Council of Judges
The Judicial Council is in Germany, the Staff Committee of the judges for involvement in general and social affairs of their court.
For federal courts, regulations on the judges' council can be found in Sections 49–60 of the German Judges Act (DRiG). Its tasks, powers and duties are based on the Federal Personnel Representation Act . The members, five at the Federal Court of Justice and the Federal Patent Court, three at other federal courts , as well as an equal number of deputies, are elected for four years.
As a framework law , the DRiG also prescribes the formation of judges' councils for the courts of the federal states (Sections 72 ff. DRiG). The individual regulation is therefore left to the federal states in corresponding state laws.
For Bavaria, for example, the councils of judges are regulated in Articles 16–34 of the Bavarian Judges Act (BayRiG). A judges' council is to be formed at courts that usually employ at least three judges. The judges' council is elected by the judges from among their number in a secret ballot for a term of five years. Depending on the size of the court, the judges' council consists of at least one and a maximum of seven members. The provisions of the Bavarian Personnel Representation Act apply accordingly to the powers and duties of the judges' councils .
For the other federal states of the Federal Republic of Germany there are comparable regulations in the respective judge laws.