English Summary
Judicial power in Germany is divided into five areas, namely those of ordinary jurisdiction (civil and criminal courts), jurisdiction in labour affairs, administrative jurisdiction, financial jurisdiction and social jurisdiction. Of these branches social jurisdiction is the youngest; the Social Courts Code (Sozialgerichtsgesetz - SGG) of 3 November 1953 (BGBl I, P. 1239) establishing the system came into force on 1 January 1954. The court structure consists of three levels: in the federal states (Länder) social jurisdiction is administered by the Social Courts and the Higher Social Courts, while the highest court, the Federal Social Court in Kassel, operates at federal level. Its inauguration took place on 11 September 1954 and the first public session was held on 23 March 1955.
Before the legislation establishing the Social Courts there were no independent courts with specific jurisdiction for the legal areas which are today allocated to them. The German Reich’s Board of Social Insurance (Reichsversicherungsamt), which was founded in 1884 as the body of highest resort for social insurance matters, is often regarded as the forerunner of the Federal Social Court. This board dealt not only with administrative matters but was also and in particular entrusted with a judicial function. In the post-war period legal disputes in the field of social security were also dealt with by the administrative authorities for a number of years. It was not until the Social Courts Code was implemented in 1954 that judicial power was entrusted to an impartial judiciary, with judges whose only responsibility is the application of the rule of law. Since that time the preconditions which are required by present-day interpretations of the constitution are fulfilled and ensure that in matters of social security the comprehensive legal protection enshrined in the constitution is provided. Social Courts and Higher Social Courts have also been established in Germany’s new Länder added in 1990 after reunification.
The courts which exercise social jurisdiction are in particular responsible for the following areas, which can be summed up as social security matters: the statutory insurance systems which comprise pension, accident, health, unemployment, and long-term care insurance; state compensation for damage to health, namely compensation for members of the armed forces and the victims of violence; child raising allowance. With effect from 1 January 2005 jurisdiction over matters involving welfare benefits, as laid down in legislation dated 27 December 2003 (BGBl I, p. 3022), were transferred from administrative jurisdiction to social jurisdiction.
Like the other Federal High Courts, the Federal Social Court acts as a court of appeal on points of law. Its 13 divisions only resolve legal questions; they do not occupy themselves with establishing facts. The duty of the Federal Social Court is above all to secure legal uniformity and the development of the law. Accordingly access to the Court is restricted. An appeal is only admissible if it has been expressly granted in the verdict pronounced by the Higher Social Court (or by a leap-frog appeal in the verdict of the Social Court), or if it has been accepted by the Federal Social Court in response to an appeal against refusal of leave to appeal (Nichtzulassungsbeschwerde). An appeal is recognised if the legal issue involved is significant in principle, in other words if its significance goes beyond the individual case and is generally relevant, or if the verdict deviates from relevant high court rulings. An appeal can also be admitted by the Federal Social Court in the event of a procedural irregularity by the Higher Social Court.
Many years of experience have shown that at each level of the social judiciary about 10 % of the disputes which are referred to a particular instance proceed to a court of higher resort: for example in the year 2005 the Social Courts dealt with approx. 280,000 cases, the Higher Social Courts with approx. 27,500 and the Federal Social Court with approx. 2,400.
The legal validity of a verdict only applies to the participants in the individual case. However, in cases heard by the Federal Social Court one of the participants may well be an administrative authority which has to decide on a large number of similar cases. The court’s rulings therefore generally form a guideline for carrying out social security law. This means that the decisions of the Federal Social Court are of considerable significance for the whole population ‑ not just those who are fully covered by social insurance but also those who are outside those systems may be dependent on the legal protection provided by social jurisdiction (e.g. as recipients of child raising allowance, as a victim of violence who is entitled to compensation, as a severely disabled person). At the same time the rulings of the Federal Social Court with regard to contributions and benefits can have a considerable effect on the finances of the bodies responsible for the administration of such benefits.
The Federal Social Court safeguards the actual constitutive power and development of social law by examining the specific social rights of the individual and ensuring their implementation in practice. As the guarantor of applicable social legislation it shares responsibility for the necessary balance between needs which are recognized by the law and the financial capacities of society as a whole.