Court organization in Berlin
This list describes the history of the court organization in Berlin . The Berlin- based courts for all of Prussia and Germany are not shown .
From 1849
With the Royal Decree of January 2, 1849, the jurisdiction privileges and patrimonial courts were abolished and the court structure in the Province of Brandenburg was reorganized. In old Berlin , the Berlin City Court was created as the entrance court for the Berlin district and the Berlin District Court as the district court for the Berlin suburbs. This resulted in the peculiarity that the district court of Berlin was outside its actual judicial district.
Reich Justice Laws
When the Courts Constitution Act came into force in 1879, there were two Berlin regional courts : Regional Court I for the urban district, and Regional Court II for the surrounding area. 14 district courts were set up: Alt-Landsberg , Berlin (II), Bernau , Charlottenburg , Cöpenick , Königs-Wusterhausen , Liebenwalde , Mittenwalde , Nauen , Oranienburg , Rixdorf , Berlin-Spandau , Strausberg , Zossen . In 1899 the division was made into Regional Court I (for the district of the Central District Court), Regional Court II (southern area) and Regional Court III, and the district courts of Berlin-Wedding, Berlin-Schöneberg, Groß-Lichterfelde, Lichtenberg, Neu-Weißensee and Pankow were established .
In 1920, the regional courts II and III became responsible for other parts of the city due to the amalgamation of various communities to form Greater Berlin (in terms of area roughly equivalent to today's city-state). There were twelve local courts in Greater Berlin:
- In the district of the Berlin I Regional Court, the Berlin-Mitte District Court (formerly: Berlin I),
- in the district of the regional court Berlin II the five district courts Berlin-Tempelhof (formerly: Berlin II), Berlin-Schöneberg, Berlin-Lichterfelde, Neukölln (formerly: Rixdorf) and Cöpenick,
- in the district of the district court Berlin III the six district courts Charlottenburg, Spandau, Berlin-Wedding, Berlin-Lichtenberg, Pankow and Weißensee.
All criminal chambers of the three regional courts were set up in the Moabit Criminal Court .
In July 1933, the acting Prussian Justice Minister Hanns Kerrl merged the three regional courts to form a single regional court in Berlin. He appointed Richard Hoffmann, a lawyer in Magdeburg until May 1933, as the first president of the Berlin Regional Court.
Outside the ordinary jurisdiction emerged as specialized courts
- Due to the Reich Tax Code of 1921, the tax court at the State Tax Office Berlin ( Alt-Moabit 144),
- Due to the Labor Court Act 1927, the regional labor court at the Berlin I regional court with labor court (previously industrial court ; Zimmerstrasse 90).
Rebuilding after the war
Ordinary jurisdiction
With the occupation of Berlin, the victorious Soviet power began to rebuild a judiciary. On May 18, 1945, the Soviet city commandant Colonel General Nikolai Erastowitsch Bersarin ordered the formation of a district court for each district of the city of Berlin. These should be directly subordinate to the respective Soviet district commanders. The majority of the “district court directors” elected were people without qualifications for judicial office; The decisive factor was the distance between the new judges and the National Socialist state. On May 25, 1945 there was a meeting of the appointed district court presidents, district commanders and General Bersarin in the building of the AG Lichtenberg, which was only slightly destroyed . Bersarin instructed those present to open the court until June 1st. So instead of the previous 12 local courts, 21 district courts were created. A public prosecutor's office was set up for each court and two lawyers were admitted. These courts had the tasks of a court of entry in civil and criminal matters (the Moabit Criminal Court had not been re-established). In addition, the district courts (which were subsequently also referred to as local courts) also had additional tasks in the area of voluntary jurisdiction, as no notaries were appointed.
