Page:British and Foreign State Papers, vol. 155 (1958).djvu/524

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Germany (Federal Republic)

public and the participants. Regarding the extent of compensation, appeal may be made to the ordinary courts in case of dispute.

Article 15

Land and landed property, natural resources and means of production may, for the purpose of socialisation, be transferred to public ownership or other forms of publicly controlled economy by way of a law which shall regulate the nature and extent of compensation. For the compensation, Article 14, paragraph 3, sentences 3 and 4, shall apply appropriately.

Article 16

No one may be deprived of his German citizenship. The loss of citizenship may occur only on the basis of a law and, against the will of the person concerned, only if the person concerned is not rendered stateless thereby.

No German may be extradited to a foreign country. The politically persecuted shall enjoy the right of asylum.

Article 17

Everyone shall have the right, individually or jointly with others, to address written requests or complaints to the competent authorities and to the popular representative bodies.

Article 18

Whoever abuses the freedom of expression of opinion, in particular the freedom of the press (Article 5, para. 1), the freedom of teaching (Article 5, para. 3), the freedom of assembly (Article 8), the freedom of association (Article 9), the secrecy of mail, post and telecommunications (Article 10), property (Article 14), or the right of asylum (Article 16, para. 2), in order to attack the free, democratic basic order, shall forfeit these basic rights. The forfeiture and its extent shall be pronounced by the Federal Constitutional Court.

Article 19

In so far as according to this Basic Law a basic right may be restricted by legislation or on the basis of a law, the law must apply in general and not solely to the individual case. Furthermore, the law must name the basic right, indicating the Article.

In no case may a basic right be affected in its basic content.