Rechtsstaat - Demokratie - Grundrechte

Richard Thoma was one of the most important German teachers of Constitutional law in the 20th century. His works cover subjects ranging from the Wilhelminian Empire to the reconstruction of a free democratic order after 1945. Many of his publications, in particular those concerning the Weimar Constitution, can be regarded as modern classics of Constitutional law in view of their analytical depth and their historical basis as well as their perspective of comparative law. He also wrote important essays on the German Basic Law and created a new catchphrase by characterizing the guarantee of legal recourse as the »keystone in the vault of the Constitutional state.« This presentation of Thoma's major writings on issues pertaining to the Constitutional state, democracy and fundamental rights shows the significance of his work, whose basic approaches are described in Horst Dreier's introduction.