At the beginning of this discussion on "legality" and "legitimacy," the current domestic situation in Germany is characterized, from a state and constitutional law perspective, as a "collapse of the parliamentary legislative state." This is intended merely as a concise, scientific formula. Optimistic or pessimistic assumptions and predictions are not of interest here; there will also be no discussion of "crises"—whether they are biological, medical, economic, post-war, trust, recovery, puberty, shrinkage, or any other type. To fully understand the complexities of today's concept of legality, the associated parliamentary legislative state, and the legal positivism inherited from the pre-war period, a precise definition of state and constitutional law terms is necessary.