Nach der 'Stunde Null'

After 1945, Germany was faced with a new beginning. In dealing once again with the Civil Code of 1900, legal experts revived the principles of private law. Ilka Kauhausen examines positions in private law from 1945 up to the late seventies. She establishes the fundamental phases and groups and shows that it was mainly 'cultural law' and human rights which were given priority until the end of the fifties. It was not until the sixties that the compliance with the German Basic Law gained acceptance, and this had a considerable effect on private law. As a result, fundamental issues were increasingly left up to constitutional interpretation and public law - and the consequences for the theory of private law were serious.