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An ''Amtsgericht'' (District Court) in Germany is an official
court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...
. These courts form the lowest level of the so-called '
ordinary jurisdiction Ecclesiastical jurisdiction signifies jurisdiction by church leaders over other church leaders and over the laity. Jurisdiction is a word borrowed from the legal system which has acquired a wide extension in theology, wherein, for example, it is ...
' 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 England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is En ...
, although it has much broader sentencing powers. Its name derives from the ''
Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...
'' as a denomination for an administrative and court district in many of the territories of the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...
. The main areas of an ''Amtsgericht's''
jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. J ...
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 ''Landgericht'' may refer to: * Landgericht (Germany), a mid-level court in the present-day judicial system of Germany *: For example, ** Landgericht Berlin ** Landgericht Bremen * Landgericht (medieval) The ''Landgericht'' (plural: ''Landgerichte ...
''. The term ''Amtsgericht'' may also refer to the building where the proceedings take place.


References

Courts in Germany District courts of Germany {{Germany-law-stub