The provisions of the Basic Law with references to international law form the foundation of the constitutional principle of friendliness towards international law. They are the basis for its content as well as for its limits. However, the content of the individual provisions of the Basic Law on the domestic effects of international law is rather unclear. The widely agreed restriction of Article 25 of the Basic Law to unwritten international law does not find sufficient support in its drafting history. And Article 59 (2) of the Basic Law does not offer any clear indication that international treaties are only accorded the status of statutory law within the domestic legal order. These two basic constitutional assumptions furthermore lead to inconsistencies and contradictions and do not do justice to the changes of the international legal order since the entry into force of the Basic Law. Against this background, the provisions of the Basic Law do not bar the acknowledgement of a constitutional requirement to observe international law, which also extends to the legislature and to international treaties.
