1991 5 Feb
199- |
The highest legal authority in Germany, the Federal Constitutional Court, overturned the decisions of a number of lower courts that had refused to register the by-laws of a Local Spiritual Assembly on the grounds that the authority granted to the National Spiritual Assembly in the document violated the legal principle requiring the autonomy of all legally incorporated associations.
The case was first brought before the District Court of Tübingen when the legal administrator refused to register the Local Assembly on the 8th of December, 1983. The decision was appealed on the 5th of May 1985 to the High State Court in Sturrgart and rejected on the 27th of January 1986. News of the decision caused other jurisdictions to demand that local assemblies amend their By-Laws or face cancellation of their existing incorporation. The National Spiritual Assembly was in danger of the same fate. An appeal was submitted in March of 1986.
The ruling affirmed Bahá'í community, by its right as a recognized religion, recognized by public knowledge and by the testimony of scholars of comparative religion, had the right to a legal identity. [AWH87]
See Ridván Message 1991.
For complete details of the case see Mess86-01p206-235. |
Local Spiritual Assembly; National Spiritual Assembly; By-laws; Recognition (legal); Tübingen, Germany; Germany |
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Canada
