18. Which fundamental right is guaranteed in Article 1 of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany?

Answer options

1. the inviolability of human dignity
2. the right to life
3. freedom of religion
4. freedom of expression

Explanation

Article 1(1) GG guarantees the inviolability of human dignity; sentence 2 obliges all public authority to respect and protect it, and Article 1(3) binds state authority to the fundamental rights as directly applicable law. In response to the crimes of National Socialism, dignity was elevated to the supreme constitutional principle and entrenched by the eternity clause in Article 79(3) against dilution or repeal. The Federal Constitutional Court derived from this an objective value order that permeates the entire legal system (Lüth judgment, 1958). Other fundamental rights—life (Art. 2(2)), freedom of religion (Art. 4), and freedom of expression (Art. 5)—are vital but normatively subordinate to the primacy of dignity.