The Supreme Court of the Reich (Reichsgericht) in Leipzig formed the apex of the judicial pyramid. It determined important legal questions involving the interpretation of Reich laws, and entertained appeals from the decisions of the district courts of appeal and from criminal cases originally heard in the district courts. It was also the court of first and last instance for important treason cases. The judges of the Reich Supreme Court were appointed by the President of the Reich. The judges of the lower courts were appointed by the respective state governments. Before the advent of national socialism, a judge could not be removed by the government, but only by formal action before a disciplinary court composed of his peers. This security of tenure was guaranteed by articles 102 and 104 of the Weimar constitution. JUDICIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE THIRD REICH The impact of Hitler’s seizure of power on the German judicial system was swift and drastic. The Enabling Law of 24 March 1933 authorized the executive to issue decrees with the force of law and provided that these “decree laws” could deviate from the Weimar constitution, the civil rights provision of which had already been suspended by a decree of 28 February 1933. For practical purposes, therefore, legislative and executive powers were merged in Hitler’s cabinet, and the constitution was robbed of all practical effect. In 1934, the administration of justice was taken entirely out of the hands of the German states and was concentrated exclusively in the government of the Reich. The first law for the transfer of the administration of justice to the Reich was proclaimed 16 February 1934; it provided that thereafter all courts should pronounce judgment in the name of the German people, vested in the President of the Reich all clemency powers formerly held by the states, and authorized the Reich Minister of Justice to issue regulations for the transfer of the administration of justice to the Reich. This general directive was put into execution by the second and third laws for the transfer of the administration of justice to the Reich, promulgated in December 1934 and January 1935, respectively. The Justice Ministries of the several states were thereby abolished, and all their functions and powers were concentrated in the Reich Ministry of Justice, which became the supreme judicial authority, under Hitler, in the Reich. Hitler had already proclaimed himself the “Supreme Law Lord of the German people” in his speech to the Reichstag defending the killings which occurred during the suppression of the Roehm putsch.[13]