The Federal Court of Justice ( , ) is the highest court of civil and criminal jurisdiction in Germany. Its primary responsibility is the final appellate review of decisions by lower courts for errors of law. While, legally, a decision by the Federal Court of Justice is only binding with respect to the individual case in which it enters, de facto the court's interpretation of the law is followed by lower courts with almost no exception. Decisions handed down by the Federal Court of Justice can only be vacated by the Federal Constitutional Court for violating a provision of the German constitution, the Basic Law.
In addition to the court's appellate duties, a few judges of the Federal Court of Justice act as investigating judges in criminal investigations led by the Public Prosecutor General for a small number of exceptional offenses (such as crimes against humanity and the formation of terrorist organisations). As such, they are responsible for issuing search and arrest warrants, among other things.
The German legal order has different supreme courts for the different branches of its judiciary. The four sister supreme courts of the Federal Court of Justice are the Federal Administrative Court (for administrative matters), the Federal Fiscal Court (for tax matters), the Federal Labor Court (for matters of labour law), and the Federal Social Court (for social security matters).
The seat of the Federal Court of Justice is in Karlsruhe. Three criminal divisions of the court are based in Leipzig.
History Predecessors The , which was established in 1495 as the highest court of the Holy Roman Empire, is often viewed as the institutional origin of supreme court jurisprudence in Germany.Cf . The court arose out of an attempt by the Imperial Estates to counter the influence of the Emperor, which led to the somewhat unusual circumstance of the coexistence of two supreme courts with concurrent jurisdiction over most matters. The emperor's own Aulic Council () in Vienna had sole jurisdiction over criminal cases, however.
As the Empire was dissolved in 1806, so were the two supreme courts. What ensued was a prolonged period of judicial independence of the dozens of newly-sovereign German states within the German Confederation.. The Constitution of the German Confederation did require some of the smallest states to create joint upper appellate courts. See . In the states of central and northern Germany, this changed following the foundation of the North German Confederation, where the Leipzig-based commenced operation in August 1870. In the beginning, the court's supreme appellate jurisdiction was largely limited to trade law matters, but after the southern German states joined the Confederation in November 1870 to form the German Empire, the court—now known as —received jurisdiction over various additional areas of civil law.
In 1879, the was replaced with the . Also located in Leipzig, the enjoyed far broader supreme appellate jurisdiction than its predecessors, encompassing all civil and criminal matters arising in the Empire. The enactment of a unified Imperial Penal Code in 1872 added to the significance of the court.Cf . In the wake of Germany's defeat in World War II, the , like all German courts, was closed, and its administration subsequently dismantled, by proclamation of General Eisenhower of the United States Army on 18 April 1945.
In the British occupation zone, the Supreme Court for the British Zone () came into operation in 1948. The court was tasked with ensuring the uniform jurisprudence within the zone; to that end, its scope of jurisdiction and its procedural rules largely followed the example of the . The foundation of the Bizonal Economic Council by the British and the Americans also led to the establishment of a German High Court for the Combined Economic Area () with supreme appellate jurisdiction over matters of the public and private economic law created through Bizonal legislation.
Establishment In May 1949, the Basic Law () was enacted, establishing the Federal Republic of Germany. Article 96(1) of the Basic Law provided that "higher federal courts shall be established for the spheres of ordinary, administrative, finance, labour and social jurisdiction."See Wikisource for an English translation of the original, unamended version of Basic Law of 1949. Roughly a year later, it was decided by the German federal parliament, the Bundestag, that the "higher federal court" of ordinary (i.e., civil and criminal) jurisdiction was to be named (Federal Court of Justice) and that its seat was to be in the city of Karlsruhe.Sections 123ff GVG as amended on 12 September 1950 (BGBl. 1950 I, 455). See also . The location of the new supreme courts had been a matter of considerable debate at the time.See for a comprehensive account. Karlsruhe's most serious contender had been Cologne, where both the Supreme Court for the British Zone and the German High Court for the Combined Economic Area were based, but the Karlsruhe proposal ultimately found a large majority in the relevant parliamentary committee. End of year Divisions Civil Criminal 1950 5 4 1955 6 6 1960 8 5 1965 9 5 1970 10 5 The Federal Court of Justice was established effective 1 October 1950 and began operating a day later.For 1 October 1950 was a Sunday. . The Supreme Court for the British Zone ceased operations a day earlier and all cases pending before the court were transferred to the Federal Court of Justice. Of the 54 judgeships initially authorised for the court, only 12 were immediately filled, although that number quickly rose to 42 within the first three months of the court's operation; by July 1952 it stood at 86. New divisions were established, including a criminal division based in Berlin, 500 kilometres north-east of Karlsruhe. The steep increase in judgeships in the first years of the court's existence was in part the result of a higher-than-expected workload of the court, and in part the result of legislative changes that broadened the court's scope of responsibility.Cf , for an example in the area of criminal law. At the same time, the practice of employing assistant judges () had been outlawed.See generally Karl Schäfer in Emil Niethammer (ed), Löwe-Rosenberg: Die Strafprozeßordnung und das Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz (20th edn, De Gruyter 1956), § 124 GVG para 1.
Only in 1995 did the Federal Court of Justice admit to the failed processing of the Third Reich justice system.
