A. The Point of View of the Sociology of Law

Sociology of law usually applies three basic distinctions that also can be applied to the analysis of the Grundgesetz (Basic Law or constitution).

I. Three Basic Distinctions

A starting point of socio-legal analyses lies in the distinction between the normative and the factual or, in traditional terms, between the law in the books and law in action.  This comes close to what is familiar in the German doctrine as the contrast between constitutional law and constitutional reality (Verfassungsrecht/Verfassungswirklichkeit).  On the one hand we find “norms as such”; while on the other, however, we have to study whether and in which way these norms are applied, what use is made of them and what are the effects of these practices.