Having a right is more than being able to act.
At a public meeting, you can say you disagree with a proposed road. This protection does not depend on being stronger than other people or winning majority approval. Freedom of expression leaves room for personal views, including dissent.
Fundamental rights appear at the beginning of the Basic Law and directly bind the state. This question does not ask you to list every freedom: it asks you to choose between four specific options. Article 5 expressly protects expression. The other answers concern weapons or imposing one’s will through power.
The other three answers
For each option, ask whether it protects a liberty or claims permission to use personal force.
Gun ownership
The Basic Law contains no specific fundamental right to own guns. Whether someone may possess particular weapons is a separate question governed by legislation. “Not a fundamental right” does not mean every form of possession is forbidden.
Law of the jungle
The rule of force means the stronger person prevails through physical power. This runs against resolving disputes under shared legal rules.
Vigilante justice
Vigilante justice means punishing others on one’s own authority. A suspicion does not turn a person into a court. Private punishment cannot replace legal proceedings.
Freedom of expression has legal limits.
Article 5(2) refers to general laws, protection of young people and personal honour. The right is therefore no blank cheque for threats or every insult. A particular statement must be assessed in context.
Legally regulated self-defence is also different from the rule of force or vigilante punishment. This question is not testing a self-defence situation. Its purpose is to identify an expressly protected fundamental right among the options.
Article 5 · Basic Law ↗Expressing a view: protected. Imposing force: no fundamental right.
Link expression with Article 5. “Faust” and “Selbstjustiz” point towards imposing one’s will or punishment personally.
Three words for this question
- das Grundrechtfundamental right
- A constitutionally protected right binding the state.
- das Faustrechtthe rule of force
- The stronger person imposes their will by force.
- die Selbstjustizvigilante justice
- Punishing others without legal authority.