Administrative Procedure and Judicial Review in Germany

This chapter explores administrative procedure and judicial review in Germany. The German Basic Law contains a guarantee of access to justice. According to section 40(1) of the Code of Administrative Court Procedure (CACP), recourse to the administrative courts shall be available in all public-law disputes of a non-constitutional nature insofar as the disputes are not explicitly allocated to another court by a federal statute. German administrative court procedure generally aims to protect subjective rights. In general, all measures taken by a public authority are subject to review by courts. This principle forms an essential part of the fundamental rights constitutionally guaranteed. Thus, no measure by the public administration is excluded from this guarantee. The infringement of a procedural provision with protective effects does not necessarily lead to the right of the applicant to have the decision quashed. This usually requires the infringement of a right of the appellant resulting from substantive law. Damages cannot be claimed within the same (administrative) court proceeding that aims to quash an administrative decision.