The following courts of first instance arose:
| District or district court | district | Court address | sector | Incorporated into |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlottenburg | Charlottenburg | District court place 1 | UK | |
| Friedenau | Friedenau | Lauterstraße 20 ( town hall ) | US | AG Schöneberg |
| Friedrichshain | Friedrichshain | Frankfurter Allee 23 | SU | AG Berlin-Mitte |
| Koepenick | Koepenick | Kirdorfplatz 6 | SU | |
| Kreuzberg | Kreuzberg | Gneisenaustrasse 7 | US | AG Tempelhof |
| Lichtenberg | Lichtenberg | Wagnerplatz 1 | SU | |
| center | center | New Friedrichstrasse 12/15 | SU | |
| Neukölln | Neukölln | Emser Strasse 137 | US | |
| Pankow | Pankow | Kissingenstrasse 6 | SU | |
| Prenzlauer Berg | Prenzlauer Berg | Hosemannstrasse 14 | SU | AG middle |
| Reinickendorf | Reinickendorf | Flottenstrasse 29/42 | FR | AG Wedding |
| Schöneberg | Schöneberg | Elßholzstrasse 32 | US | |
| Spandau | Spandau | Potsdamer Strasse 18 and 34 | UK | |
| Steglitz ( Lichterfelde ) | Steglitz | Ringstrasse 9 | US | was initially retained, in 1973 to AG Schöneberg |
| Tempelhof | Tempelhof | Dorfstrasse 19/20 | US | |
| Zoo | Zoo | Turmstrasse 91 | UK | remained as the only new AG |
| Treptow | Treptow | At Treptower Platz 32 | SU | AG Koepenick |
| Wedding | Wedding | Brunnenplatz 1 | FR | |
| Weissensee | Weissensee | Parkstrasse 1 | SU | |
| Wilmersdorf | Wilmersdorf | Kaiserallee 35 | UK | AG Charlottenburg |
| Zehlendorf | Zehlendorf | Argentine Avenue 4 | US | was initially retained, in 1973 to AG Schöneberg |
A city court in Berlin was set up as a higher court. This consisted of three chambers with three judges each. This took its seat not in the chamber court building, but in the building of the district court Berlin-Mitte. There was also no continuity with the Supreme Court in terms of personnel. The last President of the Supreme Court, Johannes Block, was arrested by the Soviets and has since "disappeared". On May 20, 1945, the Professor of Pharmacy Arthur Kanger was appointed as City Court Director instead .
When the Americans marched into the American sector on July 4, 1945, they formed the Berlin II district court with its seat at Argentinische Allee 4–6 in Berlin-Zehlendorf . Siegfried Loewenthal became director of this regional court, and until 1933 President of the regional court in Oels .
The British also provided for their “own” Supreme Court and appointed Wagin as President of the Courts in the British Sector.
This division of the judicial organization was lifted after a short time. At its 12th meeting on September 27, 1945, the Allied Command decided on the judicial structure of the occupied city. One returned here to the traditional division with three instances; 14 local courts were formed; above it stood the Berlin Regional Court and the Higher Regional Court. Arthur Kanger became President of the Court of Appeal, Loewenthal and Wagin deputy.
Allied jurisdiction
Due to the occupation, the Allied jurisdiction took precedence over the German jurisdiction. Initially exercised by military courts (in East Berlin until 1955), it was transferred to the Allied High Commission (AHK) / Allied Commandantura Berlin (AKB) for the western sectors in 1949/1950 . While the provisions of the Occupation Statute for West Germany ended with the Paris Treaties in 1955, the courts of the Western Allies for Berlin remained in place until 1989. However, they were rarely used (example USA: plane hijacked Gdansk 1978/1979; Great Britain: Ekkehard Weil 1970/1971; France: plane hijacked Warsaw 1969).
Administrative jurisdiction
On October 8, 1945, the magistrate decided to set up a city administration court, but the Allied command office refused. On November 19, 1945, the American military government ordered the establishment of city administration courts and a district administration court for the American sector. On December 15, 1945, the British followed this step. After protests by the Soviets, the Allied Command Office agreed on May 10, 1946 that administrative courts could but did not have to be set up. However, these should be subordinate to the administration of justice and not to the Interior Senator. Although the Control Council Act No. 36 provided for the establishment of administrative courts throughout Germany, the Soviets and French did not set up administrative courts in their sectors.
Labor jurisdiction
According to the Control Council Act 21, labor courts should be established in Germany. The Berlin Regional Labor Court was established by ordinance of April 13, 1946 .
Judicial administration
The Allies had stipulated that the sovereignty of justice rested exclusively with them. Therefore, no judicial administration could be established in the city administration. The Chamber Court therefore performed this function itself.
The split in the judiciary
The division of Berlin came into effect at the latest with the split of the Berlin city council in September 1948. The division of the judiciary was thus mapped out, but was not to take place until a few months later. The judiciary, which was not subordinate to the magistrate, but to the Allied Command, incapable of acting as a result of the Soviet policy of obstruction, had also retained a certain degree of independence in the Eastern sector . In contrast to the Soviet occupation zone , no people's judges were appointed in East Berlin .
