The Boll Case

54 BVerfGE 208 (1980)

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The Boll Case

Federal Republic of Germany Federal Constitutional Court
54 BVerfGE 208 (1980)

Facts

In November 1974, terrorists murdered the President of the Berlin Court of Appeals (the president). A television journal on the TV station Freies Berlin (the TV station) (defendant) reported on the president’s state funeral. A television commentator, X (defendant), discussed the political climate surrounding the president’s murder. X spoke critically about Heinrich Boll (plaintiff) in his remarks. X argued that Boll shared in the responsibility for the murder because Boll had called the federal state a “dung heap.” In response, Boll sued X and the TV station for defamation and sought 100,000 deutsche marks in damages. The regional court dismissed the suit, and Boll appealed to the regional appeal court. The regional appeal court reversed, awarding Boll 40,000 deutsche marks. The regional appeal court found that the remarks infringed on Boll’s personality right guaranteed in Article 1(1) of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (the Basic Law). The regional appeal court concluded that Boll had been harmed by the commentary because X’s statements imputed certain statements to Boll that he did not make. X appealed to the Federal Republic of Germany Federal Constitutional Court, arguing that the regional appeal court had violated X’s right to freedom of opinion guaranteed under Article 5(1) of the Basic Law.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Per curiam)

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