Ministry of Justice of Germany facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Federal Ministry of Justice

Bundesministerium der Justiz
Agency overview
Formed	1 January 1877 as the Reichsjustizamt
Jurisdiction	Government of Germany
Headquarters	Berlin
Employees	620
Minister responsible	Heiko Maas Bundesministerin der Justiz
Website	bmj.bund.de

The Federal Ministry of Justice is a ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany .

History

Germany has five "Classic Ministries", rather like the United Kingdom's "Great Offices of State".

The classic ministries are:

• Justice
• Interior
• Finance
• Defence (or "War" as it was called before World War II) and
• the Foreign Office

The Reich Justice Office was created in 1875. It was a part of the Chancellor's department until 1 January 1877 when it became independent. The first Minister of Justice was appointed in 1919, when the Office of Justice became the Reichsministerium der Justiz of the Weimar Republic

Responsibility

Political

The Federal Minister of Justice heads the Ministry. He has two senior assistants.

• The Parliamentary State Secretary, a member of the Bundestag who acts as a "junior minister"
• The "beamteter Staatssekretär". This is the senior civil servant of the department.

Role

Germany is a federal country. The administration of the justice and criminal prosecution is mainly a matter for the federal states.

The federal ministry's main job is ensuring that federation and the states, and all laws, keep within the "Rule of Law".

The ministry oversees the writing of new laws, and the changing or the abolition of existing laws in these areas:

• Civil law
• Criminal law
• Commercial and Company law
• Copyright and protecting industrial property rights
• Organisation and procedures of the courts (except the Labour and Social Security Courts)

The ministry also oversees the laws about qualifying and working as a judge, prosecutor, lawyer or notary

The ministry has also been responsible for the legal problems after the reunification of Germany. This meant changing a lot of criminal and administrative law. Also professional rehabilitation was needed. Judges and lawyers were just some of the people who were used to working in the communist system, and now had to change.

Furthermore, the ministry checks that all laws and ordinances prepared by other ministries do not break the constitution.

The Ministry publishes the official newspaper the "Bundesgesetzblatt" the Federal Law Gazette und "Bundesanzeiger" the Federal Gazette. It also prepares the elections of Judges to the Bundesverfassungsgerichts and the highest level of federal courts.

List of Justice Ministers