Some say so, others say so. This dispute can be found in the relevant commentaries and is therefore of no further interest to us here. However, attention should be paid to the argument put forward in favor of restrictability by means of a simple legal reservation. An example of this is the decision of the BVerwG of 23.11.2000 - 3 C 40.99. It states the following:
"In the opinion of the recognizing Senate, the legitimation of the legislator for the regulation made in § 4a TierSchG arises from Art. 140 GG in conjunction with Art. 136 I WRV. According to the latter provision, which has become part of the Basic Law through Article 140 of the Basic Law, civil and civic rights and duties are neither conditioned nor restricted by the exercise of religious freedom. This means that the exercise of religious freedom, as guaranteed in Article 4 II of the Basic Law, is expressly made subject to civic duties. First and foremost, civic duties include the duty to obey the law (see Muckel, in: BerlKomm zum GG, Art. 4 para. 47)."
Irrespective of the fact that this view of the BVerwG can be invalidated with the help of historical and systematic arguments, the question arises as to whether the starting point of the BVerwG's argumentation is correct at all: Does the civic duty to comply with the law impose a duty on the individual to comply with the law? Is there a civic, i.e. constitutional, duty to comply with the law? In other words: Can I be a constitutional patriot and still run a red light? - The answer to this is not as clear-cut as it first appears. In Art. 1 para. 3 GG, the Basic Law initially only binds legislation, executive power and jurisdiction to fundamental rights as directly applicable law. The situation is similar in Article 20 para. 3 of the Basic Law, according to which the legislature is bound by the constitutional order, the executive and the judiciary by law and justice.
The Basic Law therefore does not contain an explicit obligation for individuals to comply with the law. Rather, the Basic Law is based on a prerequisite in this respect - the individual's compliance with the law - which it does not itself establish as a duty. The thesis of the BVerwG in its judgment of 23.11.2000 that the civic duty proviso in Art. 136 para. 1 WRV implies a duty of the individual to comply with the law must therefore be contradicted.
This also reveals the wisdom of my first teacher of constitutional law in Greifswald, who laughingly called out to me while crossing a red light:
"I'm a constitutional law expert! What do I care about simple law?"