ABSTRACT
Besides setting the framework for political life in the Federal Republic, the Basic Law of 1949 set great store on the achievement of German unity. The Preamble called on the German people to complete ‘the unity and liberty of Germany in free selfdetermination’. Article 23 spoke of the extension of its provisions to other areas of Germany, while Article 146 spoke of its being superseded when the German people decided freely on a new constitution, by implication the time of unification.
