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Federal Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger - © FDP-Fraktion/Zelck

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Law constitutes the foundation of our free democracy. Guaranteeing the rule of law and pursuing further refinements in this area is a central task of legal policy, and thus also of the Federal Ministry of Justice.

The Federal Ministry of Justice drafts legislation in the fields of law assigned to its remit, mainly in the fields of civil law, commercial and economic law, criminal law and procedural law of the different jurisdictions.

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In a speech held at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Federal Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger discussed the consequences of the Digital Age for copyright law. Addressing the question of how best to "shape the protection of intellectual property so that it forms the prerequisite for cultural diversity, creativity and scientific achievement", the Minister insisted that legal mechanisms should not be unreflectively transferred from the analogous to the digital world.

To read the Minister's speech, click here.

Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger was today sworn in as the new German Federal Minister of Justice by the German Parliament. Prior thereto, the liberal politician was officially appointed by Horst Köhler, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, at the proposal of the German Chancellor.

Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger has already been Federal Minister of Justice between 1992 and 1996. She resigned from office after a ballot among the members of the FDP (Free Democratic Party) on the law on electronic eavesdropping for the purpose of criminal prosecution. She has been a member of the FDP since 1978 and a member of the German Federal Parliament since 1990, where she has been spokeswoman for legal policy of the liberal parliamentary group and chairwoman of the FDP at the parliamentary committee on legal affairs.
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