Der Rechtspfleger im Rechtssystem der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

The concept of judicial officer (Rechtspflegers) has a functional nature. The concept indicates the officers carrying out the qualified judicial tasks, which have been assigned to them by the Act of Judicial Officers. The origin of the concept of judicial officer may well be traced back to the early 20th century, when the judges began to express their demand to be released from their simple, but overloaded works. In time, the judicial officers, step by step, have been assigned various judgeship tasks ever so much that; while the institution was in the form of a judge assistantship at the beginning, it has been transformed into the essential organ of the voluntary jurisdiction and of the execution procedure. In the judicial proceedings of the first instance courts, the judicial officer acts as the "competent court" in the broad field. Therefore, setting aside the judicial proceedings, the acts of the judges are very limited, even almost none. In present, judicial officers, after graduating from a vocational school on 3 years and specially trained, have a sui generis judicial body as a part of the judicial organization, who acts under law and decides independently within the scope of their work. As long as it is related to the citizens' rights, violations resulting from the legal acts of the judicial officers which have been taken during the execution of their public authority, are subject to the supervision of the judge; by way of the legal remedies. The importance of the judicial officers for the judiciary not only derives form its position as the "second pillar of the third power"; but it also derives Niedersâchsische Fachhochschule jtir Verwaltung und Rechtspflege Fakultat Rechtspflege Hildesheim. 178 Ankara Law Review Vol.1 No.2 from the scope reflected by the statistics given below. By the end of the year 2002, whereas a total of 20.901 judges and 5.150 public prosecutors are continuing to carry out judicial services; the number of the judicial officers being employed in the courts and in the offices of public prosecutors is 13.548 (according to the numbers of the year 2000 more recent statistics have not been published yet), and the number of the judicial officers being employed in the offices of the Federal Prosecutor (Bundesgerichtshof), Federal High Court (Bundesanwaltschaft), and the Federal Department of Previous Convictions (Bundeszentralregister) is 161. In addition to that, the 957 "Amtsanwalte" should also be added to this sum, forasmuch as they have professional background as judicial officers.