Federal Ministry of Justice (Germany)

Federal Ministry of Justice

Bundesministerium der Justiz (BMJ)
Agency overview
Formed	1 January 1877 as Reichsjustizamt
Jurisdiction	Government of Germany
Headquarters	Mohrenstraße 37 10117 Berlin
Employees	789[1]
Annual budget	€957 million (2021)[2]
Minister responsible	Marco Buschmann, Federal Minister of Justice
Agency executive	Benjamin Strasser, Parliamentary Secretary of State Gerd Billen, Permanent Secretary of State Stefanie Hubig, Permanent Secretary of State
Website	http://www.bmj.bund.de

The Federal Ministry of Justice (German: Bundesministerium der Justiz, German pronunciation: [ˈbʊndəsminɪsˌteːʁiʊm deːɐ̯ jʊsˈtiːt͡s] ^ⓘ), abbreviated BMJ, is a cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. Under the German federal system, individual States are most responsible for the administration of justice and the application of penalties. The Federal Ministry of Justice devotes itself to creating and changing law in the classic core areas related to Constitutional law. The Ministry also analyzes the legality and constitutionality of laws prepared by other ministries. The German Federal Court of Justice, the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (GPTO), and the German Patent Court all fall under its scope, including affairs on court administration. The ministry is officially located in Berlin.^[3]

The BMJ was founded on 1 January 1877 as the Imperial Justice Office (Reichsjustizamt). After Germany became a republic in 1919, it was renamed Reichsministerium der Justiz (Imperial ministry of Justice). The ministry was refounded as the Bundesministerium der Justiz in 1949. In several laws predating 1949, the ministry and the minister are however referred to as Reichsministerium der Justiz and Reichsminister der Justiz, respectively. This has gradually been replaced with the new name and title when laws have been amended, most recently in 2010.^[4]