Judicial authority is vested in judges; it is exercised by the Federal Constitutional Court, the federal courts and the courts of the 16 Länder (cf. Article 92 of the Basic Law).
Online case law databases
Since 2010 the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection has published selected rulings by the Federal Constitutional Court, the federal supreme courts and the Federal Patent Court on the Rechtsprechung im Internet [online case law] website. This information is available free of charge for those interested.
In addition, the Federal Constitutional Court and the federal courts publish rulings on their own websites. This information is available free of charge for non-commercial use. Press releases are also published on the websites, providing information on significant pending cases and their outcome.
Since the Federal Republic of Germany is a federal state, the Länder arrange the publication of their own court rulings. For this purpose they have set up their own websites, to which links are provided on the Justizportal des Bundes und der Länder [federal and state justice portal].