User:LegesFundamentales/Separation of powers in Germany (userspace draft)

Separation of powers has been a fundamental constitutional doctrine in Germany since the decline of absolute monarchy in favor of constitutional monarchy in the mid-19th century. Prominent German thinkers, most notably Immanuel Kant (1724‒1804), have contributed significantly to the theoretical understanding of the doctrine. Moreover, the division of powers is entrenched as a central principle in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany (the 1949 Basic Law), and has been a deciding factor in many decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court.

History
[Factual and intellectual history]

Plenary power of Absolutist rulers
The rise of the idea of the state in the early modern period was accompanied by Absolutist claims of complete sovereignty and legislative authority (as opposed to the authority of venerable customary law) by the rulers of German territories. These princes asserted the right not just to make laws, but also to change or entirely abrogate them, as well as the right to interpret them. It is notable that this assumed sovereignty was virtually unconstrained by Imperial German power, as the Romano-German Empire never managed to create a central seat of authority, an effective administration and tax system of its own, nor a comprehensive judicial administration with the authority to enforce its rulings. To monopolize power within their territories, rulers perpetually increased the amount of regulation of public and private life, and the intensity of its enforcement, between the 16th and 18th centuries. At that time, the centralization of authority was justified by "natural law", with the relations between ruler and subjects likened to the contemporary ideal of a father's control over his household. By the 18th century, this growth in administrative responsibility demanded specialization among officials and a division of this responsibility among departments, where previously it had been unified in the prince and the court councilors; furthermore, shifts in contemporary thought about how "natural law" demanded the state function (comparing the ideal state to a perfectly running machine, guided only by the laws promulgated by the sovereign) led administration and its structures to become a matter of law.

Kant and the theory of the functions of state
The Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724‒1804) published his magnum opus on the philosophy of law, The Doctrine of Right (the first part of The Metaphysics of Morals), in 1797. At the time of this writing, the Absolutist dogma of the indivisible sovereignty of the princely state was at a high point in Germany.

Judicial–administrative separation
The Federal Republic of Germany's 1960 Code on Administrative Courts provides, at § 1 I 1, for a system of courts of (general) administrative jurisdiction (Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit) seperate from administrative agencies. The establishment of these courts of administrative jurisdiction was the culmination of a centuries-long struggle for independent judicial review of administrative (executive branch) action. Previously, the courts of last resort for administrative matters were most often not actual judicial bodies (by the standards of modern Western law), but part of the administration, and access to (independent) courts of general jurisdiction was barred for disputes under administrative law.