Welcome to the Bavarian State Ministry of Justice

The Bavarian State Ministry of Justice is the supreme authority for some 14,000 judges, public prosecutors, judicial officers, probation and court officers, first and second level civil servants, employees and for about 4,500 civil servants and employees in law enforcement.

The ministry is responsible not only for the staffing and facilities of the courts, departments of public prosecution and law enforcement institutions in Bavaria. In particular its other responsibilities include the Bavarian judiciary’s budgetary and building matters, questions of principle regarding organisation, the modernisation of the judiciary, advocacy law, the system of notary’s offices, law enforcement, the training and further training of public servants and the Administrative Office of the State Courts – Examination Division. The ministry also contributes to the legislation of the Federal Government and of the Free State of Bavaria, primarily in the fields of civil law, criminal law and procedural law.

According to the constitution of the Free State of Bavaria, the person responsible for running the ministry is the Minister of State for Justice. Since 12 November 2018 that has been Georg Eisenreich. He is a member of the national government with a seat and vote in the cabinet.

The Senior Official of the Bavarian State Ministry of Justice is Ministerial Director Dr. Winfried Brechmann. The ministry currently has about 205 staff, roughly 80 of them fourth level civil servants. The ministry is divided into seven departments and the Administrative Office of the State Courts – Examination Division.

The ministry’s departments and their areas of responsibility

• Department  A
  Staff matters, staff budget, notarial matters, the law of the legal professions
• Department B
  Budget and construction, organisation, IT, business statistics
• Department  C
  Matters of principle, European law and public law
• Department D
  Civil law and consumer law
• Department E
  Criminal law and internet crime
• Department F
  Law enforcement
• Department G
  Training, further training and examination law

The administrative Office of the State Courts – Examination Division

The Administrative Office of the State Courts – Examination Division is responsible for preparing and conducting the First and Second State Examination in Law, the Judicial Officer Examination, the Bailiff Examination, the Principal Court Clerk Examination and the examination for the various careers of the law enforcement service.

Justice and law enforcement in Bavaria

The Bavarian State Ministry of Justice portfolio encompasses the courts of the ordinary court system, i.e. the civil and criminal courts. In Bavaria that is the higher regional courts of Munich, Nuremberg and Bamberg, 22 regional courts and 73 district courts with 7 agencies.

In Bavaria, the specialised court system (administrative, industrial, social and financial courts) belongs to the portfolio of the respective government ministries, not to the law department.

The departments of public prosecution are obliged to prosecute criminal acts and – unless other authorities are preferentially appointed to do so – also administrative offences.

In Bavaria there are general departments of public prosecution in Munich, Nuremberg and Bamberg, and departments of public prosecution at each of the regional courts (with five public prosecution agencies).

In addition the Bavarian State Ministry of Justice is in charge of the entire Bavarian law enforcement system. Altogether Bavaria has 36 prisons and 6 youth juvenile detention institutions. The Bavarian Law Enforcement School in Straubing is responsible for the training and further training of law enforcement officials.

• Click here for more information in German.

The Bavarian State Ministry of Justice also works closely with consumer organisations, which it promotes. Verbraucherzentrale Bayern and VerbraucherServiceBayern are contacts on the spot everywhere in Bavaria. Besides giving individuals advice they organise lectures, practical demonstrations and a lot more.

Contact details

• Click here for up-to-date press releases from Bavarian State Ministry of Justice in German.