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The so-called '''Cologne circumcision court judgment''' means a judgment<ref>http://dejure.org/dienste/vernetzung/rechtsprechung?Gericht=LG%20K%F6ln&Datum=07.05.2012&Aktenzeichen=151%20Ns%20169/11</ref> issued by the regional court of Cologne (Germany) on 7 May 07, 2012 in the second instance. The court considered [[circumcision]] (''Beschneidung'') a bodily injury, which will not be justified by a religious motivation and the desire of the parents and is not in the best interests of the child. The decision was taken in view of the fundamental rights provided by the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany (''Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland'').
==German Basic Law==
Since subsequent cases of [[circumcision]] would be no longer protected by 'unavoidable mistake' on the basis of this judgment, the judgment attracted more attention and initiated a change of direction in the legal opinion on the subject [[MGM|Circumcision of Boys]] in Germany.
The Cologne Regional Court (''Landgericht Köln'') mainly related to earlier publications<ref>[http://www.holmputzke.de/index.php/kontrovers/religioese-beschneidungReligiöse Beschneidung]</ref> of [[Holm Putzke]] on the topic and found that neither the parental authority nor the religious freedom of parents would be sufficient grounds to justify the irreversible [[circumcision]] of genitals.
<blockquote>
"Anyway, Article 2 paragraph 2 sentence 1 GG ''(Basic Law)'' is an intrinsic constitutional limit for the fundamental rights of parents. On balancing the affected fundamental rights, the principle of proportionality has to be observed. [[Circumcision]] for religious education is a violation of the physical integrity and, if it is required at all, in any case inappropriate. This follows from the classification of § 1631 subsection 2 sentence 1 BGB ''(Civil Law Code)''. Also, the body of the child is changed permanently and irreparably by [[circumcision]]. This change is against the interest of the child to be able to decide himself about his religious affiliation later.
Vice versa, the education right of parents is not unreasonably impaired if they are to be seen whether the boy decides later when he is mature, himself for the [[circumcision]] as a visible sign of belonging to Islam."<ref>[http://www.iww.de/quellenmaterial/id/85915Landgericht Köln: Urteil vom 07.05.2012 – 151 Ns 169/11]</ref>
</blockquote>