Kammergericht
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The Kammergericht (KG) is the , the highest
state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
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 throughout history, including cities such as Rome, ...
of
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. 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 field of matters, such as intellectual property court. Due to its compreh ...
according to the German Courts Constitution Act (''Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz''), it deals with
criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...
and civil cases, superior to the local '' Amtsgerichte'' and the
Landgericht Berlin The Landgericht Berlin is a Judiciary of Germany, 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 Kamme ...
. 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 () of the
prince-elector The prince-electors ( pl. , , ) were the members of the Electoral College of the Holy Roman Empire, which elected the Holy Roman Emperor. Usually, half of the electors were archbishops. From the 13th century onwards, a small group of prince- ...
s of
Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...
. 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 (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...
, the Brandenburg subjects were prohibited from
appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, 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 cla ...
ing to the Imperial authority. Therefore, the Kammergericht acted as
supreme court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
in the
Imperial estate An Imperial Estate (; , plural: ') was an entity or an individual of the Holy Roman Empire with representation and the right to vote in the Imperial Diet (Holy Roman Empire), Imperial Diet ('). Rulers of these Estates were able to exercise signi ...
ruled by the
Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. ...
electors. As the
appellate court An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appel ...
of Brandenburg-Prussia and the
Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...
from 1701, it was since 1698 based in the central
Cölln Cölln () was the Twin cities, twin city of Old Berlin (Alt-Berlin) from the 13th century to the 18th century. Cölln was located on the Fischerinsel, Fisher Island section of Spree Island, opposite Altberlin on the western bank of the River ...
quarter of Berlin. In 1735, under the rule of King Frederick William I, it moved to the newly erected
Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
''Collegienhaus'' in the Friedrichstadt district (in present-day
Kreuzberg Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Berlin-Mitte, Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in ...
). It then housed the supreme courts and judges of the different territories ruled in
personal union A personal union is a combination of two or more monarchical states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, involves the constituent states being to some extent in ...
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 the Jews in Germany from the Middle Ages to the present day, with new foc ...
. 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. After the Greater Poland Uprising of 1846, numerous Polish insurgents, among them Ludwik Mierosławski and Karol Libelt, were tried at the Kammergericht, but amnestied by King Frederick William IV during the
1848 revolution The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...
. After German unification and the establishment of the uniform term ''Oberlandesgericht'' for a state supreme court by the
German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...
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. is ...
, laid out by Johann Sigismund Elsholtz 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 Te ...
district were renamed ''Heinrich-von-Kleist-Park'' on the occasion of the hundredths anniversary of the death of Heinrich von Kleist 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 guilt (law), guilt or innocence of the defendant has already been determined. The purpose of holding a show trial is to present both accusation and verdict to the public, serving as an example and a d ...
conducted by the People's Court () under Judge Roland Freisler against the surviving conspirators of the
20 July plot The 20 July plot, sometimes referred to as Operation Valkyrie, was a failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler, the chancellor and leader of Nazi Germany, and overthrow the Nazi regime on 20 July 1944. The plotters were part of the German r ...
. 9 months later, the
Allied Control Council The Allied Control Council (ACC) or Allied Control Authority (), also referred to as the Four Powers (), was the governing body of the Allies of World War II, Allied Allied-occupied Germany, occupation zones in Germany (1945–1949/1991) and Al ...
began using the building. On 18 October 1945, the International Military Tribunal (IMT) of the
Nuremberg trials #REDIRECT Nuremberg trials {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from move ...
held its constituent meeting here. The building remained the official seat of the council, though its meeting discontinued after the
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
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 reconvened Allied Control Council, consisting of ambassadors of the four wartime Allied power ...
was signed here. The Kammergericht was based at the former ''
Reichskriegsgericht The Reichskriegsgericht (, RKG; ) was the highest German military law, military court in Germany between 1900 and 1945. Legal basics and responsibilities After the Kingdom of Prussia, Prussian-led Unification of Germany, the German Empire with e ...
'' in
Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...
during the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
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 the State of Berlin () and the state's
Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
().


Notable members

* Samuel von Cocceji, president 1723-1738 *
Julius Eduard Hitzig Julius Eduard Hitzig, born ''Isaac Elias Itzig'' (26 March 1780 – 26 November 1849), was a German author and civil servant. Born into the wealthy and influential Jewish Itzig family, he was a Prussian civil servant between 1799 and 1806, bec ...
* E. T. A. Hoffmann * Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder


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 (legal system), civil law mostly based on a comprehensive compendium of statutes, as compared to the common la ...


External links


Official site
{{Authority control Higher Regional Court 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