The shear behaviour of kaolinite, illite and montmorillonite depends primarily on the anisotropy of the clay particles and the negative charge of the layer surfaces. In contrast to the Atterberg liquid limit and the rheological behaviour of aqueous clay suspensions the charge at the edge of the clay particle seems to have little influence on the shear strength. The relatively high shear strength of kaolinite comes principally from the intergranular friction. The shear behaviour of illite depends strongly on the counter ions. The shear behaviour of montmorillonite is determined to a large extent by the force with which the layers are held together. It is assumed that the montmorillonite particles break up for the most part into their component layers during shearing.