“Further Development of Law by Judges” – A Comparative Study of dynamic interpretation and related concepts in Germany, France, the EU and the USA

该研究项目涉及分析和讨论德国关于“richterliche Rechtsfortbildung”（“法官进一步发展法律”）概念的辩论。它的目标是揭示这一概念所依据的先前假设，并在此基础上，用两种不同的方法重新界定辩论中的冲突线。这两种方法的结合将使“richterliche Rechtsfortbildung”概念所依据的先前假设能够得到全面考虑：无论是从实质还是从认识论角度。第一种方法需要一个基础和上下文为导向的比较法研究，从法国，美国和欧盟法律的辩论的角度反映德国的概念“richterliche Rechtsfortbildung”的目的。这一比较旨在表明，德国辩论的实际核心不是“richterliche Rechtsfortbildung”概念本身，而是关于通过司法立法的法律演变的（未表达的）先验假设，由于比较，这些假设特别容易受到审查和讨论。此外，比较的目的是检查的假设，即结合先前的假设和实际的概念，以及重点放在“richterliche Rechtsfortbildung”作为法律正在通过司法立法演变的一种方式构成德国辩论的特殊性。第二种方法，这是基于认识论的见解，旨在使一个复杂的转移的调查结果的第一种方法到德国的辩论。为此目的，德国的辩论将从认识论的角度来组织。其目的是要证明，德国的辩论“richterliche Rechtsfortbildung”是，除了通过司法立法的法律演变的实质性事先假设，其特点是（未表达或未考虑）认识论假设。这里要考察的假设是，在不同的认识论假设下，“richterliche Rechtsfortbildung”一词被用来描述、解释或批评不同的现象，这些现象在认识论方面不仅构成一个话语，而且构成几个话语。

The research project is concerned with the analysis and discussion of the German debate on the concept of “richterliche Rechtsfortbildung” (“further development of law by judges”). It pursues the goal of revealing the prior assumptions underlying this concept and, on this basis, of redefining the lines of conflict within the debate with two different approaches. The combination of these two approaches will enable the prior assumptions underlying the concept of “richterliche Rechtsfortbildung” to be comprehensively considered: both in terms of substance and epistemology. The first approach entails a basis- and context-oriented comparative law study with the aim of reflecting the German concept of “richterliche Rechtsfortbildung” from the perspectives of the debates on French, US and EU law. This comparison is intended to show that the actual core of the German debate is not the concept of “richterliche Rechtsfortbildung” as such, but (unexpressed) prior assumptions regarding the evolution of law through judicial lawmaking, which as a result of the comparison become particularly open to scrutiny and discussion. In addition, the comparison is intended to check the hypothesis that the combination of prior assumptions and the actual concept as well as the focus on “richterliche Rechtsfortbildung” as only one way of law being evolved through judicial lawmaking constitute particularities of the German debate. The second approach, which is based on epistemological insights, is designed to enable a sophisticated transfer of the findings of the first approach into the German debate. For this purpose, the German debate is to be structured from an epistemological perspective. The aim is to demonstrate that the German debate on “richterliche Rechtsfortbildung” is, in addition to the substantial prior assumptions on the evolution of law through judicial lawmaking, characterized by (unexpressed or unconsidered) epistemological assumptions. The hypothesis to be examined here is that, given different epistemological assumptions, the term “richterliche Rechtsfortbildung” is used to describe, explain or criticize different phenomena constituting not one discourse only, but several discourses in respect of epistemology.