The modern German legal system is a system of law which is grounded on the principles laid out by the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, though many of the most important laws as for example most regulations of the civil code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, or BGB) were developed prior to the 1949 constitution. Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland is the Constitution of Germany. The Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (or BGB) is the Civil code of Germany. Year 1949 ( MCMXLIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. It is composed of public law (öffentliches Recht), which regulates the relations between a citizen/person and the state or two bodies of the state (including criminal law) and the private law (Privatrecht) which regulates the relations between two people or companies. Public law is a theory of law governing the relationship between Individuals ( Citizens companies) and the State. The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different Jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential Private law (Civil law is that part of a Legal system that involves relationships between individuals
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History
German law has been subject to many influences over the centuries. Until Medieval times the Early Germanic Law, derived from the Salic Law of the Salian Franks and other tribes were common. Several Latin Law codes of the Germanic peoples written in the Early Middle Ages (also known as leges barbarorum Salic law ( Lat Lex Salica) was an important body of traditional Law codified for governing the Salian Franks in the Early Middle Ages With the arrival of the Renaissance, Roman law again began to play a strong role, and later on legal scholars known as the Pandectists revived the formalities of Roman Law as set by Justinian in the Corpus iuris civilis. The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere Pandectists were German university legal scholars in the early 19th century who studied and taught Roman law as a model of what they called Konstruktionsjurisprudenz Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus ( Greek: Φλάβιος Πέτρος Σαββάτιος Ιουστινιανός; known in English as Justinian I or The Corpus Juris Civilis ("Body of Civil Law" is the modern name for a collection of fundamental works in Jurisprudence, issued from 529 It became common law (Gemeines Recht) in large parts of the German-speaking world and prevailed far into the 19th century. As the Holy Roman Empire was composed of countless little territorial entities, the laws varied very much, according to local traditions and religions. The Holy Roman Empire ( HRE; German Heiliges Römisches Reich (HRR, Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium (SRI was a union of territories in These laws were codified in about local 3000 Weistümer (also called Holtinge or Dingrodel), collections of rural laws. Only in relation to the Imperial superior Court of Justice, the Reichskammergericht, there existed codes of procedure. In addition to these the Corpus Iuris Canonici, the source of the better organized ecclesiastical judicature and the old Corpus Iuris Civilis. Both bodies of law were central part of the education of jurists and therefore generally known among them. So these regulations were used in local procedures as well.
Prussia made an effort to bring in an all-new set of laws with the Allgemeines Landrecht für die preußischen Staaten General National Law for the Prussian States) a system of codification, containing laws in relation to the whole spectrum of legal divisions, in the 18th century which, had a great influence on later works. Prussia ( Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Prūsija Prūsija Prusy Old Prussian: Prūsa) was most recently a historic state
After the French July Revolution of 1830, revolutionary ideas of the French Revolutionand Napoleon's laws as the Code Civil the Code Pénale and the Code d´ Instruction Criminelle strongly influenced the German legal tradition, especially in the Grand Duchy of Baden, which sometimes only translated codifications of France for its own use. The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution, saw the overthrow of King Charles X, the French The French Revolution (1789–1799 was a period of political and social upheaval in the History of France, during which the French governmental structure previously an Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821 was a French military and political leader who had a significant impact on the History of Europe. The Napoleonic Code, or Code Napoléon (originally called the Code civil des Français) is the French Civil code, established under Baden is a historical state in the southwest of Germany, on the right bank of the Rhine.
With the forming of the Deutsches Reich in 1871, a great wave of legal standartization set on, beginning with criminal law and processual law and culminating in the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (Book of Civil Law) after over twenty years of creative process. Deutsches Reich was the name for Germany from 1871 to 1945 in the German language. Year 1871 ( MDCCCLXXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (or BGB) is the Civil code of Germany. Important parts of German legislation still contain regulations of these laws. However, the various states always maintained their own laws to an extent and, in modern federal Germany, still do.
In 1919 in Weimar the Weimarer Verfassung (Weimar Constitution) was created: the first democratic constitution of Germany. For a detailed discussion of the English translation of Reich, see Reich. This was a very liberal and democratic constitution but it did not contain any ethical or political base. It allowed unlimited changes, the only requirement of any legal decision was a formally correct decision of the appropriate legal institution.
This ultimate democratic legal constitution allowed Hitler to change the whole state according to his wishes. The main crimes of National socialism were in form absolutely legal, because the Nazi-dominated Reichstag made the necessary decisions. The Nazis understood law as the execution of the Will of the Führer. Jewish and critical jurists were eliminated, a blood letting, that later could not be made up for, because some of the best jurists,and especially lawyers, were Jews. Many others collaborated with the system. This happened because of adherence to Hitler or in the hope of career advancement, because nobody was forced to participate in political relevant areas.
