Kammergericht

Kammergericht
Kammergericht building, view from Kleistpark
Established	15th century
Country	Germany
Location	Elßholzstraße 30-31, Berlin-Schöneberg
Coordinates	52°29′28″N 13°21′22″E / 52.491°N 13.356°E / 52.491; 13.356Coordinates: 52°29′28″N 13°21′22″E / 52.491°N 13.356°E / 52.491; 13.356
Authorized by	Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz
Website	berlin.de/gerichte/kammergericht
President

The Kammergericht (KG) is the Oberlandesgericht, i.e. the highest state court, for the city-state of Berlin, Germany. As an ordinary court according to the German Courts Constitution Act (Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz), it deals with criminal and civil cases, superior to the local Amtsgerichte and the Landgericht Berlin. Its name differs from other state courts for historic reasons; there are no other courts called Kammergericht in Germany.

A Kammergericht was first mentioned in 1468, when it adjudicated in the chambers (German: Kammern) of the prince-electors of Brandenburg. According to the Privilegium de non appellando granted by the Holy Roman Emperor, the Brandenburg subjects were prohibited from appealing to the Imperial authority. Therefore, the Kammergericht acted as supreme court in the Imperial estate ruled by the Hohenzollern electors.

As the appellate court of Brandenburg-Prussia and the Kingdom of Prussia from 1701, it was since 1698 based in the central Cölln quarter of Berlin. In 1735, under the rule of King Frederick William I, it moved to the newly erected Baroque Collegienhaus in the Friedrichstadt district (in present-day Kreuzberg). It then housed the supreme courts and judges of the different territories ruled in personal union by the royal House of Hohenzollern, without formally merging the different juridical systems. By this concentration in one locality the later unification of the juridical systems was prepared. The Collegienhaus is today part of the Jewish Museum Berlin.