which was passed constitutionally because according to his opinion concerning certain standards which again according to his opinion are above the legislator, that is to say, morality, ethics, natural law, they contradict these points or because they cannot stand up to certain evaluations.” I had to read this out verbatim. Therefore, it was rather difficult for the interpreter because of the position of the verbs. The reason for that situation in Germany, which is a situation that applies to the whole of Europe, is this--and I now have to broach a subject, the effect of which did not affect England or the United States. The state of the European continent came into existence from the fragments of the _Corpus Christianum_ of western Europe. The break of the medieval realm is the soil on which the modern sovereign states grew. These states starting with Italy believe ever more strongly in the idea that they are sufficient to themselves, that they can live by their own efforts, that they are under no obligation to the past or to the future. The state becomes a purpose to itself. That has been emphasized again and again, and that development goes on from Macchiavelli, the great Florentine; Jean Bodin, the great Frenchman; and as far as Hegel, the great German. As a result, ethical evaluations may be made by the legislator, parliament, or the monarch, but the resolution passed by the monarch or parliament deprives those who are governed by these laws of all right of objection. May I draw the attention of the Tribunal to one event that occurred under the Weimar constitution. During the first years of the republic it became known among the public that Berlin was thinking of forbidding any revalorization [or revaluation-- Aufwertung] by law.[148] The judges of the Reich Supreme Court of Leipzig at that time formed their own association, and that association of judges, in view of that rumor, held a meeting and passed a resolution to the effect that if such a law were to be promulgated, they would refuse to apply it. That happened in 1924, and it was emphasized that such a law would run counter to morality. There was a storm of indignation among the Reich government. The Reich Minister of Justice protested using very sharp expressions, and the Reich Supreme Court did not carry out its threats. However, in 1927 the Reich Supreme Court in a decision published in volume 118 declared--“The legislator in the autocracy is not bound to any other restrictions but those which he draws for himself from the constitution or from other laws.”