»The >Verschleifungsverbot< in the German constitution«: Subject of the paper is the so-called >Verschleifungsverbot<, derived by the >German Federal Constitutional Court< from Article 103 (2) of the German Basic Law. Based on an empirical analysis, the difficulties of application of the >Verschleifungsverbot< as well as possible reasons for them are elaborated. The paper concludes that in literature and case law the prohibition is understood narrowly in some cases and broadly in others, but that only a narrow understanding is sensible.