The following year, the People’s Court (Volksgerichtshof) was established by the law of 24 April 1934.[118] The People’s Court tried cases of treason, which were withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the Reich Supreme Court. During the following years, the jurisdiction of the People’s Court was vastly increased by the expanded concept of treason. The People’s Court sat in six divisions, or “senates”; later on, a “special senate” was created to retry cases where, in the judgment of the Chief Public Prosecutor of the Reich, an insufficient punishment had been imposed. Ordinarily a senate of the People’s Court was composed of five judges, of whom two were professional judges and the other three were laymen specially appointed from the SS, the armed forces, and the Nazi Party hierarchy. There was no appeal from decisions of the People’s Court. * * * * * * * Other special tribunals established under the third Reich included the “hereditary health courts”[119] (Erbgesundheitsgerichte) and in 1945, emergency civilian “courts martial”[120] (Standgerichte) in those parts of Germany which were near the front lines. * * * * * * * REGULAR AND EXTRAORDINARY COURTS OF THE THIRD REICH +------+ |HITLER| +------+ . +---------------------------+ | REICH MINISTRY OF JUSTICE |............ | THE MINISTER | . +---------------------------+ . | THE UNDER SECRETARY | . +---------------------------+ . | DEPT. III DEPT. IV | . | (_Combined in 1944_) | . +---------------------------+ . . . ......................... . . . . +-------------+ +---+----------------+---+ . |REICH SUPREME| | | PEOPLE’S COURT | | . +--| COURT | | | (BERLIN) | | REICH DEFENSE | | (LEIPZIG) | | +---+--------+---+ | COMMISSARS OR | +-------------+ | | SPECIAL| | GAULEITER | | . | | SENATE | | . | | . +-------+--------+-------+ . CRIMINAL | . | 1st | 2d | 3d | . APPEALS | . |SENATE | SENATE | SENATE| . AFTER | . +-------+--------+-------+ . 1939 | .