Ministry of Justice of Germany

The Federal Ministry of Justice is a ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany.

 History 
Germany has five "Classic Ministries", rather like the United Kingdom's "Great Offices of State".

The classic ministries are:
 Justice
 Interior
 Finance
 Defence (or "War" as it was called before World War II) and
 the Foreign Office

The Reich Justice Office was created in 1875. It was a part of the Chancellor's department until 1 January 1877 when it became independent. The first Minister of Justice was appointed in 1919, when the Office of Justice became the Reichsministerium der Justiz of the Weimar Republic

 Responsibility 
 Political 
The Federal Minister of Justice heads the Ministry. He has two senior assistants.
 The Parliamentary State Secretary, a member of the Bundestag who acts as a "junior minister"
 The "beamteter Staatssekretär". This is the senior civil servant of the department.

 Role 
Germany is a federal country. The administration of the justice and criminal prosecution is mainly a matter for the federal states.

The federal ministry's main job is ensuring that federation and the states, and all laws, keep within the "Rule of Law".

The ministry oversees the writing of new laws, and the changing or the abolition of existing laws in these areas:
 Civil law
 Criminal law
 Commercial and Company law
 Copyright and protecting industrial property rights
 Organisation and procedures of the courts (except the Labour and Social Security Courts)

The ministry also oversees the laws about qualifying and working as a judge, prosecutor, lawyer or notary

The ministry has also been responsible for the legal problems after the reunification of Germany. This meant changing a lot of criminal and administrative law. Also professional rehabilitation was needed. Judges and lawyers were just some of the people who were used to working in the communist system, and now had to change.

Furthermore, the ministry checks that all laws and ordinances prepared by other ministries do not break the constitution.

The Ministry publishes the official newspaper the "Bundesgesetzblatt" the Federal Law Gazette und "Bundesanzeiger" the Federal Gazette. It also prepares the elections of Judges to the Bundesverfassungsgerichts and the highest level of federal courts.

 List of Justice Ministers 
Federal Ministers of Justice since 1949PartyNoName Life dataTerm startTerm endFDP1Thomas Dehler 1897-196720 September 194920 October 1953FDP2Fritz Neumayer 1884-197320 October 195316 October 1956DP3Hans-Joachim von Merkatz 1905-198216 October 195629 October 1957CSU4Fritz Schäffer 1888-196729 October 195714 November 1961FDP5Wolfgang Stammberger 1920-198214 November 196119 November 1962FDP/DVP6Ewald Bucher 1914-199113 December 196227 March 1965CDU7Karl Weber 1898-19851 April 196526 October 1965CSU8Richard Jaeger 1913-199826 October 196530 November 1966SPD9Gustav Heinemann 1899-19761 December 196626 March 1969SPD10Horst Ehmke 1927-201726 March 196921 October 1969SPD11Gerhard Jahn 1927-199822 October 19697 May 1974SPD12Hans-Jochen Vogel 1926-202016 May 197422 January 1981SPD13Jürgen Schmude 1936-22 January 19811 October 1982FDP14Hans A. Engelhard 1934-20084 October 198218 January 1991FDP/DVP(Before 1991, independent)15Klaus Kinkel 1936-18 January 199118 May 1992FDP16Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger 1951-18 May 199217 January 1996FDP17Edzard Schmidt-Jortzig 1941-17 January 199626 October 1998SPD18Herta Däubler-Gmelin 1943-27 October 199822 October 2002SPD19Brigitte Zypries 1953-22 October  200227 October 2009FDP20Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger 1951-28 October 200917 December 2013SPD21Heiko Maas 1966-17 December 201314 March 2018SPD22Katarina Barley 1968-14 March 201827 June 2019SPD23Christine Lambrecht 1965-27 June 20198 December 2021FDP24Marco Buschmann 1977-8 December 20217 November 2024Independent25Volker Wissing1970-7 November 20246 May 2025SPD26Stefanie Hubig1968-6 May 2025

*