Peter Häberle

Peter Häberle (born: 13th May 1934 in Göppingen, Baden-Württemberg) is a German legal scholar in Constitutional Law.

Biography

Häberle's father was Dr. med Hugo Häberle; his mother Ursula Häberle (birth-name: Riebensahm).

Häberle studied law in Tübingen, Bonn, Freiburg im Breisgau and Montpellier. In 1961 he received his PhD with a work supported by Professor Konrad Hesse at the faculty of law, University of Freiburg. The title of this thesis was "Die Wesensgehaltgarantie des Art. 19 Abs. 2 Grundgesetz", the titles of the Spanish and Italian version could be translated as: The fundamental rights in the constitutional state, (1962, 3rd strongly edited volume 1983). It became an influential work in the science of Constitutional law and there were a lot of discussions about it.Especially Häberle's hypotheses concerning the then teachings about fundamental rights were heavily disputed and attacked as being too much social-scientific and not in accordance with legal scholarship. But this discussion bore fruits: Häberle enriched these hypotheses in a referat given to the Society of Scholars for German Constitutional law in 1971; its title was "Grundrechte im Leistungsstaat", i. e. "Fundamental rights in the state of benefits". At this gathering he was heavily attacked with the argument he was forgetting the true nature of fundamental rights in his works: to fight of the state's influence on the individual.

In 1970 Häberle made his habilitation in Freiburg im Breisgau with a work on "Öffentliches Interesse als juristisches Problem" i. e. Public interest as a legal problem (2. edition 2006). After deputizing as professor in Tübingen he became a professor of law in Marburg himself. Later he changed to the Universities of Augsburg and Bayreuth. Besides he hosted as visitant professor at the University of St. Gallen (1982-1999).

Later he became strongly involved in the comparison of constitutional law and the cultural sciences. This can be seen in his editorship of the "Jahrbuch des öffentlichen Rechts", i .e. Yearbook of public Law. This well-regarded German law journal was edited by Häberle from 1983 to the present day, even continuing after his emeritation as professor of law.

Häberle has a high reputation abroad, especially in Spanish-speaking countries. His works have been translated into 18 languages. He was honored by an international Festschrift for his 70th birthday - an honor even Hans Kelsen did not receive.

Peter Häberle is like his academic teacher Konrad Hesse standing in the tradition of the Rudolf Smend School of thought. He has publicly acknowledged this fact in a lot of his works.

In 1994 Peter Häberle received the honorary doctorate of the faculty of law of the Aristoteles-University Thessaloniki, in 2000, 2003 and 2007 from the respective faculties in Granada, the Catholic University of Lima and the University of Lisbon. In 2005 the University of Brasilia awarded him with an honorary doctorate. Further honors have been amongst other: the "Great officer of the Republic of Italia"-order, the medals of honor of the Constitutional courts in Rome and Lima, the German and the Bavarian cross of merit.

Publications (part of)

* Grundrechte im Leistungsstaat, (English: Fundamental rights in a state of benefits) in: Veröffentlichungen der Vereinigung Deutscher Staatsrechtslehrer (VVDStRL) vol. 30 (1972), pp. 43
* Die offene Gesellschaft der Verfassungsinterpreten, in: Juristenzeitung (JZ) 1975, pp. 297.
* Klassikertexte im Verfassungsleben, 1981
* "Die Wesensgehaltsgarantie des Art. 19 Abs. 2 Grundgesetz – Zugleich ein Beitrag zum institutionellen Verständnis der Grundrechte und zur Lehre des Gesetzesvorbehalts" 3rd ed., Heidelberg 1983
* Die Gemeinwohlproblematik in rechtswissenschaftlicher Sicht, in: South African Yearbook of International Law, Volume 9, 1983, pp. 53 - 77
* Current problems of German Federalism in: University of Rome II, Department of Public Law, Yearbook (1990 - 1991), p. 79 – 119
* Constitutional developments in Eastern Europe in: Law and State, Institute for Scientific Cooperation, Tübingen (ed.), Vol. 46 (1992), S. 64 - 90
* "Rechtsvergleichung im Kraftfeld des Verfassungsstaates - Methoden und Inhalte, Kleinstaaten und Entwicklungsländer", 1992
* "Europäische Rechtskultur", 1994
* "Wahrheitsprobleme im Verfassungsstaat", 1995
* "Verfassungslehre als Kulturwissenschaft", Duncker und Humblot, 2nd edition, largely extended, (1998), 1188 pages; it was partially translate into Spanish ("Teoría de la Constitutión como ciencia de la cultura", 2000), Italian ("Per una dottrina della costituzione come scienza della cultura", 2001) and Japanese (in: Kobe Law Journal, Vol. 50, No. 4, March 2001)
* "Verfassung als öffentlicher Prozeß", Duncker und Humblot, SöR vol. 353, 3rd ed. Berlin 1998
* "Gibt es eine europäische Öffentlichkeit?", 2000
* "L'Etat Constitutionnel", Paris, 2004
* "Nueve Ensayos Constitucionales y una Lección Jubilar", Lima, 2004; und Mexiko, UNAM, 2004, verfügbar bei UNAM, [http://www.bibliojuridica.org/libros/libro.htm?l=2223]
* "Europäische Verfassungslehre", Baden-Baden, Nomos, 2005, 3rd, revised and extended edition
* "Das Menschenbild im Verfassungsstaat" , Berlin, Duncker und Humblot, 2005, 3rd extended edition
* "El federalismo y el regionalismo como forma estructural del Estado", Mexiko, UNAM, 2006, übersetz von J. Brage Camazano und verfügbar bei [http://www.bibliojuridica.org/libros/libro.htm?l=2300]

Literatur

* Martin Morlok: "Peter Häberle zum 70. Geburtstag", in: Archiv des öffentlichen Rechts, volume 129 (2004), pp. 327 ff.
* Alexander Blankenagel/Ingolf Pernice/Helmuth Schulze-Fielitz: "Verfassung im Diskurs der Welt", Liber Amicorum für Peter Häberle zum siebzigsten Geburtstag, Tübingen 2004
* Francisco Balaguer Callejón (editor): "Derecho Constitucional y Cultura, Estudios en Homenaje a Peter Häberle" (int. Festschrift), Madrid 2004
* Joaquín Brage Camazano, "Nota liminar", P. Häberle, "NUEVE ENSAYOS CONSTITUCIONALES Y UNA LECCIÓN JUBILAR" [http://www.bibliojuridica.org/libros/5/2223/3.pdf]

External links

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* [http://www.uni-bayreuth.de/departments/bieur/ Forschungsstelle für Europäisches Verfassungsrecht]