Das grundrechtliche Vorrangprinzip

Fundamental rights in the classical sense are based on a principle of primacy: in the overall consideration of entitlement to and obligation under fundamental rights, the human being must always enjoy a higher degree of protection than the state. Fundamental rights never protect the state against its citizens. Simon Diethelm Meyer examines the principle of primacy underlying fundamental rights in the German Basic Law ( Grundgesetz ) from an interdisciplinary and comparative legal perspective. In doing so, he develops a conception of fundamental rights that places the human being at the center: the individual is the bearer, not the addressee, of fundamental rights, whereas the state is bound by them, not entitled to them. Both the entitlement of legal persons to fundamental rights and the horizontal effect of fundamental rights can be justified through this principle of primacy. Within the European system of fundamental rights, it is precisely the diversity of fundamental rights regimes that ensures the highest possible degree of protection for human freedom.
Methodologically, the author proceeds in five steps: first, he lays the interdisciplinary foundations of the principle of primacy of fundamental rights. Second, he elaborates this principle in relation to the dogmatics of fundamental rights under the Basic Law . The third step provides a comparative legal analysis of the various manifestations of the principle of primacy in the constitutions of other EU member states, the ECHR, and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Fourth, he examines the impact of Europeanization on the German conception of fundamental rights. The fifth step focuses on the protection of freedom within the European system of fundamental rights. Simon Diethelm Meyer concludes with an appeal for greater "courage to be human" in fundamental rights doctrine.