what legal system does germany use?
Federal republic
entailment
 Germany is a federal , parliamentary , representative democratic republic . The German political system operates under a framework laid out in the 1949 constitutional document known as the Grundgesetz ( Basic Law ) . Amendments generally require a two @-@ thirds majority of both chambers of parliament ; the fundamental principles of the constitution , as expressed in the articles guaranteeing human dignity , the separation of powers , the federal structure , and the rule of law are valid in perpetuity . 

entailment
 Germany has a civil law system based on Roman law with some references to Germanic law . The Bundesverfassungsgericht ( Federal Constitutional Court ) is the German Supreme Court responsible for constitutional matters , with power of judicial review . Germany 's supreme court system , called Oberste Gerichtshöfe des Bundes , is specialised : for civil and criminal cases , the highest court of appeal is the inquisitorial Federal Court of Justice , and for other affairs the courts are the Federal Labour Court , the Federal Social Court , the Federal Finance Court and the Federal Administrative Court . 

contradiction
 The judicial branch of the United States government cannot enforce the Convention , thus invalidating Hamdan 's argument that he cannot be tried until after his prisoner @-@ of @-@ war status is determined . 

entailment
 Criminal and private laws are codified on the national level in the Strafgesetzbuch and the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch respectively . The German penal system seeks the rehabilitation of the criminal and the protection of the public . Except for petty crimes , which are tried before a single professional judge , and serious political crimes , all charges are tried before mixed tribunals on which lay judges ( Schöffen ) sit side by side with professional judges . Many of the fundamental matters of administrative law remain in the jurisdiction of the states . 

entailment
 German law does not allow for punitive damages or the broad discovery generally available under the law of most American jurisdictions . A U.S. plaintiffs ' law firm , Kreindler & Kreindler , signed up families of about 80 of the crash victims as clients ; and filed a lawsuit on their behalf on April 13 , 2016 in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona against the Arizona @-@ based Lufthansa Airline Training Center that Lubitz had attended for his training as a commercial pilot . 
