Open Access

Christian A. Bauer, Harald Bolsinger

• This article examines the hiatus between constitutional principles and value-orientated practices. It considers the risks that are at stake when the actualization of regulative principles fails in political reality, diagnosing that the political, economic, and social reality is frequently lagging far behind the potential of constitutionally guaranteed rights and duties. To this end significant parallels in the genesis of the Bavarian and the Indian Constitution are highlighted and the importance of value rankings is shown by reference to central insights of the founder of the »Soziale Marktwirtschaft« (»social market economy«) Ludwig Erhard. The authors defend the thesis that values sail in ballast when they are not part of practiced virtues. This article is the revised version of the study »The Value of Constitutional Values: An Exploratory Study of the Constitutions of India and Bavaria« first published in: Tattva. Journal of Philosophy, Vol 9, No 1, 2017, pp. 13-30; Tattva is a double blind peer-reviewed journal.