Amtsgericht (local court)

There are 718 local courts throughout Germany. They have jurisdiction in civil disputes where the amount involved does not exceed approximately .3000. However, regardless of the sum in question, the local court will also deal with landlord and tenant disputes and various family matters. Providing the amount involved is more than .500, appeal lies to the district court (Landgericht). The local court also has jurisdiction to handle cases involving minor criminal offences.

LANDGERICHT (DISTRICT COURT)

The district court has jurisdiction in all civil litigation involving amounts over .3000 and also deals with the more serious criminal offences. As stated above, the district court hears appeals in civil and criminal matters from the local court. Cases are heard before a court consisting of three judges. However, if the litigation is between merchants, the court sits as a commercial court in which the presiding judge is the only legally qualified member, the other two judges being experienced businessmen or women.

OBERLANDESGERICHT (APPEAL COURT)

The court of appeal is mainly concerned with hearing civil and criminal appeals from the district court. Except in the limited circumstances where leave is granted for a further appeal to the Bundesgerichtshof (see below), the decision of the court of appeal is final. The court of appeal also acts as a court of first instance for the hearing of the most serious criminal offences, such as treason. The courts just described are the courts of the Lander. Above these in the hierarchy are the federal courts. These comprise the various federal courts of appeal for courts exercising ordinary and special jurisdiction and the federal constitutional court.

THE BUNDESGERICHTSHOF (BGH; FEDERAL COURT OF APPEAL)

The BGH is the final court of appeal from courts exercising ordinary jurisdiction. Sitting at Karlsruhe, it hears appeals from the court of appeal but only if that court has given its consent. Such consent will normally be forthcoming only in those cases involving a novel and important point of law or where the decision of the lower court has deviated from a previous ruling of the BGH. Appeals in civil cases normally concern disputes where the sum involved exceeds .20 000.

SPECIALIST FEDERAL COURTS OF APPEAL

As mentioned above, alongside the ordinary courts, there exist a number of specialist courts, each with their own appeal structure, at the apex of which is a federal court of appeal. At the same level as the BGH, therefore, are also to be found the Bundesarbeitsgericht (federal labour court), the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (federal administrative court), the Bundessozialgericht

(federal social court) and the Bundesfinanzhof (federal tax court).

THE BUNDESVERFASSUNGSGERICHT (BVERFG; THE FEDERAL

CONSTITUTIONAL COURT)

The German constitution (Grundgesetz) provides for an independent court to hear cases of a constitutional nature. Thus, the BverfG decides disputes between the Federation and the Lander or between different Lander. It also resolves questions concerning the relationship between the federal parliament (Bundestag), the Landers’ representative body (Bundesrat), the federal government, the federal President and certain other institutions having a constitutional role.

Felony crimes

Felony crimes are serious offenses punishable by a heavy sentence. The punishment is usually imprisonment, but in certain murder cases, the punishment could be death.

In early English law a felony was a heinous act that canceled the perpetrator's feudal rights and forfeited his lands and goods to the king, thus depriving his prospective heirs of their inheritance. The accused might be tried by an appeal of felony, i.e., personal combat with his accuser, the losing party to be adjudged a felon. The appeal of felony was gradually replaced by rational modes of trial and was altogether abolished in England in 1819. In addition to the forfeiture of his property, the convicted felon usually suffered death, long imprisonment, or banishment. Death was an especially common English penalty in the 18th and the early 19th cent. To the list of common-law felonies – including murder, rape, theft, arson, and suicide – many others were added by statute. With the abolition of forfeitures in England in 1870 the felony acquired essentially its modern character.

Felony is used in various senses in the United States. In federal law, any crime punishable by death or more than one year's imprisonment is a felony. This definition is followed in some states; in others the common-law definition is retained, or else statutes specifically label certain crimes as felonies. Other possible consequences of committing a felony are loss of the rights of citizenship, deportation if the felon is an alien, and liability to a more severe sentence for successive offenses. Felonies are usually tried by jury, and in some states the accused must first have been indicted by a grand jury.

If you are convicted of a felony you will lose many of your civil rights. You will not be eligible to vote and you will not be eligible to run for public office. Some jobs will require certain bonding or insurance coverage before you can obtain the job. Many insurance companies will refuse to bond convicted felons and, therefore, even though you are not barred by law from certain jobs, you may find it difficult to obtain the job because of insurance or other requirements.

Charged with murder

The U.S. Code defines murder as "the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought." This Code separates murder into two categories: murder in the first degree and murder in the second degree. Murder may be charged as the lesser offense of manslaughter.

If charged with murder, the degree of seriousness is dependent upon the mindset of the person who committed the act resulting in death. Murder in the first degree includes every murder perpetrated by poison, lying in wait, or any other kind of willful, deliberate, malicious, and premeditated killing. Murder in the first degree also includes killings committed in the perpetration, or the attempted perpetration of any arson, escape, kidnapping, treason, espionage, sabotage, sexual abuse, burglary, or robbery. All other murders are considered murder in the second degree. So if the killer lacked malice or did not premeditate his act, he is guilty of a lesser degree or may be guilty of manslaughter.

