Kammergericht
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The Kammergericht (KG) is the ''
Oberlandesgericht An ''Oberlandesgericht'' (plural – ''Oberlandesgerichte''; OLG, en, Higher Regional Court, or in Berlin ''Kammergericht'': KG) is a higher court in Germany. There are 24 OLGs in Germany and they deal with civil and criminal matters. They ar ...
'', the highest
state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
court, for the
city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...
of
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. As an
ordinary court Ordinary court or Judicial court is a type of court with comprehensive subject-matter jurisdiction compared to 'Specialized court' with limited jurisdiction over specific filed of matters, such as intellectual property court. Due to its compr ...
according to the German Courts Constitution Act (''Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz''), it deals with criminal and
civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...
cases, superior to the local '' Amtsgerichte'' and the
Landgericht Berlin The Landgericht Berlin is a regional court in Berlin, divided into two divisions for civil and criminal cases. In the German court hierarchy, it is above the eleven local courts (Amtsgerichte) of the city and below the Kammergericht, which is th ...
. Its name differs from other state courts for historic reasons; it is the only court called Kammergericht in Germany.


History

A Kammergericht was first mentioned in 1468, when it adjudicated in the chambers (german: Kammern) of the
prince-elector The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, la, Princeps Elector), or electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century onwards, the prince ...
s of
Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...
. According to the '' privilegium de non-appellando'' granted by the
Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
, the Brandenburg subjects were prohibited from
appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...
ing to the Imperial authority. Therefore, the Kammergericht acted as
supreme court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
in the
Imperial estate An Imperial State or Imperial Estate ( la, Status Imperii; german: Reichsstand, plural: ') was a part of the Holy Roman Empire with representation and the right to vote in the Imperial Diet ('). Rulers of these Estates were able to exercise si ...
ruled by the Hohenzollern electors. As the
appellate court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...
of Brandenburg-Prussia and the
Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Re ...
from 1701, it was since 1698 based in the central Cölln quarter of Berlin. In 1735, under the rule of King Frederick William I, it moved to the newly erected
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
''Collegienhaus'' in the
Friedrichstadt Friedrichstadt (; da, Frederiksstad) is a town in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the river Eider approx. 12 km south of Husum. History The town was founded in 1621 by Dutch settlers. Du ...
district (in present-day
Kreuzberg Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in 1990 it ha ...
). It then housed the supreme courts and judges of the different territories ruled in
personal union A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interlink ...
by the royal House of Hohenzollern, without formally merging the different juridical systems. By that concentration in one locality, the later unification of the juridical systems was prepared. The ''Collegienhaus'' is today part of the
Jewish Museum Berlin The Jewish Museum Berlin (''Jüdisches Museum Berlin'') was opened in 2001 and is the largest Jewish museum in Europe. On of floor space, the museum presents the history of Jews in Germany from the Middle Ages to the present day, with new focuses ...
. From the 18th century, the Kammergericht gained a reputation as independent authority in notable lawsuits such as the
Miller Arnold case The Miller Arnold case () is a landmark 18th-century German court case and cause célèbre during the reign of Frederick II that raised issues relating to the concept of judicial independence. It is an example of the ' () of Frederick  ...
or in the trial of
Johann Heinrich Schulz Johann Heinrich Schulz (1739–1823) was a German Lutheran pastor. Life From 1758 to 1761 Schulz studied in Halle (Saale) and later became a teacher in Berlin. In 1765 he was appointed preacher by the local landlords in Gielsdorf, Wilke, and Hirsch ...
. After the Greater Poland Uprising of 1846, numerous
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
insurgents, among them
Ludwik Mierosławski Ludwik Adam Mierosławski (; January 17, 1814 in Nemours, Seine-et-Marne – November 22, 1878 in Paris) was a Polish general, writer, poet, historian and political activist. Took part in the November Uprising of the 1830s, after its fall he emig ...
and
Karol Libelt Karol Libelt (8 April 1807, neighborhood of Chwaliszewo in Poznań, Duchy of Warsaw - 9 June 1875, Brdowo) was a Polish philosopher, writer, political and social activist, social worker and liberal, nationalist politician, and president of the ...
, were tried at the Kammergericht, but amnestied by King
Frederick William IV Frederick William IV (german: Friedrich Wilhelm IV.; 15 October 17952 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, reigned as King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 to his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to ...
during the 1848 revolution. After
German unification The unification of Germany (, ) was the process of building the modern German nation state with federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without multinational Austria), which commenced on 18 August 1866 with adoption of t ...
and the establishment of the uniform term ''Oberlandesgericht'' for a state supreme court by the
German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
in 1877, the Kammergericht kept its name.


Kleistpark building

In 1913, it moved to its present location in a newly erected Neo-Baroque building in the former
Botanical Garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
, laid out by
Johann Sigismund Elsholtz Johann Sigismund Elsholtz (August 26, 1623 – February 28, 1688), (some sources mention his day of birth as August 28, and his death on February 19) was a German naturalist who was a native of Frankfurt an der Oder. Biography Johann Sigism ...
in 1679, which had been relocated to the Dahlem and Lichterfelde in 1898. The premises in the present-day
Schöneberg Schöneberg () is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Tempelh ...
district were renamed ''Heinrich-von-Kleist-Park'' on the occasion of the hundredths anniversary of the death of
Heinrich von Kleist Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist (18 October 177721 November 1811) was a German poet, dramatist, novelist, short story writer and journalist. His best known works are the theatre plays '' Das Käthchen von Heilbronn'', ''The Broken Jug'', ''Amph ...
on 21 November 1911. It became colloquially known as ''Kleistpark''. In August 1944 the Kleistpark building was the site of the
show trial A show trial is a public trial in which the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt or innocence of the defendant. The actual trial has as its only goal the presentation of both the accusation and the verdict to the public so th ...
conducted by the People's Court (''Volksgerichtshof'') under Judge
Roland Freisler Roland Freisler (30 October 1893 – 3 February 1945), a German Nazi jurist, judge, and politician, served as the State Secretary of the Reich Ministry of Justice from 1934 to 1942 and as President of the People's Court from 1942 to 1945. As ...
against the surviving conspirators of the 20 July plot. A few months later, the court had to leave the building and cede it to the Allied Control Council. On 18 October 1945, the International Military Tribunal (IMT) of the
Nuremberg trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies of World War II, Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945 ...
held its constituent meeting here. The building remained the official seat of the council, though its meeting discontinued after the
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
representatives left in protest in March 1948. On 3 September 1971, the
Four Power Agreement on Berlin The Four Power Agreement on Berlin, also known as the Berlin Agreement or the Quadripartite Agreement on Berlin, was agreed on 3 September 1971 by the four wartime Allied powers, represented by their ambassadors. The four foreign ministers, Ale ...
was signed here. The Kammergericht was based at the former ''
Reichskriegsgericht The Reichskriegsgericht (RKG; en, Reich Court-Martial) was the highest military court in Germany between 1900 and 1945. Legal basics and responsibilities After the Prussian-led Unification of Germany, the German Empire with effect from 1 Octobe ...
'' in
Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Prussia, it is best known for Charlottenburg Palace, the ...
during the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
era, until it moved back to its former location in 1997. Extensively restored, the Kammergericht building today is also the seat of the constitutional court of Berlin (''Verfassungsgerichtshof'') and the state's
Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
(''Generalstaatsanwalt'').


Notable members

* Samuel von Cocceji, president 1723-1738 *
Julius Eduard Hitzig Julius Eduard Hitzig (born ''Isaac Elias Itzig''; 26 March 1780 in Berlin – 26 November 1849 in Berlin) was a German author and civil servant. Born into the wealthy and influential Jewish Itzig family, he was between 1799 and 1806 a Prussian ...
* E.T.A. Hoffmann *
Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder (13 July 1773 – 13 February 1798) was a German jurist and writer. With Ludwig Tieck and the Schlegel brothers, he has co-founded the German Romanticism. Life Wackenroder was born in Berlin. He was a close frien ...


See also

*
Judiciary of Germany The judiciary of Germany is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in Germany. The German legal system is a civil law mostly based on a comprehensive compendium of statutes, as compared to the common law systems. In criminal a ...


External links


Official site
{{Authority control Courts in Germany Organisations based in Berlin Buildings and structures in Tempelhof-Schöneberg 15th-century establishments in the Holy Roman Empire Courts and tribunals established in the 15th century