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The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) started to deal with European integration in the 1970s. Over the past forty years it has produced quite a long line of jurisprudence on different aspects of European integration and the Europeanization of the national legal order. Though the political, economic and institutional circumstances have shifted from the protection of human rights to the protection of the democratic institutions of the nation state and the maintenance of the Union's legal order, the cornerstones of the Court's approach to European integration have remained unaltered: national legislation as a basis of European integration, the principle of conferral as an emanation of national sovereignty and the maintenance of the national constitutional identity (constitutional law based approach).

Summary Talking of the role European Union institutions play in legal education, the answer is clear: they do not have any competence to harmonize legal education throughout the EU. They are neither entitled to legislate on grades nor can they decide on the contents, methods and structure of academic teaching. Although the EU disposes of some competences as far as the access to jobs such as lawyers etc. is concerned, this does not have major effects on legal education. However, by subsidising private projects that deal with the harmonization of legal education, the Commission especially is due to gain some influence in this area – by the so called ‘golden reins’, praetor pactum. In spite of this situation there can be no doubt, that the EU’s legal system, a system of mutual completion and cooperation between European and national law, between European and national authorities, forces professors of law throughout Europe to harmonize the subjects they teach. This development is fully on its way, and it is w...

Summary Legal education in Germany is on the brink of its greatest reform since the beginning of the 19th century. With the 2002 Federal law on the reform of legal education, Germany's legal education is separated into three phases: the first, beginning with the first semester and ending between the fourth and the fifth, is dedicated to the basics of the national and European legal system; the second, beginning with the fifth semester and ending with the First State Exam, is meant to deepen the knowledge of the law in the three branches of private law, public law and criminal law. A third phase, beginning also with the fifth semester, is supposed to enable the students to specialise in a certain field, which differs from law faculty to law faculty. From 2006 on, the First State Exam will consist of two parts: the first, for which the Ministry of Justice of the respective ‘Land’ is responsible, deals with the content of legal education for the first and second phase; it counts for 70%. The second part, dea...

To correct angulation and to avoid plaster immobilization in diaphyseal fractures in childhood, intramedullary nailing with flexible titanium pins is an easy and safe method. Under radiographic control, fractures of femur, tibia, and humerus are stabilized with two crossing pins. Forearm fractures are splinted with a single pin each in the radius and the ulna. Even displaced fractures of the radial neck can be corrected with a distally introduced titanium pin. This method is safe in elective trauma surgery and will especially be useful in polytraumatized children in whom multiple fractures should be stabilized with minimal x-ray exposure in a short time.