A Study of Occupational Freedom in the German and Korean Constitutions and Examination of the Constitutionality of the Korean Law School’s Admission System

Abstract

This article reviews and examines 1) significance of occupational freedom’s protection, 2) provisions of German Constitution, primarily Article 12(1), relevant to occupational freedom, 3) the German Federal Constitutional Court’s decisions about occupational freedom, particularly, the pharmacy case, in which the theory of 3 steps was found, and Numerus Clausus case in which the Court ruled that the medical school’s rejection to applicants violated the Basic Law. The article applies these understanding about occupational freedom to examine the constitutionality of Korean law school’s current admission system. This would be meaningful because there exist many similarities between Korean and German Constitution, particularly in the domain of occupational freedom and Korean Court had often referred to the decisions the German court made in similar cases. A graduation of Korean law school is an irreplaceable prerequisite to pass a bar exam and be a lawyer. Referring to the Basic Law and the Federal Constitutional Court’s decisions about occupational freedom, especially a 3-steps theory, the article concludes that the current Korean law school admission system infringes on occupational freedom of law school applicants rejected admission and therefore needs to be reformed.