The Federal Ministry of Justice (German: Bundesministerium der Justiz), 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. The ministry is officially located in Berlin.
The BMJ was founded on January 1, 1877, as the Imperial Justice Office (Reichsjustizamt). After Germany became a republic in 1919, it was raised to the rank of a federal ministry as the Reichsministerium der Justiz. The ministry was formally renamed 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.
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