The division of the Court of Appeal began with an affair involving the Vice President of the Berlin Regional Court, Jakob Blasse . This was suspended on November 8, 1948 following accusations of enrichment by the President of the Chamber Court, Georg Strucksberg . While the three Western Powers supported his position, the Soviet court officer ordered his reinstatement. The President of the Regional Court Siegfried Loewenthal refused this order on February 4, 1949, on the grounds that such an instruction could only be issued jointly by all four powers of the Supreme Court on February 5, 1949 in the Yorckhaus on Fehrbelliner Platz in West Berlin . The vast majority of judges continued their work there. Ten of the eleven Senate Presidents decided to continue working in the Yorckhaus.
On February 16, the Soviets appointed Hans Freund as the new President of the Supreme Court, which in turn was not recognized in the West. The judiciary was split.
The organization of the courts in both parts of the city initially remained unchanged. In the west the small occupation statute was issued on May 14, 1949 . This was the basis for building a judicial administration.
In West Berlin
The structure of the court organization in West Berlin was relatively stable. With the law on the amalgamation of the district courts of Lichterfelde, Schöneberg and Zehlendorf of July 13, 1973, the district courts of Lichterfelde and Zehlendorf were repealed.
The Social Court and the State Social Court of Berlin were established as special administrative courts in 1954 .
In East Berlin
A new court structure was introduced in the GDR in 1952. East Berlin was not part of the GDR due to its four-power status . There, the GDR court structure was established with the ordinance of the East Berlin magistrate of November 21, 1952 on the constitution of the courts of Greater Berlin . The district court was named Stadtgericht (C 2, Littenstrasse 14/15 ); the district courts carried the designation Stadtbezirksgericht . Originally there were eight of these (one for each city district ), with the increase in the number of city districts to eleven, the number of city district courts increased accordingly.
The Kammergericht (East) Berlin (also C 2, Littenstrasse 14/15) was the Supreme Court of Greater Berlin until November 27, 1959, when it was replaced and dissolved by the Supreme Court of the GDR .
Civil and criminal court locations (1989) |
| Borough | District Court | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| center | center | |
| Prenzlauer Berg | Prenzlauer Berg | |
| Friedrichshain | Friedrichshain | |
| Pankow | Pankow | |
| Weissensee | Weissensee | To parts 1,986 Pankow extended |
| Hohenschoenhausen | Hohenschoenhausen | Newly formed in 1985 from parts of Weißensee |
| Lichtenberg | Lichtenberg | |
| Marzahn | Marzahn | Newly formed in 1979 from parts of Lichtenberg |
| Hellersdorf | Hellersdorf | 1986 re-formed from parts of Marzahn |
| Treptow | Treptow | |
| Koepenick | Koepenick |
Also passed
- from 1953 to 1963 the city labor court and the city district labor courts (all Georgenkirchplatz 2–10),
- from 1952 to 1990 the contract court of the capital Berlin (Behrenstrasse 42–45) within the framework of the State Contracting Court .
In reunified Berlin
After the political change , it was necessary to establish a uniform court structure for the whole of Berlin and at the same time to transfer the GDR judiciary in terms of personnel and organization to constitutional structures. This was done in two stages: In a first step, on October 3, 1990, the city district courts were repealed. The seven West Berlin district courts remained, whose districts were expanded to include the East Berlin districts. The city district courts continued to operate as branches of these courts. In a second step, five district courts were set up in the former East Berlin districts in 1991 in order to maintain a whole Berlin court organization. With the law on the jurisdiction of the Berlin courts of September 25, 1990, the following court structure was created:
| District Court | Districts |
|---|---|
| Charlottenburg | Charlottenburg , Wilmersdorf , Pankow , Weissensee |
| Neukölln | Neukölln , Treptow , Köpenick |
| Schöneberg | Schöneberg , Steglitz , Zehlendorf , Hohenschönhausen , Marzahn , Hellersdorf |
| Spandau | Spandau |
| Tempelhof-Kreuzberg | Tempelhof , Kreuzberg , Friedrichshain , Lichtenberg |
| Zoo | Zoo |
| Wedding | Wedding , Reinickendorf , Mitte , Prenzlauer Berg |
With the first law amending the law on the jurisdiction of the Berlin courts of October 21, 1991, the following courts were also created on November 1, 1991:
| District Court | Districts |
|---|---|
| Pankow / Weißensee (seat in Weißensee) | Pankow , Weissensee |
| Lichtenberg | Lichtenberg |
| Koepenick | Köpenick , Treptow |
| center | Mitte , Friedrichshain , Prenzlauer Berg |
| Hohenschoenhausen | Hohenschönhausen , Marzahn , Hellersdorf |
The Hohenschönhausen District Court became a branch of the Lichtenberg District Court on January 1, 2009. This was closed on April 2, 2012. The reason was the dilapidation of the courthouse.
