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The Constitutional Court of Hamburg is the constitutional court of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the highest court and one of the three constitutional bodies of this state. The court is located in the building of the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in Justizforum Hamburg at Sievekingplatz. Birgit Voßkühler has been President of the Court since February 2020. She is the first woman to hold this office.
The jurisdiction is limited to the classic types of proceedings of a state court. There is no system for Constitutional complaints in Hamburg. The responsibilities arise from Article 65 of the Constitution of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and Section 14 of the Law on the Hamburg Constitutional Court. The most important types of procedure are the disputes between the constitutional organs of the state, the abstract review of norms concerning the compatibility of legal norms with the state constitution, the concrete review of norms at the request of a court regarding the constitutionality of a law or a legal regulation, the electoral review complaint in elections to the Hamburg Parliament and the district assemblies as well as decisions in disputes regarding the implementation of referendums and popular votes within the framework of Hamburg's popular legislation.
Birgit Voßkühler has been President of the Hamburg Constitutional Court since 2020; in her main position, she is Vice President of the State Labor Court of Hamburg.
The Hamburg Constitutional Court was established in 1953 in accordance with the State Constitution of 6 June 1952 and the Law on the Hamburg Constitutional Court of 2 October 1953 and celebrated its 50th anniversary in October 2003, having handled almost 120 cases at that time, with the number increasing. A further area of responsibility arose with the introduction of popular legislation at the state level in 1996.
A different predecessor with a limited scope of duties was the Hamburg State Court (according to the law of 19 May 1926), which, according to Article 49 of the Constitution (of 7 January 1921), had to decide on members of the Senate who had knowingly or through gross negligence violated the Constitution or a law. A different predecessor with a limited scope of duties was the Hamburg State Court (according to the law of 19 May 1926), which, according to Article 49 of the Constitution (of 7 January 1921), had to decide on members of the Senate who had knowingly or through gross negligence violated the Constitution or a law.
Birgit Voßkühler has been president since 2020 and is the first woman in the position.
Until 1984, "triple presidencies" were required by law in Hamburg. Therefore, the president of the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court was also President of the Hamburg Higher Administrative Court and the Hamburg Constitutional Court. Das änderte sich erst mit der Verabschiedung von Walter Stiebeler im November 1984. Nun bekam das Hamburgische Oberverwaltungsgericht und im Jahr 2007 auch das Hamburgische Verfassungsgericht einen eigenen Präsidenten.
Gerd Harder was also the presiding judge at the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court, Joachim Pradel was the presiding judge at the Hamburg Higher Administrative Court, and Friedrich-Joachim Mehmel was the president of the Hamburg Higher Administrative Court. Birgit Voßkühler is the first woman in the position, is also the vice president of the Hamburg Regional Labor Court, and thus, the first president from the field of labor courts. [1]
As part of an electoral review procedure for the 1991 Hamburg state election, the Hamburg Constitutional Court declared the election invalid on 4 May 1993 and ordered a new election for the first time in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany due to serious democratic deficits in the Hamburg CDU's candidate nomination process (1993 Hamburg state election ).
On October 13, 2016, the Hamburg Constitutional Court stopped the referendum "Save the Referendum" in proceedings pursuant to Article 65, Paragraph 3, No. 5 of the Constitution of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. [2]
The Constitutional Court stopped a referendum on Universal basic income. [3]
In 2024, The Constitutional Court allowed a referendum on banning advertising. [4]
A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established rules, rights, and freedoms, among other things.
The Federal Constitution of Austria is the body of all constitutional law of the Republic of Austria on the federal level. It is split up over many different acts. Its centerpiece is the Federal Constitutional Law (Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz) (B-VG), which includes the most important federal constitutional provisions.
Hamburg was founded in the 9th century as a mission settlement to convert the Saxons. Since the Middle Ages, it has been an important trading center in Europe. The convenient location of the port and its independence as a city and state for centuries strengthened this position.
