The German court system is decentralised. Initially, cases are held locally and
appeals are made to a higher court responsible for a wider geographic area. The
courts are divided into a number of different streams, each specialising in its
own field of law. There are therefore separate courts to try suits on tax,
commercial and labour law. At the head of each stream is a single, federal
supreme court to which appeals can be made by either side on points of law, but
not of fact. The ultimate arbiter is the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe to
which final appeal can be made, although only on the grounds of conflict with
the constitution.
The judgments of the Federal Constitutional Court are binding on all other
courts. The judgments of all other courts including the supreme court of each
stream are only binding in respect of the case tried and do not set binding
precedents for other cases of a like nature. They may, however, give guidance to
other courts, especially to lower courts of the same stream, although even a
lower court is free to depart from an established precedent if it feels that
circumstances warrant a change.
EU Forecast
euf:ba18e:14/nws-01