Delineating the proper scope of government : a proper task for a constitutional court?

Christoph Engel

The German Basic Law is open for an interpretation that would allow the Constitutional Court to test the normative adequacy of most statutes. If the court does, it could be modelled as the supervisor of the legislator, i.e., of the agent of the people. The model predicts collusion between the supervisor and the agent, or too little control. Actually, constitutional lawyers are concerned by the opposite, too much control. The article purports to solve the puzzle, and to put the principal-agent model into a broader framework needed for normative recommendations.

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Year of publication:	June 2000
Authors:	Engel, Christoph
Publisher:	Bonn : Max-Planck-Projektgruppe Recht der Gemeinschaftsgüter
Subject:	Staatliche Einflussnahme \| State intervention \| Verfassungsgericht \| Constitutional court \| Prinzipal-Agent-Theorie \| Agency theory \| Neue politische Ökonomie \| Public choice \| Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse \| Cost-benefit analysis \| Theorie \| Theory \| Politische Willensbildung \| Political opinion formation \| Deutschland / Bundesverfassungsgericht \| Rechtsprechung \| Gesetzgebung \| Politisches Handeln \| Agency-Theorie