5.5 Courts of general jurisdiction

One of the fundamental principles of the Austrian Federal Constitution provides that "all general jurisdiction is a federal matter", i.e. general jurisdiction is exclusively in the hands of the federal state (- as stipulated in sec 82 para1 of the Federal Constitutional Act).

Vienna is the seat of the supreme court of justice (and the other supreme courts, i.e. the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Administrative Court). Jurisdiction at provincial level (and beyond, in some cases) rests with the Vienna regional court for civil matters, the Vienna regional court for criminal matters, the Vienna commercial court and the Vienna labour and social security court. Additionally, the Vienna supreme provincial court (which is in charge of the federal provinces of Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland) as well as several district courts are located in Vienna. Vienna has the right to participate in the nomination of juries and lay assessors.