On the concept of the “economic constitution” and the importance of Franz Böhm from the viewpoint of legal history

During its development, the concept of an economic constitution embraced varying elements. At the birth of the Federal Republic, these elements stood in sharp contrast to each other. After World War I Hugo Sinzheimer associated the concept with theGemeinwirtschaft (publicly controlled economy) as an expression of the organized economy of the Weimar Reichsverfassung. Franz Böhm deserves recognition for having cast the idea of competition into legal forms; thus he laid the foundation of our economic order and opened new horizons for the concept of economic constitution.