The Law of Austria are the collection of laws that apply at the Federal level in Austria. It is founded on the

Federal Constitutional Law The Federal Constitutional Law (, abbreviated ) is a federal constitutional law in Austria serving as the centerpiece of the Constitution. It establishes Austria as a democratic federal parliamentary republic. The Law was drafted following ...

of 1920. It can be divided into

public law Public law is the part of law that governs relations and affairs between legal persons and a government, between different institutions within a state, between different branches of governments, as well as relationships between persons that ...

and

private law Private law is that part of a legal system that governs interactions between individual persons. It is distinguished from public law, which deals with relationships between both natural and artificial persons (i.e., organizations) and the st ...

Judiciary system

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

in 2008 had 141 district courts (Bezirksgerichte), 20 provincial courts (Landesgerichte), and four higher provincial courts (Oberlandesgerichte). There is also a Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof),

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

(Verfassungsgerichtshof), and

Administrative Court An administrative court is a type of specialized court on administrative law, particularly disputes concerning the exercise of public power. Their role is to ascertain that official acts are consistent with the law. Such courts are usually co ...

(Verwaltungsgerichtshof).

Access to legal information

Information on Austrian law is available using the ''Legal Information System of the Republic of Austria'' or ''Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes''.

Life imprisonment

Life sentences can be given in cases of

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

and other crimes resulting in someones death,

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

and

war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...

, but also for major drug crimes and severe acts of (re-)engagement in National Socialist activities.

Parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...

may be granted to certain inmates in Austria after 15 years' imprisonment, if prison officials are satisfied that the inmate will not re-offend. This is subject to the discretion of a criminal court panel, and a possible appeal to the high court. Alternatively, the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

may grant a

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

following a motion of the minister of justice. If the president rejects the petition of clemency or pardon, the offender will be sentenced to imprisonment for a lifetime, and thus will spend the rest of their natural life in prison. Inmates who committed their crime when they were below the age of 21 cannot be sentenced to life imprisonment. Instead, juvenile offenders can only be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years imprisonment.

References

External links

Books on the Austrian legal system
{{World topic, Life imprisonment in, noredlinks=y, title=

Life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

Judiciary system

Access to legal information

Life imprisonment

See also

References

External links