The constitution ( Grundgesetz) of the Federal Republic of Germany establishes a separate Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (Bundesverfassungsgericht) that is empowered with reviewing acts of the legislature (which mainly refers to the Federal Republic's Congress – the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

and Bundesrat) for their

constitutionality Constitutionality is said to be the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; "Webster On Line" the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or set forth in the applicable constitution. When l ...

. Most states (Bundesländer) also have separate courts for the according purpose. These are separate Supreme Courts that do not deal with appellate cases in civil and criminal law – but rather, just in constitutional cases. The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany can also review and reject constitutional amendments on the grounds that they are contradictory to the rest of the Federal Constitution ("Verfassungswidriges Verfassungsrecht"), unlike, for instance, the Supreme Court of the United States and the Supreme Court of Canada.

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* * * German constitutional law Germany {{germany-law-stub