This week, Germany's federal constitutional court ruled Sunday shopping unconstitutional "“ at least the way Berliners do it. The shop-till-you-drop culture that arose alongside globalisation in the 1990s has long clashed with Germany's postwar constitution. That document incorporates language from the 1919 Weimar constitution to the effect that Sunday shall be a day of "rest from work and seelische Erhebung".
This last phrase is hard to translate "“ it means something like "cultivation of the soul" or "spiritual edification" and the court, which gave the shopping restrictions only a narrow majority of 5-3, was divided about what it means.
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