After the war, the two newly emerged German states generated two different legal systems. The socialist/communist East Germany tried to install new laws strongly influenced by communist and socialist ideology. The German Democratic Republic ( GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik DDR; commonly known in English as East Germany) was a Socialist state
The democratic state of West Germany built on existing law. West Germany ( Inf German: Westdeutschland or West-Deutschland) was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany ( Most of the legal changes of the National socialism were reversed, especially those with ethical criminal content. A new feature was the treatment of the constitution. This constitution was intended avoid the mistakes of the Weimar Constitution. With the reunification of the two states, West German law was set in force for the most part. A fairly recent development is the influence of European law which aims to harmonize laws in the various states of the European Union, so that a lot of the legal developments are taken out of the hand of the federal government and are decided in Brussels instead, where Germany has its own influence on the process along with the other members. The Law of the European Union is the unique legal system which operates alongside the laws of Member States of the European Union (EU The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in Brussels (Bruxelles pronounced; Brussel pronounced) officially the Brussels Capital-Region, is Still German law is strongly influenced by federalism, and the individual states (Länder) each have their own responsibilities and particular laws, which at times is somewhat inefficient, but on other occasions takes care of regional specialities. German legal tradition has in turn influenced many other countries. Just to name a few, the legal systems of Japan, the Republic of Korea and the Peoples Republic of China are to some extent based on German law. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES
Public law
Public law (Öffentliches Recht) rules the relations between a citizen or private person and an official entity or between two official entities. E. g. , a law which determines taxes is always part of the public law, just like the relations between a public authority of the Federation (Bund) and a public authority of a state (Land). Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Germany (Deutschland is a Federal Republic consisting of sixteen States, known in German as Länder (singular Public law is normally based on the so-called "Über-Unterordnungs-Verhältnis" ("superiority inferiority relationship"). That means that a public authority may define what is to be done, without the consent of the citizen. (E. g. , if the authority orders a citizen to pay taxes, the citizen has to pay, even without an agreement. ) In return, the authority has to abide by the law and may only order, if empowered by a law.
Constitutional law
The constitution (Verfassung) is called the Grundgesetz (Basic Law) because the drafters saw this legal "corpus" as a provisional document, to be replaced by the constitution of a future united Germany. In reaction to National Socialism the Grundgesetz shows mistrust towards its own people and its own government, and was created as a reaction to the problems of the Weimar Constitution. Where the Weimar Constitution was weak, this constitution, the Basic Law was strong, where the Weimar Constitution left every decision to the free will of the legislator, the basic law defines the boundaries that nobody is allowed to cross. Wherever possible, powers are limited and controlled. The constitutional law (Verfassungsrecht) deals, of course, mostly with Germany's constitution and the rights and duties of the various institutions. A major part are the Civil rights which are first in the basic law (Grundgesetz) and from which everything else derives. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland is the Constitution of Germany. As usual in western democracies, the three powers are separated: the executive is taken care of by the government, the judicative by the courts and judges, and the legislative is managed by the federal and state parliaments. The most important principles, apart from that, are Democracy, Federalism and Rechtsstaatsprinzip, meaning that the whole of the state must be based on laws. Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system Political federalism is a Political philosophy in which a group of members are bound together (Latin foedus, covenant) with a governing '''''Rechtsstaat''''' is a concept in Continental European legal thinking originally borrowed from German Jurisprudence, which literally means a "state of law" These parts of the Grundgesetz are forbidden to be changed. Decisions may be made according to the definition of these regulations, but the essential content has to be unaffected. The highest authority in constitutional law, and to some extent in German law as a whole, is the Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) The Bundesverfassungsgericht is no Supreme Court. The Federal Constitutional Court (in German: Bundesverfassungsgericht BVerfG) is a special Court established by the Basic Law for the Federal Republic It is not a court of last instance. Its only purpose is the protection of the constitution, by control of the actions of government, judicative and legislative according to constitutional procedures and the ensuring of constitutional rights and duties. Here, the various parts of the state can dispute about the extent of their authority, but it is also the place to appeal to when a citizen feels that he is being deprived of his civil rights. This particular matter takes up a lot of the court's work and often reshapes the legal process itself if the law finds that a certain law does in fact interfere with civil rights. Decisions of other courts are varied only with regard to violations of the constitution. Other mistakes are not relevant. Again, European law has a certain influence here as the Grundgesetz is no longer the sole source of law, instead it is joined by the treaties and laws of the European Union. Apart from the constitution of the Federal Republic, each state(land) has its own constitution and, necessarily, its own constitutional law and court. Nonetheless the Grundgesetz and the Bundesverfassungsgericht are appropriate to actions of the states(laender) and their branches.
