Court System in Germany - Civil Jurisdiction Structure
The branch of jurisdiction which might be of most importance for a foreign creditor is the civil division of the ordinary courts. Within those ordinary courts, the different hierarchy levels from low to high are:
- First Instance or District Courts (Amtsgerichte)
- Regional Courts (Landgerichte)
- Higher Regional Courts (Oberlandesgerichte)
- Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof).
Litigation in cases for the recovery of debts has to be initiated in first instance courts
- by the district courts (Amtsgericht) for cases up to 5,000.- € or
- by the regional courts (Landgericht) in cases where the obligation reaches more than 5,000.- €.
An important difference between Amtsgericht and Landgericht is that in civil cases a party must be represented by a lawyer and procurator before the Landgericht, whereas such a requirement does not exist before the Amtsgericht.
In local courts, every civil case is treated in front of a single judge, whereas in regional courts the case is treated before a panel of three judges. If so, the parties can still agree to have their case decided by a single judge (most often in practice).