Church court of the Evangelical Church in Germany

The Church Court of the Evangelical Church in Germany has been the first instance court of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) since 2004 . The relevant canon law regulations can be found primarily in Article 32 of the EKD's constitution and in the Church Court Act (KiGG.EKD). The ecclesiastical court arose from the disciplinary chamber of the EKD, the employee representative arbitration board of the EKD and the joint administrative court of the UEK , Anhalt and Pomerania .

organization

Like the other EKD church courts, the ecclesiastical court has its seat in Hanover (Section 1 (1) KiGG.EKD). The members of the ecclesiastical court and their deputies are appointed by the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany for six years (§ 9 KiGG.EKD). Your work is voluntary (§ 12 KiGG.EKD). The presidents and presiding judges must be qualified to hold judicial office in accordance with the German Judicial Act (Section 2, Paragraph 1, Clause 2 KiGG.EKD). Court costs are not charged (§ 22 KiGG.EKD). Authorized representatives must be members of a church that belongs to the Working Group of Christian Churches (AcK) (§ 21 KiGG.EKD). Decisions terminating the proceedings are issued “In the name of the Evangelical Church in Germany” (Section 18 (1) sentence 1 KiGG.EKD).

The ecclesiastical court is divided into four chambers , which basically decide with three judges including the president or chairman:

Disciplinary Chamber (registration number 0134)
Administrative Chamber (since 2011; registration number 0136)
First Chamber for Employee Representation Disputes (I-2708; proceedings with odd digits)
Second Chamber for Employee Representation Disputes (II-2708; proceedings with even final digits)

Jurisdiction

The ecclesiastical court of the Evangelical Church in Germany decides in the first instance and a. in proceedings under the Disciplinary Act of the Evangelical Church in Germany, on disputes arising from the application of the Employee Representation Act and in proceedings under the EKD Administrative Court Act (Section 5 (2) KiGG.EKD), insofar as the EKD is a civil servant or employee.

For officials or employees of the regional churches there are in some cases their own courts of first instance, and in some cases the regional churches have assigned the first instance proceedings to the EKD Church Court. Such assignments exist for administrative and disciplinary matters on the part of the regional churches in the Rhineland , Central Germany , Anhalt and Lippe as well as the ERK and the UEK ; in disciplinary matters also from the EKHN , EKBO and EKvW .

The second instance is always the ecclesiastical court of the Evangelical Church in Germany .