Comparative reasoning in constitutional litigation: functions, methods and selected case law of the German Federal Constitutional Court

The German Federal Constitutional Court: History, Jurisdiction and Composition.Structure and Style of the Judgments. Comparative Reasoning in Constitutional Litigation: Comparative Law as a “fifth” Method of Interpretation, numbers and statistics and selcted case law. The Affirmative Function of Foreign Case Law. The Dismissive or Distinguishing Function of Foreign Case Law. The Implicit or “hidden” Use of Comparative Reasoning. Questions of Methodology