The Mazal Library

©MAZAL LIBRARY

NMT03-T1010

NUERNBERG MILITARY TRIBUNAL
Volume III · Page 1010

Pursuant to a decree of the Fuehrer of 16 March 1939, the defendant Schlegelberger, as Reich Minister of Justice in charge, together with the Minister of the Interior and the Chief of the Armed Forces, Keitel, issued a decree which reads in part as follows:

"Section 1. In case of direct attack by a non-German citizen against the SS or the German Police or against any of their members, the Reich Leader of the SS and the Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior may establish the ,jurisdiction of a combined SS court and police court, by declaring that special interests of parts of the SS or of the Police require that judgment be given by an SS and police court.

"This declaration shall be sent to the Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. The SS and police court, which shall have jurisdiction in individual cases, shall be specified by the Reich Leader of the SS and Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior.

"Section 2. If the offense directly injures the interests of the armed forces, the Reich Leader of the SS and chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior, and the chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces shall reach an agreement as to whether the case shall be prosecuted by an SS and police court or by a military court.¹

"Article II. Exemption of the Reich court from being bound to precedent sentence: The Reich Court as the highest German tribunal must consider it its duty to effect an interpretation of the law which takes into account the change of ideology and of legal concepts which the new State has brought about. In order to be able to accomplish this task without having to show consideration for the jurisdiction of the past brought about by other ideology and other legal concepts, it is ruled as follows:

"When a decision is made about a legal question, the Reich Court can deviate from a decision laid down before this law went into effect."²

THE LAW IN ACTION

We pass now from the foregoing incomplete summary of Nazi legislation to a consideration of the law in action, and of the influence of the "Fuehrer principle" as it affected the officials of the Ministry of Justice, prosecutors, and judges. Two basic principles controlled conduct within the Ministry of Justice. The first concerned the absolute power of Hitler in person or by delegated authority to enact, enforce, and adjudicate law. The second con- [...cerned]

__________
¹ 1942 RGB1. I, p. 475.
² Law of 28 June 1935; 1935 RGB1. I, p. 844.

1010