Complaint (German law)
The complaint ( lat. Gravamen , to gravis "difficult") is a legal remedy against decisions, resolutions and measures of an authority or a court . You can only appeal against judgments in exceptional cases. Ordinary legal remedies ( appeal or appeal ) are usually directed against judgments .
The complaint is known in the German legal system in several forms: With constitutional complaint , appeal , dispute complaint , appeal against detention and disciplinary complaint may be mentioned the most famous. All complaints outside judicial or administrative proceedings based on the petition of Art. 17 GG .
A distinction must be made between informal and formal legal remedies, which are referred to as complaints. Informal legal remedies are, for example, the simple complaint about a factual or legal situation, the supervisory complaint that complains about the personal behavior of a certain official, the technical supervisory complaint that complains about a decision or measure taken with regard to the legality and expediency, and the counter-presentation .
The complaint is a prerequisite for the admissibility of the formal complaint ; If the decision does not burden the person concerned, a complaint is not admissible. If, for example, the court has granted the complainant's requests, he cannot file a complaint due to the lack of a complaint, even if he B. is not satisfied with the reason. The court to which the complaint must be lodged is determined differently in the various types of proceedings. The rules of procedure provide for filing with the court whose decision is being contested as well as with the court that has to decide on the complaint.
In the ordinary courts ( civil proceedings or criminal proceedings ) are District Courts or Courts of Appeal to rule on a complaint in charge, not unless the district court which issued the contested decision, the appeal remedies themselves. The Federal Court of Justice decides on legal complaints .
The admissible and substantively legally justified complaint is remedied . If the complaint is already inadmissible (e.g. because the complaint deadline has not been met) it will be rejected . If the complaint is admissible but unfounded, it will be rejected .
In administrative procedural law , the complaint has been replaced by the objection procedure. In tax law , this is the objection .
In the administrative process and in the social process, the complaint against court decisions is opened (§ § 146 ff. VwGO , § § 172 ff. SGG ). On the appeal decides Higher Administrative Court / the Administrative Court or the Social Court . As a rule, decisions by these courts are final.
In patent and trademark matters , a final decision of the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA) can be appealed to the Federal Patent Court ( Section 73 Patent Act , Section 133 Trademark Act ); a possible appeal on points of law takes place at the Federal Court of Justice. The appeal procedure before the Federal Patent Court is regulated in the Patent Act.
If the complaint is tied to a deadline ( § 793 ZPO ; § 567 ff. ZPO; § 311 StPO ), this complaint is called an immediate complaint . The deadline is two weeks in civil cases and one week from service in criminal proceedings. In the administrative process and in the social process, the complaint is always subject to a deadline ( Section 147 VwGO : two weeks from delivery; Section 173 SGG : one month from delivery).
In certain cases, a further appeal is admissible against the decision of the appeal court. In civil litigation, it is expressly permitted; in voluntary jurisdiction , it is designed as a legal complaint ( Section 70 FamFG ). In criminal proceedings, it is only possible against detention or temporary placement ( Section 310 StPO). A further supervisory complaint is possible under administrative law. In the administrative process and in the social process, further complaints are only opened in a few exceptional cases ( § 153 VwGO, § 177 SGG).
