en The Constitutional Courts in the German Lander: Guarantors of Land Autonomy

The constitutional courts in the Lander are an essential element of the constitutional autonomy of the Lander, within the framework of the federal system of the Federal Republic of Germany. The constitutional spaces of the Federation and the Lander do not coexist in a void. The characteristics of the Lander as states are defined by the Basic Law. Constitutional autonomy, including constitutional jurisdiction, is much more salient in the area of the organization of the state than in the area of basic rights. The principal state functions at Federation level are designated by the Basic Law. The Federal Constitutional Court is consequently a guarantor of the distribution of powers and the federal balance between the Federation and the Lander. The constitutional courts in the Lander guarantee the con-stitutional autonomy of the Landerwithin the federal republic. Their function as a guarantorof basic rightswas reinforcedthroughthe power granted them to oversee the conformity of government decisions and court rulings issued in implementation of federal law with the basic rights contained in the Lander's constitutions. The underlying condition here is that these basic rights must correspond to the basic rights contained in the Basic Law. This entails amajor unification of the law. Institutional diversity replaces diversity in substantive law. The constitutional court of a Land is presented with the task of striking a balance between classificationwithin the constitutional space of the Federation and the protection of the constitutional autonomy of the Lander.