With regard to the higher courts, the district of the regional court and the chamber court was extended to the eastern part of Berlin. The east chamber court was repealed. With the law on the Constitutional Court of Berlin of November 8, 1990, the Constitutional Court of the State of Berlin was created .
Current court organization
literature
- Friedrich Scholz: Berlin and its justice: the history of the higher court district 1945 to 1980 , 1982, ISBN 978-3-11-008679-9 , partially digitized.
Individual evidence
- ↑ PrGS 1849 p. 1
- ↑ Regulation concerning the establishment of the district courts from July 26, 1878 ( PRGS S. 275 /276) and Regulation concerning the formation of the district courts from July 5, 1879 ( PRGS S. 393 / 410 et seq.); also here (status: 1894)
- ^ Law on the organization of courts for Berlin and the surrounding area of September 16, 1899 ( PrGS p. 391 )
- ↑ Law on the restructuring of the judiciary in Berlin of April 26, 1933 ( PrGS p. 125 )
- ^ Lothar Gruchmann: Justice in the Third Reich 1933-1940. Adaptation and submission in the Gürtner Munich era 1990; P. 229
- ↑ cf. Ordinance on the formation of the tax courts of August 5, 1921 ( RGBl. P. 1241 )
- ↑ Ordinance on the establishment of labor courts and regional labor courts of June 10, 1927 ( GS p. 97 )
- ↑ VOBl. 1945 p. 20
- ↑ Communiqués, Declarations, Proclamations, Laws, Orders , Publishing House of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany, 1946, p. 99 f. ; see also Art. 1 KRG No. 4 , restructuring of the German judiciary , from October 30, 1945, ABl. KR No. 2 (1945) p. 26 = VOBl. 1945 p. 140
- ↑ cf. Order BK / O (47) 74, jurisdiction of the German courts , of March 28, 1947, VOBl. P. 116; Replaced by Law No. 7, Jurisdiction in the Reserved Areas , of March 17, 1950, OJ. AKB No. 2 (1950), p. 11
- ↑ USA: Act No. 46, American Court for Berlin , of April 28, 1955, OJ AKB No. 71 (1955), p. 1056 ; Great Britain: Regulation No. 208 amending Regulation No. 68 of 30 July 1955, OJ AKB No. 73 (1955), p. 1068 ; France: Ordinance amending the provisions of Ordinances No. 242 and 243 of July 5, 1955, OJ AKB No. 73 (1955), p. 1070
- ^ Friedrich Scholz: Berlin and its justice: the history of the chamber court district 1945 to 1980. de Gruyter, 1982, ISBN 3-11-008679-4 .
- ↑ GVBl. 1973 p. 1015
- ↑ Law on the Constitution of the Courts of the German Democratic Republic (Courts Constitution Act) of October 2, 1952 ( Journal of Laws of I No. 141 p. 983 ( Memento of the original of July 9, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. )
- ^ Ordinance on the constitution of the courts of Greater Berlin of November 21, 1952 (VOBl. I p. 533)
- ↑ Ordinance on the adoption of the laws on the election of judges of the district and district courts by the local people's representatives and on the amendment and addition to the Courts Constitution Act of November 27, 1959 (VOBl. I p. 813) Günther Wieland : The punishment of Nazi crimes in East Germany 1945–1990 , in: Christiaan F. Rüter (Ed.): GDR justice and Nazi crimes . Procedure register and volume of documents, Munich 2010, p. 66 ff.
- ↑ Ordinance on the reorganization and tasks of the labor courts of September 19, 1953 (VOBl. I p. 323)
- ↑ Act to amend and supplement the Labor Code of April 17, 1963 (Journal of Laws of I No. 4 p. 63)
- ↑ Announcement on the seat of the labor courts of September 16, 1953 (VOBl. II p. 217 )
- ↑ Ordinance on the formation and activities of the Greater Berlin Contracting Court of February 12, 1952 (VOBl. I p. 78)
- ↑ GVBl. 1990, No. 67, pp. 2076-2077
- ↑ GVBl. 1991, No. 43, pp. 2230-2231
- ↑ Press release of the Senate Department for Justice and Consumer Protection from March 29, 2012
