The Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (; abbreviated BMJV) is a cabinet-level ministry of the

Federal Republic of 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 constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

. Under the German federal system, individual

States 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 ...

are most responsible for the

administration of justice The administration of justice is the process by which the legal system of a government is executed. The presumed goal of such an administration is to provide justice for all those accessing the legal system. Australia In ''Attorney General for ...

and the application of penalties. The Federal Ministry of Justice devotes itself to creating and changing law in the classic core areas related to Constitutional law. The Ministry also analyzes the legality and constitutionality of laws prepared by other ministries. The German

Federal Court of Justice The Federal Court of Justice ( , ) is the highest court of Private law, civil and Criminal law, criminal jurisdiction in Germany. Its primary responsibility is the final appellate review of decisions by lower courts for errors of law. While, le ...

, the

German Patent and Trade Mark Office The German Patent and Trade Mark Office (; abbreviation: DPMA) is the Germany, German national patent office, with headquarters in Munich, and offices in Berlin and Jena. In 2006 it employed 2556 people, of which about 700 were patent examiners. ...

(GPTO), and the German Patent Court all fall under its scope, including affairs on

court administration Court administration, administration of courts or judicial administration is a field of public administration on back office affairs of court operation, including annual budgeting and human resource management. Models of court administration W ...

. The ministry is officially located in

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 ...

. The BMJ was founded on 1 January 1877 as the Imperial Justice Office (). After Germany became a republic in 1919, it was renamed (Imperial ministry of Justice). The ministry was refounded as the ''Bundesministerium der Justiz'' in 1949. In several laws predating 1949, the ministry and the minister are however referred to as ''Reichsministerium der Justiz'' and ''Reichsminister der Justiz'', respectively. This has gradually been replaced with the new name and title when laws have been amended, most recently in 2010.

Compentencies

In Germany's federal system, the administration of justice, the judiciary and law enforcement are primarily the responsibility of the '' Länder''. The central task of the Federation in the field of justice is to safeguard and develop the rule of law. Legislative activity corresponds to this objective. It includes the preparation of new laws and the preparation and amendment or repeal of laws in the classical areas of law, namely civil law, criminal law, commercial and company law, copyright and industrial property law, court constitutional and procedural law for the individual jurisdictions (with the exception of labour and social courts), as well as service and professional law for judges, public prosecutors, lawyers and notaries. In addition, the Ministry is responsible for the tasks arising from the establishment of German unity in the areas of criminal, administrative and professional rehabilitation and "open property issues". The Ministry also examines the legal form of all draft laws and regulations prepared by other ministries in order to ensure that the legislation is compatible with the Basic Law. The Ministry's portfolio includes the

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

with two criminal divisions in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe with an office in Leipzig, the Federal Office of Justice with the Federal Central Register in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

, the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig, the Federal Fiscal Court in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, the Federal Patent Court in Munich and the

(DPMA) in Munich with offices in Berlin and

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

List of ministers

State Secretaries for Justice, 1876–1918

* Heinrich Friedberg 1876–1879 * Hermann von Schelling 1879–1889 * Otto von Oehlschläger 1889–1891 * Robert Bosse 1891–1892 * Eduard von Hanauer 1892–1893 * Rudolf Arnold Nieberding 1893–1909 * Hermann Lisco 1909–1917 * Paul Georg Christof von Krause 1917–1919

Ministers of Justice, 1918–1945

Federal Ministers, since 1949

Political Party:

References

External links

Official Website
Official homepage in German
Others

(in German)
Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety
(in English) {{Authority control Justice and Consumer Protection, Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection Ministries established in 1877

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 ...

Consumer ministries 1877 establishments in Germany