From July 10th to July 21st, 2017, a delegation of 30 high-ranking jurists from Brazil came to Munich. Most of them are judges at the State Court of Justice of the Brazilian Federation State Espirito Santo.
Our guests participated in SIBE`s specific study program in Germany, initiated by the President of the State Court of Justice as well as the managing director of SIBE and Vice President of the Steinbeis University, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Werner G. Faix: In the first week, our guests made acquaintance with the supreme institutions of the German jurisdictional system: in Karlsruhe with the Federal Court of Justice, the supreme German court for civil and criminal matters as well with the Federal Constitutional Court, the guardian of the German constitution, the Basic Law (Grundgesetz) and in Munich with the Bavarian Constitutional Court, welcomed by its President and Secretary General. A presentation made by Mrs. Andrea Titz, President of the Bavarian Association for Judges, gave a detailed insight into the judges’ status, their nomination, salary as well as the representation of their interests.
First-hand information on the multiple governmental activities was offered to the guests through the visits of the highest level administrations in Bavaria: the State Ministries for Justice, for Economy, Media, Energy and Technology as well as for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forest. How penitentiary is executed in practice was shown through a glance behind the walls of Stadelheim, the gloomy prison of Munich.
In the “Maximilianeum” where the Bavarian Parliament sits, our guests had a debate with the Chairman of the Committee for Local Issues, Security and Sports, Dr. Florian Herrmann. Representatives of the “Bayerischer Rundfunk” (Bavarian broadcasting), Peter Hufe, a member of the administrative board, and Martin Binder, the editor and reporter of the channel “Bayern aktuell” and “Rundschau” talked about the structures of broadcasting in Bavaria and the present-day challenges broadcasting has to meet.
Beforehand, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Werner G. Faix welcomed the Brazilian Delegation as students of the LL.M. program for International Business Law and explained important study details.
On Thursday and Friday of the two weeks, a Seminar on German and Bavarian constitutional law, European Union law and international economy law took place which was carried out by Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Rainer Arnold. He talked about the origin and the features of the Basic Law and made comparisons to the Bavarian Constitution which has been adopted even before the creation of the Federation. Constitutional jurisdiction at the federal as well as at the State level were further essential issues of the seminar. Federalism as the central constitutional characteristic of Germany was analysed as well as the legal, political and economic position of Bavaria within Germany. Questions related to membership in the European Union and the worrying new tendencies of the world trade were also involved in the seminar. Every lecture was followed by an active discussion.
In addition, our Brazilian guests had the chance to get an impression of the Bavarian culture during the trip to the castle Neuschwanstein. One of the most important things were the gregarious meetings at exquisite places of Bavarian hospitality, for instance, in the Hofbräuhaus, the Augustiner-Biergarten, in the world wide oldest brewery in Weihenstephan, as well as on the top of the Olympia Tower.
These two weeks gave us the possibility to encounter our Brazilian guests personally, to get into dialogue and conversation with them and to have an exchange of thoughts. It was a very positive experience. Finally, Prof. Arnold thanked his colleagues Prof. Dr. Giorgi Khubua (TU Munich and SIBE), Mrs Aline Bäuerle, Dr. Eva Feldbaum and Mrs Ekaterina Cardone (all SIBE) for the outstanding organisation, the excellent carrying-out of the program, and – last but not least – the translators as well as the lawyer Mr. Homuth who placed the rooms in the Institute for the Legal Profession Law at our disposal.