Abstract

The paper examines the topic of legal certainty in the German legal system with a focus on the protection of the stability of citizens’ situations. Indeed, legal certainty presupposes the existence of a sphere in which planning must be protected from legal uncertainty and second thoughts. In this context, special attention is paid to the principle of legitimate expectations, which in its embryonic formulation can be regarded as a reflex effect of legal certainty, but which has now acquired autonomy and independence