An accidental killing may be prosecuted as murder if the act causing death was done with a reckless disregard for the safety of others. A drunk driver who causes a traffic accident resulting in death can be prosecuted for manslaughter.

Depending on varying state criminal laws, those guilty of murder in the first degree may be sentenced to life in prison or death, and those guilty of second degree murder can be imprisoned for any amount of years or life.

Defense to murder

A common defense to murder is self-defense. That is, the defendant was forced to kill to save his own life. However, most state requires that the force actually used to kill the other by the defendant was not more then the force reasonably necessary to fend off the actual threat of death. A common mitigating defense to Murder is that the defendant did not act with intent to kill. Most often this means that the death was an accident or an act of ordinary carelessness. Another mitigating defense is sometimes called diminished capacity or killing in the heat of passion. This defense often attempts to prove that the defendant acted in the heat of passion such that he could not reasonably control his actions under the circumstances.

Drug charges

If you face drug charges, this type of crime can be very serious. The law prohibits the possession of controlled substances unless prescribed by a physician. Controlled substances include drugs such as marijuana, amphetamines and cocaine. There are also a number of prescription drugs that are illegal if possessed without the benefit of a prescription.

The sale, delivery, manufacturing, or possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance is a serious felony which can result in a lengthy prison term and a substantial fine.

Possession of even the smallest amount of some drugs, like cocaine, can result in a conviction and a possible jail sentence.

Narcotics cases are commonly prosecuted under one of three ways. Either simple possession, possession with intent to sell, and sales or transportation.

Sometimes when a person is arrested on drug charges, the police will confiscate a car, home, or other property regardless of whether the owner is the same person in possession of the drug. The owner must then file a claim for the return of the property. The time limits for filing such a claim are short and strictly enforced. Usually, drugs are found as a result of a police search. Therefore, a central issue with drug offenses is usually whether proper legal procedures were followed.

White-collar crimes

White-collar crime is a term that is usually applied to crimes associated with business that do not involve violence or bodily injury to another person. In criminal law, white-collar crime refers to any offense committed in a professional or business setting. Typically, antitrust violations, bankruptcy, bribery, computer and internet fraud, credit card fraud, telemarketing fraud, counterfeiting, trade secret theft, embezzlement, environmental law violations, financial crime, insider trading, securities fraud, government fraud, healthcare fraud, identity theft, kickbacks, mail fraud, money laundering, public corruption, securities fraud, tax evasion, insider training, and insurance fraud fall into this category.

Of all of these crimes, identity theft is quickly becoming the most common. One in 50 consumers will fall prey to identity theft this year alone. Many of these victims won't even be aware that they have been targeted until well after the crime has occurred, making it even harder to find the culprit. In addition, credit card fraud, too, is an all-too-common occurrence. According to many experts, roughly one in every 20 consumers has had his or her credit card or credit card number stolen at some point and used to make illegal purchases.

White-collar crimes may be prosecuted in state or federal courts, depending upon whether state or federal laws have been violated. The penalties for committing white-collar crimes vary, but in some cases they may be as severe as those prescribed for violent crimes.

Misdemeanors (Part I)

A misdemeanor (or misdemeanor), in many common law legal systems, is a "lesser" criminal act, a minor crime other than treason or a felony. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than felonies; but theoretically more so than administrative infractions. Administrative infractions are considered civil cases, i.e. not a crime as the power to cite persons for infractions is usually left with administrative officials; it is not necessary to hold a court hearing nor is a citation the same as a conviction.

In some jurisdictions those who are convicted of a misdemeanor are known as misdemeanants. Although it might be a grave offense, it did not affect the feudal bond or take away the offender's property. By the 19th century serious crimes were labeled felonies, and minor crimes misdemeanors. In the United States a misdemeanor usually is an offense that may be punished summarily by fine and by imprisonment for less than a year. Commission of a misdemeanor does not cancel citizenship or subject an alien to deportation. Depending on the jurisdiction, examples of misdemeanors may include: petty theft, prostitution, simple assault, trespass, vandalism, disorderly conduct, disorderly intoxication, battery and other similar crimes. In general misdemeanors are crimes with a maximum punishment of 12 months or less of imprisonment, typically in a jail. Those people who are convicted of misdemeanors are often punished with probation, community service or part-time imprisonment, served on the weekends. In many jurisdictions misdemeanor convicts who are incarcerated serve their time in a local jail, whereas those convicted of a felony who are sentenced to more than one year serve their time in a prison.

While being convicted of a misdemeanor will not result in the loss of any of your civil right. However it is common that first offenders will be formally judged for the crime. Often a first offense misdemeanor crime becomes a felony after repeated offenses.