Location and premises
The Federal Court of Justice is housed in five buildings on park-like premises in the centre of Karlsruhe, Herrenstraße 45 a. The main building is the Hereditary Grand Ducal Palace () built in 1891 to 1897 by Josef Durm. During WWII its dome was destroyed and the mansard floor caught fire.
In the 1990s the Federal Prosecutor General's Office was separated off of the Federal Court of Justice and housed in a new building in Brauerstrasse.
In October 2003, an extension building was inaugurated. The large library contains the Museum of Legal History ().
In April 2012, a new reception building with large courtroom opened. Up until then the garden had been used as a helicopter landing pad for defendants being flown in.
The Court has two branch offices, such as the Villa Reiss in the Gartenstrasse and a former Bundeswehr barracks in the Rintheimer Strasse, Karlsruhe.
Since July 1997, the 5th Criminal Panel, since February 2020, the 6th Criminal Panel and since July 2026 the 7th Criminal Panel have been housed at Villa Sack in Leipzig, Karl-Heine-Strasse.
Judges
Requirements Judges must meet the personal requirements for lifetime judicial appointments; in particular, they must be German citizens and must have the necessary educational background.Sections 9, 5ff DRiG [German Judiciary Act]. Judges of the Federal Court of Justice also have to be 35 years of age or older.Section 125(2) GVG.
Selection and appointment
The judges of the Federal Court of Justice are selected by an electoral committee () consisting of the Ministers of Justice of the 16 German and of 16 representatives appointed by the German federal parliament, the .Article 95(2) GG [Basic Law]; Sections 1(1), 2, 3(1), 4(1), 5(1) RiWG [Act on Electing Judges]; Helmuth Schulze-Fielitz in Horst Dreier (ed), Grundgesetz-Kommentar, vol 3 (3rd edn, Mohr Siebeck 2018), art 95 paras 26f. In practice, the usually appoints some of its own members (and occasionally former members) to the committee.Johann-Friedrich Staats, Richterwahlgesetz (Nomos 2003), s 4 para 1. Nominations for new judicial appointments can be made by the Federal Minister of Justice or members of the electoral committee.Section 10(1) 1st sentence RiWG. See Johann-Friedrich Staats, Richterwahlgesetz (Nomos 2003), s 10 para 1ff. The electoral committee's meetings are non-public and the committee's vote is done by secret ballot.Sections 9(2), 12(1) RiWG. To be elected, a candidate needs a simple majority of the votes.Section 12(1) RiWG; Johann-Friedrich Staats, Richterwahlgesetz (Nomos 2003), s 12 para 2. Elected candidates are appointed by the Federal President of Germany ().Section 125(1) GVG [Courts Constitution Act]; s 1(1) RiWG; Helmuth Schulze-Fielitz in Horst Dreier (ed), Grundgesetz-Kommentar, vol 3 (3rd edn, Mohr Siebeck 2018), art 95 para 32.
, the Federal Court of Justice has 153 judges. The number of authorised judgeships at the Federal Court of Justice is set by the as part of the annual Federal Budget Act.Cf Christian Hillgruber in Dürig/Herzog/Scholz, Grundgesetz-Kommentar, art 97 para 113 (R 99 March 2022). Compare Section 2(1) BVerfGG [Act on the Federal Constitutional Court] ("The Federal Constitutional Court shall consist of two Senates" and Section 2(2) BVerfGG ("Eight Justices shall be elected to each Senate."). The federal government has a constitutional duty to ensure the adequate staffing of the Federal Court of Justice and its sister supreme courts.Andreas Voßkuhle in Friedrich Klein and Christian Starck (eds), von Mangoldt/Klein/Starck: Grundgesetz (7th edn, Beck 2018) vol 3, art 95 para 20.
Retirement As judges for life, judges of the Federal Court of Justice must retire upon reaching the retirement age.Sections 48(1) 1st sentence, 48(2) DRiG; Klaus Weber, "Altersgrenzen" in Creifelds Rechtswörterbuch (24th edn, Beck 2020). The retirement age is between 65 and 67 years, depending on the year of birth.Sections 48(1) 2nd sentence, 48(3) DRiG; Klaus Weber, "Altersgrenzen" in Creifelds Rechtswörterbuch (24th edn, Beck 2020).
Organisation
Divisions of the court The Federal Court of Justice consists of 13 divisions responsible for civil matters () and six divisions responsible for criminal matters (). Each judge of the court is assigned to at least one civil or criminal division,Section 1(3) 1st sentence GeschOBGH [Rules of Procedure of the Federal Court of Justice], which also provides that this requirement does not apply to the investigating judges (see infra). However, , it is current practice that the investigating judges are in fact ordinary members of a civil or criminal division. See Burkhard Feilcke in Karlsruher Kommentar zur Strafprozessordnung (9th edn, Beck 2023), s 124 GVG para 6. with both civil and criminal divisions presently consisting of approximately eight judges each. For the criminal divisions, see also Thomas Fischer and Hans Kudlich in Eric Hilgendorf, Hans Kudlich and Brian Valerius (eds), Handbuch des Strafrechts, vol 7 (C.F. Müller 2020), § 14, para 41 ("seven to eight judges"). Judges can serve on more than one division, in which case their working time is split. Cases are never decided by all the members of a division but, in general, by a panel of five judges ().Section 139(1) GVG.