The small word “not” changes the task.
Three options reflect familiar constitutional principles. This question asks for the remaining statement. Read the whole question first: you are not choosing the most important right, but identifying a claim the Basic Law does not make.
Equality before the law concerns legal standards and how people are treated. Higher income does not make someone more valuable or place them above the law. Conversely, legal equality does not require everyone’s wages, savings or assets to be identical.
The other three answers
These three statements are not the answer because they do reflect constitutional protections.
Human dignity is inviolable.
Human dignity appears expressly at the start of Article 1. This option names a foundational constitutional principle, not the exception sought.
Everyone may express their opinion.
Article 5 protects expression. The simplified option describes that right; its legal limits do not change the fact that it appears in the Basic Law.
Everyone is equal before the law.
Article 3 establishes equality of all people before the law. That legal equality must not be confused with identical financial circumstances.
The social-state principle still matters.
Rejecting the equal-money claim does not mean the state may be indifferent to hardship. Article 20 describes Germany as a social federal state. Statutory support and constitutional duties are different from requiring identical wealth for everyone.
Equality also does not mean every legal rule must treat all circumstances identically. Relevant distinctions need an objective and constitutionally sufficient justification. Question 017 explores that distinction.
Article 3 · Basic Law ↗Equal before the law ≠ equal bank balances.
Notice “not” first. Then eliminate dignity, expression and legal equality because they are protected constitutional principles.
Three words for this question
- gleichequal / the same
- Here, distinguish equal legal standards from the same amount of money.
- die Würdedignity
- Every person’s inherent worth, regardless of wealth.
- nichtnot
- The negative reverses the task: find the exception.