Amtsgericht Mainz

An ''Amtsgericht'' (District Court) in Germany is an official court. These courts form the lowest level of the so-called ' ordinary jurisdiction' of the German judiciary (German ''Ordentliche Gerichtsbarkeit''), which is responsible for most criminal and civil judicial matters.
The German ''Amtsgericht'' may be compared to the magistrates' courts in England and Wales, although it has much broader sentencing powers. Its name derives from the ''Amt'' as a denomination for an administrative and court district in many of the territories of the Holy Roman Empire.

The main areas of an ''Amtsgericht's'' jurisdiction are:
* court of first instance for civil case where the subject of litigation is worth €5,000 or less, and for litigation involving rental agreements, marriages, alimony and child custody.
* court of first instance for criminal cases where no more than four years imprisonment is expected. Several exceptions exist, such as all homicide.
* administration of several public registers such as the companies', the associations', the cooperatives' and the land ownership register.

In criminal cases, the court may be composed of either one professional judge, where the expected sentence is not more than two years imprisonment, or 1-2 professional judges and 2 lay judges where the expected sentence is more than two years imprisonment. A single judge is still able to impose up to four years imprisonment.

There are 640 ''Amtsgerichte'' in Germany, whose jurisdictional area typically comprises a small number of towns or municipalities. The next higher level of ordinary jurisdiction is called the ''Landgericht''. The term ''Amtsgericht'' may also refer to the building where the proceedings take place.

References

Courts in Germany
District courts of Germany

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