Summary

The fundamental rights provided by the Constitution primarily serve as protective rights of citizens against the state. However, in the jurisprudence it has been discussed whether fundamental rights also apply to relations between private individuals and, if not, what is, nevertheless, their impact on such relationships. The author focuses on the development of this topic in the practice of administration of justice by the German Constitutional Court and in the German jurisprudence. Attention is devoted to judgments recognising the direct effect of fundamental rights on the relations between private individuals as well as to judgments where the court has taken into account the indirect impact of fundamental rights and to judgments treating them as protective orders. The author explains the likely effect of the direct impact of fundamental rights on relations between individuals and why the theory on the direct applicability of fundamental rights does not match the German Constitution. The author also examines the criticism of the theory dealing with the indirect impact of fundamental rights. Introducing the future prospects, the author outlines the plans of the German Ministry of Justice to enact the direct impact of fundamental rights in laws governing the relations between individuals and the concrete steps to be taken to implement the plan. However, the author makes no secret of his critical attitude towards these plans.