The government of Hamburg is divided into executive, legislative and judicial branches. Hamburg is a city-state and municipality, and thus its governance deals with several details of both state and local community politics. It takes place in two ranks – a citywide and state administration, and a local rank for the boroughs. The head of the city-state's government is the First Mayor and President of the Senate. A ministry is called Behörde (office) and a state minister is a Senator in Hamburg. The legislature is the state parliament, called Hamburgische Bürgerschaft, and the judicial branch is composed of the state supreme court and other courts. The seat of the government is Hamburg Rathaus. The President of the Hamburg Parliament is the highest official person of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. This is a traditional difference to the other German states. The president is not allowed to exert any occupation of the executive.
The Hamburg Parliament is the unicameral legislature of the German state of Hamburg according to the constitution of Hamburg. As of 2020 there are 123 sitting members, representing 17 electoral districts. The parliament is situated in the city hall Hamburg Rathaus and is part of the Government of Hamburg.
The number of elections in Hamburg varies. Hamburg has a state election every five years, the elections for the state parliament. There are also elections to the federal diet of Germany, the local elections of the diet of the boroughs (Bezirksversammlungen) and every five years to the European Parliament. All elections take place by universal adult suffrage and are regulated by law.
The Constitution of the Free and Hanseatic city of Hamburg is the basic governing document of the German city-state of Hamburg. It was approved on 6 June 1952. It is the fourth constitution that the state has had, consists of 76 articles, and has been amended 34 times.
The Hanseaten is a collective term for the hierarchy group consisting of elite individuals and families of prestigious rank who constituted the ruling class of the free imperial city of Hamburg, conjointly with the equal First Families of the free imperial cities of Bremen and Lübeck. The members of these First Families were the persons in possession of hereditary grand burghership of these cities, including the mayors, the senators, joint diplomats and the senior pastors. Hanseaten refers specifically to the ruling families of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen, but more broadly, this group is also referred to as patricians along with similar social groups elsewhere in continental Europe.
Stefan Schmitt was a German jurist and politician.
The Federal Constitutional Court is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law of Germany. Since its inception with the beginning of the post-World War II republic, the court has been located in the city of Karlsruhe, which is also the seat of the Federal Court of Justice.
Referendums in Germany are an element of direct democracy. On the federal level only two types of a mandatory binding referendum exist – adopting a new constitution and regional referendums in case of restructuring the states. On the state level, all states have various types of statewide and municipal referendums.
Anne Peters is a German-Swiss jurist with a focus on public international law. She is director at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, honorary professor at the University of Basel, University of Heidelberg and Free University of Berlin, and at William W. Cook Global Law Professor at Michigan Law School.
Till Steffen is a German lawyer and politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since the 2021 elections, representing the Hamburg-Eimsbüttel district.
In the federal system of the Federal Republic of Germany, the state parliaments embody the legislative power in the sixteen states. In thirteen of the sixteen German states, the state parliament is known as the Landtag. In the states Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the state parliament is called Bürgerschaft (Citizenry), in Berlin it is called Abgeordnetenhaus.
The Constitutional Court of the State of Berlin is the state constitutional court of Berlin. It has its seat at the Kammergericht building in the Schöneberg district of Berlin. Since November 2019, Ludgera Selting is the president of the court.
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The State Constitution of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen is the constitution of the state of Bremen. It dates from October 21, 1947, and was last revised on August 15, 2019, with effect from August 16, 2019.
The State Constitutional Court of Schleswig-Holstein is the state constitutional jurisdiction of the state of Schleswig-Holstein, established on 1 May 2008. It is based in Schleswig.
The Thuringian Constitutional Court is the state constitutional court of the Free State of Thuringia. The court is located in Weimar at Jenaer Straße 2a, and oral hearings take place at Gutenbergstraße 29a.
The Constitutional Court of Brandenburg is the third constitutional body of the State of Brandenburg, alongside the Landtag of Brandenburg and the Brandenburg State Government. As a constitutional court, it is responsible for deciding constitutional disputes.