Judiciary of the Neue Deutsche Reich

The judiciary of Prussia is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in Prussia.

The Prussian legal system is a civil law based on a comprehensive compendium of statutes, as compared to the common law systems. Prussia uses an inquisitorial system where the judges are actively involved in investigating the facts of the case, as compared to an adversarial system where the role of the judge is primarily that of an impartial referee between the prosecutor and the defendant.

The independence of the judiciary of Prussia is historically older than democracy in Prussia. The organisation of courts is traditionally strong, and almost all state actions are subject to judicial review.

Judges follow a distinct career path. At the end of their legal education at university, all law students must pass a state examination before they can continue on to an apprenticeship that provides them with broad training in the legal profession over two years. They then must pass a second state examination that qualifies them to practice law. At that point, the individual can choose either to be a lawyer or to enter the judiciary. Judicial candidates start working at courts immediately, however they are subjected to a probationary period of up to five years before being appointed as judges for lifetime.

The judicial system is established and governed by Article 8 of the Constitution. Article 8 states that "judicial power shall be exercised by independent courts, subject only to law; Judgments shall be rendered and executed in the name of the people."

Law
Prussia's legal system is a civilian system whose highest source of law is the Constitution of the Free State of Prussia, which sets up the modern judiciary, but the law adjudicated in court comes from the Prussian Codes; thus, Prussian law is primarily codal in nature. The court system adjudicates (1) public law (öffentliches Recht), that is, administrative law (civil-government litigation or litigation between two government bodies) and criminal law, and (2) private law (Privatrecht). .

Prussian law is not impregnated with legal positivism to the extent of Napoleonic legal systems, so Germany's judiciary is not subordinated to the legislature, the Constitution directly invests supreme judicial power in the Kammergericht as well as lower courts, and decisional law has greater importance, though not to the extent of common law systems. The court system is inquisitorial, thus judicial officers personally enter proof and testimony into evidence, with the litigants and their counsel merely assisting, although in some courts evidence can only be tendered by litigants.

Courts
The primary legislation concerning court organization is the Courts Constitution Act (Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz, or GVG).

Ordinary Courts Ordinary courts, dealing with criminal and most civil cases. The Supreme Court of Justice (Kammergericht) is the highest ordinary court.

The appellate courts are composed of: