Faktische Grenzen judikativer Kontrolle und eingeforderte Maßstabsbildung in der (Nicht-)Wissensgesellschaft

Many areas of administrative law can no longer be fully understood without technical and natural scientific knowledge. Public bodies have significantly increased their capability to deal with technical and ecological questions arising in these fields of law, but sometimes still need advice from experts. Decision making becomes even more critical when the experts themselves cannot agree on scientific facts or principles or when the necessary knowledge is simply not present. The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany has given a judgement on shortening the scope of judicial review in cases of missing knowledge in administrative decision making processes. It has also requested the legislative authority to provide statute law for the executive authority to reduce uncertainty where scientific knowledge does not seem to develop by itself. This article presents the judgement of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, and discusses future implications for the scope of judicial review and the role of courts beyond environmental matters.

Autor: Prof. Dr. Martin Kment