Law of Germany

The law of Germany is a civil law system. It provides the rules for how people and the state interact. This system is based on the Basic Law, also called the Grundgesetz. The Grundgesetz is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany. It serves as the foundation for all other legal rules. Many important laws, like the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB), were made before the 1949 constitution. This civil code regulates private matters between individuals and companies.

German law is divided into two main categories. The first is public law, or öffentliches Recht. This regulates relations between a citizen and the state. It also manages relations between different government bodies. Examples include tax laws and criminal law. The second category is private law, or Privatrecht. This governs the relationships between two private people or two companies. To tell them apart, experts use the "modifizierte Subjektstheorie," or modified theory of subjects. This theory says a rule is public law if at least one participant is part of the state. If no state actor is involved, it is private law. For example, a parent's authority over a child is private law. Even though a parent is superior, they are not part of the state.

History shows how these rules evolved over many centuries. In the early Germanic period, laws came from tribes like the Salian Franks. During the Renaissance, Roman law became very important again. Legal scholars called Pandectists helped revive these old Roman formalities. For a long time, the Holy Roman Empire had many small territories. Each area had its own local traditions and religions. There were about 3,000 collections of rural laws called Weistümer. Only the Imperial superior Court of Justice, the Reichskammergericht, had standard procedures. In the 18th century, Prussia created the Allgemeines Landrecht. This was a massive system of codification for the Prussian states.

Major changes occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries. After the French July Revolution of 1830, Napoleon's legal codes influenced Germany. This was especially true in the Grand Duchy of Baden. When the Deutsches Reich formed in 1871, leaders began standardizing laws. They worked for over twenty years to create the BGB. In 1919, the Weimarer Verfassung became the first democratic constitution. However, it was very liberal and lacked fixed ethical principles. This made it easy to change the law too quickly. After World War II, Germany was split into two states. East Germany used socialist and communist ideologies for its laws. West Germany built upon existing laws and reversed National Socialist rules. When the country reunified, West German law became the standard.

The Basic Law was designed to be much stronger than the Weimar Constitution. It sets boundaries that no one, including the government, can cross. This protects the civil rights of all citizens. The system relies on the separation of three powers. The executive is managed by the government. The legislative is managed by the parliaments. The judicative is managed by the courts and judges. The highest authority for the constitution is the Federal Constitutional Court, or Bundesverfassungsgericht. This court does not act as a supreme court for all cases. Its specific job is to protect the constitution and civil rights. It ensures that all government actions follow constitutional procedures.

Criminal law is a specific part of federal law in Germany. The main source is the German Penal Code from 1871. There are specific rules for different ages in the criminal system. Children under 14 cannot be held liable in court. For those between 14 and 18, special juvenile courts are used. In these cases, a public prosecutor (Staatsanwalt) handles the prosecution. The defendant can choose a defense attorney to help them. Unlike some other countries, Germany does not use a jury system. Instead, judges or a bench of judges decide the facts. In some higher courts, two lay magistrates, called Schöffen, may sit with the judges.

Today, German law is shaped by federalism and European influence. Federalism means the individual states, or Länder, have their own responsibilities. Each state has its own constitution and its own courts. This allows for regional variation and democratic responsibility. At the same time, European law is becoming more influential. Many laws are now decided in Brussels to harmonize rules across the European Union. This means the federal government does not decide everything alone. Germany's legal tradition has also spread to other nations. The legal systems of Japan, South Korea, the USA, and Taiwan all use German law to some extent.