Interorganrespekt im Verfassungsrecht

The problem of allocating political power among the various constitutional organs is usually tackled by installation of a system of 'checks and balances'. However, this solution entails the danger of confrontations and stalemates which might easily forestall any possibility of reaching common answers in important political matters. To counteract this danger, a legally founded obligation of the organs involved to mutually respect their competences and to cooperate in the general interest seems indispensable. Ralph Alexander Lorz demonstrates that the existence of such an obligation is implicitly accepted in every constitutional system that is based on the idea of 'checks and balances'. He develops a theory which establishes this obligation as a pivotal constitutional principle.