Introduction

The introduction lays out what is at stake in the book. It discusses what was new about the postwar West German constitution, what other historians have had to say to explain it, and the author’s original contribution on the subject. It gives a historiographical overview as well as discussing the methodology of the book. Finally, it gives a historical introduction to the historical precedents for judicial review and militant democracy in Wilhelmine Germany and the Weimar Republic. It ends with a theoretical discussion about different political groups’ views on law and the role of the judiciary in the rise of National Socialism.