditions, is still one of the three classic areas of German economic policy.
When the Frame Itself Changed
Until 2006, the Basic Law allowed the federal government to pass Rahmengesetze, framework laws. They did not regulate an area completely. The states had to fill in the frame, and the federal law could go into detail only in exceptional cases. The universities and the civil service were regulated this way. Changing this system took years. In 2003, the Bundestag and the Bundesrat set up a joint commission under Edmund Stoiber and Franz Müntefering. On 17 December 2004, it failed over the question of who controls education. The coalition agreement of 2005 restarted the reform on the basis of the commission’s work. The Bundestag passed it on 30 June 2006 with 428 votes to 162, and the Bundesrat on 7 July 2006. On 1 September 2006, the federal power to pass framework laws was abolished.
Riding in the Woods
Article 2 of the Basic Law grants freedom and states its limit in the same sentence: Jeder hat das Recht auf die freie Entfaltung seiner Persönlichkeit, soweit er nicht die Rechte anderer verletzt und nicht gegen die verfassungsmäßige Ordnung oder das Sittengesetz verstößt. (Everyone has the right to the free development of his personality, insofar as he does not violate the rights of others or offend against the constitutional order or the moral law.) In 1989, the Federal Constitutional Court applied it to horseback riding. A law in North Rhine-Westphalia allowed riding in the forest only on field paths and bridle paths, but not on other forest paths. The court ruled that general freedom of action covers any human activity, riding in the woods included, and that any law in line with the constitution can limit it. One judge, Dieter Grimm, dissented. In his view, riding in the woods was not protected by this freedom at all.
The Sector Agreement Stays the Standard
In Germany, the rules of a collective agreement apply directly and are binding. A deviation is allowed only if the agreement itself permits it, or if it favors the employee. On 12 February 2004, the union IG Metall and the employers of the metal and electrical industry signed the Pforzheim Agreement. It allows a plant to depart for a limited time from the agreed standards, such as working hours or holiday pay, in order to save or create jobs. The conditions are strict. Only the parties to the collective agreement can agree on the deviation. The employer must prove that it is necessary. The employees receive defined benefits in return, and they can sue for them. IG Metall sums it up: Der Flächentarifvertrag bleibt der Standard, die Abweichung die Ausnahme. (The sector-wide agreement remains the standard, and the deviation the exception.)
The Framework Training Plan
A national training regulation for a recognized occupation must contain an Ausbildungsrahmenplan, a framework training plan, which sets out what an apprentice must learn and in roughly what order. Training regulations typically require each company to write its own training plan for each apprentice on this basis. They allow the company to change the order and the timing soweit betriebspraktische Besonderheiten die Abweichung erfordern, as far as the company’s practical circumstances require it.
The Capital Vote
On 20 June 1991, the Bundestag decided where the capital of united Germany would sit. Members had asked for more than 600 minutes of speaking time. In a roll-call vote, Berlin won by 338 votes to 320. In 1994, the decision was written into a law of its own, the Berlin/Bonn Act. Its full name begins with the words Gesetz zur Umsetzung des Beschlusses des Deutschen Bundestages vom 20. Juni 1991, Act to Implement the Resolution of the German Bundestag of 20 June 1991. Since the autumn of 1999, Berlin has been the seat of parliament and government.
The Seat Belt
From 1 January 1976, drivers and front-seat passengers in West Germany had to wear seat belts. No penalty was attached, and the rule met strong resistance from many drivers. In August 1984, a fine was introduced. Within a few months, the share of people wearing the belt rose to 92 percent. By 2015, it had reached about 98 percent.
A Change Without Effect Until It Is Registered
When the shareholders of a German limited company, a GmbH, want to change its articles of association, the decision needs three quarters of the votes cast. A notary must record it. The change must then be filed with the commercial register. Until it is entered there, it has no legal effect: Die Abänderung hat keine rechtliche Wirkung, bevor sie in das Handelsregister des Sitzes der Gesellschaft eingetragen ist. (The amendment has no legal effect before it is entered in the commercial register at the company’s seat.)