Courts in Austria

The system of courts in Austria interpreting and applying Austrian law is marked by a division between ordinary courts, dealing with criminal and civil cases, and public law tribunals for constitutional law, administrative law and asylum law. Unlike other federations, all courts exercise the immediate judicial authority of the federal state. In the course of an administrative jurisdiction reform implemented in 2012, administrative courts of the Austrian states (Länder) will be established in 2014.

Ordinary courts

Ordinary courts are the most numerous by far. Currently there are 134 district courts (Bezirksgerichte) on local level and 18 regional courts (Landesgerichte). Regional courts are established in Eisenstadt, Feldkirch, Graz, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Korneuburg, Krems an der Donau, Leoben, Linz, Ried im Innkreis, Salzburg, Sankt Pölten, Steyr, Wels, Wien (a criminal court and a civil court), and Wiener Neustadt. Four Oberlandesgerichte function as appellate courts:

Trial courts are composed of:

Trial Court Composition Jurisdiction
Bezirksgerichte (BG) Civil law 1 judge Civil action up to 15,000 Euros amount in dispute; Alternative Dispute Resolution; foreclosure proceedings and personal bankruptcy; land registration.
Criminal law 1 judge Criminal offenses in which the sentence is expected to be less than one year.
Landesgerichte (LG) Civil law 1 judge, mixed courts with 2 lay judges and one professional judge, or panels of 3 judges. All cases not assigned to the Bezirksgerichte; employment and social jurisdiction; state liability.
Criminal law
Oberlandesgerichte

References


    This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, December 14, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.