Zukunftsverfassungsrecht

The future as an aspect of constitutional law is a central theme in the work of our jubilarian. This article sketches out rough structures of a constitutional law of the future. Modern constitutions necessarily have a time perspective and a future horizon. A constitution is historical and emerges from a specific past. It empowers institutions to make decisions in the present that in turn shape the future. The central functions of democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights are to solve intertemporal regulatory problems. Constitutions, in turn, convey intertemporal stability, which from the beginning has been in tension with democratic voluntarism and its claims to design. In this respect, constitutional amendment as an instrument of adaptation and structural safeguarding through constitutional cores that are resistant to change also have an intertemporal 'politicality'.