Courses

    This course will address "hard cases" in the fundamental rights area from mainly the German and the U.S. constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. After analyzing concepts and functions of the constitution, constitutional review and constitutional interpretation, focus will be on issues of free speech (radical political speech - nazi propaganda, hate speech, pornography, calls for economic boycott), personal liberty (homosexuality, abortion, life sentence and death penalty), informational self-determination, freedom of religion and state-church relations, and protection of equality (e.g. sexual orientation). Grades in this course are determined by the final examination. We will use a reader and the texts of the constitutions mentioned above.