»The Discontinuity Principle in Parliamentary Law«: The discontinuity principle has the effect that at the end of the electoral period the entire parliamentary business - mandates, organizational structure and proceedings - expires and must be renewed. The author shows what shift there has been in the justification of this seemingly radical principle across historical changes, how today's parliamentary practice deals with it, why it is not a mandatory principle, but, in conclusion, deserves to be included in the text of the German constitution.