Die Rechtsfindung im Steuerrecht

Tax law established itself as an independent discipline relatively late and has been determined by sharp contrasts in legal methodology since its beginnings. Ralf Peter Schenke reconstructs this debate by analyzing the central positions and arguments of methodological controversy in this field of law and then putting them into the context of current developments in legal methodology. Particularly, his study focuses on the significance of the constitution for legal methodology. He demonstrates that 'constitutionalization' appears to be rather limited as to its potential for solving methodological queries since there are no clear criteria for balancing a number of divergent principles inherent to methodological constitutional law. In addition, constitutionalized methodology is being challenged by the Europeanization of the legal system. In the author's view, the constitution is merely a framework for legal methodology.