The Berlin Regional Court is a court of the ordinary jurisdiction of
the state of Berlin on Littenstraße in Berlin-Mitte. It consists of
three construction complexes in the entire urban area, which are part of
different construction stages. It is the largest district court in
Germany with over 900 employees and one of the largest German courts
after the Munich District Court.
Court seat and district
The
seat of the regional court is Berlin; The court district corresponds to
the area of the city state. In the regional court district of Berlin,
13,020 lawyers (as of December 31, 2017) are approved.
With the entry into force of the Court Constitution Act in 1879, two
Berlin regional courts existed: District Court I for the City Circle,
District Court II for the surrounding area. 14 local courts:
Alt-Landsberg, Berlin (II), Bernau, Charlottenburg, Cöpenick,
Königs-Wusterhausen, Liebenwalde, Mittenwalde, Nauen, Oranienburg,
Rixdorf, Berlin-Spandau, Strausberg, Zossen.
In 1899 the division
into District Court I (for the district of the Middle District Court),
District Court II (southern surrounding area) and District Court III
(rest of the surrounding area). In 1920, the regional courts II and III
were responsible for other parts of the city due to the summary of
various communities to Groß-Berlin (according to today's city state).
District Court I was initially based in Grunerstraße/Neue
Friedrichstraße 16/17, today Littenstraße.
District Court II was
based in the building of today's Tempelhof-Kreuzberg district court on
Möckernstraße 128–130/Hallesches Ufer 29–31.
District Court III
was located on Tegeler Weg 17–21 in the building, in which the district
court in Berlin responsible for the three West sectors was set up after
the division of the city; The district court district of Spandau,
Charlottenburg, Lichtenberg, Pankow, Wedding included the district court
of Berlin III. All criminal chambers of the three regional courts were
set up in the Moabit Criminal Court on Turmstrasse.
In July 1933,
the provisional Prussian Minister of Justice Hanns Kerrl put together
the three regional courts for the uniform district court of Berlin. He
appointed Richard Hoffmann as the first president of the Berlin Regional
Court and lawyer in Magdeburg until May 1933.
As a result of the
division of Berlin, the registrations for West Berlin were transferred
to the district courts Charlottenburg and Schöneberg by the district
court III, although the registers remained physically in Tegeler Weg. In
addition to the city court of Berlin and the district courts Mitte,
Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain, the Supreme Court and the Attorney
General of the GDR were also housed in the regional court building in
the new Friedrichstrasse, which was renamed Littenstraße in the 1950s.
The Berlin Regional Court is to be shared on January 1, 2024. The
criminal chambers at the Moabit site are to belong to the district court
of Berlin I and Littenstraße to the district court of Berlin II.
The Berlin Regional Court is housed in a total of three buildings
distributed across the city.
Most (first instance) civil chambers
of the court are located in the building on Tegeler Weg 17–21 in the
Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district. This listed building of the
regional court was built in 1901–1906 according to designs by Hermann
Dernburg and Ernst Heinrich Petersen as well as Paul Thoemer and Rudolf
Mönnich based on a Romanesque imperial palace as the second building of
the Charlottenburg District Court.
Other civil chambers of the
Berlin Regional Court are located in Littenstraße (Mitte district) in
the business building for the civil departments of the regional court in
Berlin I (also civil jurisdiction: appeal and complaint chambers,
traffic chambers, chambers of competition, chambers for trading matters)
and in Turmstrasse 91 in Moabit the criminal chambers of the Regional
court in the Moabit Criminal Court.
The Federal Court of Justice (Higher Regional Court) and then the
Federal Court of Justice are superior to the district court of Berlin.
The following Berlin district courts are subordinate:
Charlottenburg
District Court
District Court of Köpenick
District court Kreuzberg
Lichtenberg District Court
District Court Middle
District Court
Neukölln
District court Pankow
Schöneberg district court
District court Spandau
District Court of Tiergarten
District Court
of Wedding
Direction (selection)
President of the district
court were
1927 Hermann Ramdohr (District Court I)
1927 Richard
Humbert (District Court II)
1927 Otto Kirschstein (District Court
III)
2005–2015 Bernd Pickel
2016–2018 Gabriele Nieradzik
Holger
Matthiessen since 2019