Criminal law
Criminal law in the narrow sense of the word is a matter of Federal law in Germany. Main source of law here is the Strafgesetzbuch which originates in the Reichsstrafgesetzbuch. The Strafgesetzbuch is the name of the German, Swiss, Liechtenstein and Austrian Criminal law. No one under 14 years old is held responsible for crimes at court, and for people under the age of 18 and in case of missing maturity under the age of 21 there are special courts and some adjustments to the criminal law as well. In court, a prosecutor (Staatsanwalt, a civil servant) enforces the prosecution, and the defendant can (in many cases has to) choose a lawyer to defend him. The office of the prosecutor (Staatsanwaltschaft), together with the police forces, handle the inquiries in the case at hand, yet they are no party of the process and are supposed to be as objective as possible. The Judgement is passed out by a judge or in higher courts a team of judges, of which in several cases two are ordinary citizens (Schöffen)- German law does not know juries. Sentences stretch from fines to life imprisonment, which is usually open to appeal after 15 or more years because of constitutional reasons. The actual death penalty is explicitly forbidden by the constitution. Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the Killing of a person by judicial process as Punishment. Extremely dangerous persons can be turned over to psychiatric treatment or have to stay in prison as long as necessary (which can mean for the rest of their lives)(Sicherungsverwahrung) in addition to their punishment.
Private law
Private law (Privatrecht) rules the relations between two private legal entities (for example a buyer and a seller, an employer and an employee, a tenant and a landlord) or two entities that act on the same level as private persons (an authority buys its pencils from a private company). Private law (Civil law is that part of a Legal system that involves relationships between individuals For a name see Bayer or Beyer or Beyers. For the occupation in the fashion industry see Buyer (fashion. Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. Landlord is the owner of a House, Apartment, Condominium, or Real estate which is rented or Leased to an individual or business In contrast, whenever a state agency exercises official power, private law is not to be applied.
Civil law
Civil law (Bürgerliches Recht) determines the relationships among persons and/or legal entities, i. Civil law or Romano-Germanic law or Continental law is the predominant system of law in the world. Note This Wikipedia entry deals with the legal concept legal person. e. those who do not fall into a special category (like merchants or employees). The most important reference of this area is the Civil Law Book (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, BGB), which consists of 5 major parts: the common/general part, the law of obligations, property law, family law and law of succession. The Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (or BGB) is the Civil code of Germany. The Law of Obligations is one of the component private law elements of the civil law system of Law. Property law is the area of Law that governs the various forms of Ownership in Real property (land as distinct from personal or movable possessions Family law is an area of the Law that deals with family-related issues and Domestic relations including but not limited to the nature of
The most important principle of the BGB is Privatautonomie, which states that all citizens have the right to rule their own affairs without interference from the state, especially in the disposal of their property according to their will and the creation of contracts with partners and with the contents they like. A contract is an exchange of promises between two or more parties to do or refrain from doing an act which is enforceable in a court of law Because this, most of the rules in the BGB are only supplied in case that the partners of a contract did not make an agreement on that special point themselves. However, in the last few years there has been a tendency towards more regulation, especially between a professional and a consumer, declaring contracts invalid which place an undue burden on one party. Other groups of people that enjoy protection are minors and people in a weak economic position.
The most important creation of the BGB is the Principle of Abstraction (Abstraktionsprinzip). The abstraction principle or Abstraktionsprinzip is a legal term in German law relating to the Law of obligations ( Schuldrecht) and According to this principle, contracts only create an obligation, but there are no actual changes to the legal correlation concerning the object of the contract. To create these changes by fulfillment of the obligation, a different contract, regulated in property law is necessary. By this way, the sale of a burger in exchange for one Euro means three different contracts. Please update other articles as well to avoid contradiction within Wikipedia e One contract concluded by coincident declarations of intent, where the parties agree to buy one burger to the payment one Euro and to create the obligation of the seller, to transfer the burger and to provide property on the burger, to create the obligation of the buyer to transfer the Euro and to provide property on the burger and finally to create a dependence between these two obligations. The second contract consists of the transfer of the burger and the coincident declarations of intent to provide property by doing so. The third contract consists of the transfer of the Euro and the coincident declarations of intent to provide property by doing so. This doesn't mean that contracts in Germany are more complicated to the people involved. Especially the contracts of everyday life do not differ with those in other countries in their outer appearance. For instance, if someone buys a newspaper at a newsstand without saying one single word to the seller, all the three contracts which are mentioned above are fulfilled by conclusive demeanor.
Procedural law
The procedural system of German is based on a highly active role of the judge or the judges. In all branches of jurisprudence the judge takes evidence himself, only assisted by the parties or their lawyers, although in some branches the court is limited to proof, referred by the parties. In court, both parties have the same rights and duties. Each side can (in higher courts has to) require the services of one or several attorneys. They present facts and evidence for their version of the case of their own accord and without the help of the judge, who then makes his judgement independently. With exception of the social law some parts of the employment law the costs of all the participants of the lawsuit (including the costs of the opponent) have to be paid by the loser.
See also
- Legal systems of the world
- Japanese law, which is based heavily on German civil law
Articles about specific German laws
External links
- Introduction into the German law system - History of German law, Organisation of the state, Sections of law, Sources of German law, Jurisdiction, Professions of law
- German Law Archive
- Penal Code of the Federal Republic of Germany
- The Legal Guide to Germany
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