Local self-government; information

Part of this right to self-government is that the bodies acting on behalf of the municipality (mayor, municipal council) are elected by the citizens themselves in general, equal, direct, free, and secret elections. Above all, the right to self-government also means that the municipality fulfills its duties within the scope of its own jurisdiction independently and on its own responsibility, without instructions from higher authorities.

The manifestations of the municipality’s right to local self-government are

• territorial sovereignty, i.e. sovereignty over the municipal territory,
• the authority to enact bylaws, i.e. the authority of the municipality to regulate its own affairs by enacting bylaws on its own responsibility,
• organizational sovereignty, i.e. the right of the municipality to determine its own internal organization as it sees fit,
• administrative sovereignty, i.e. the right of the municipality to issue the administrative acts necessary for the implementation of laws, ordinances and statutes within the framework of the statutory regulations and, if necessary, to enforce them by force,
• the authority to select, hire, promote and dismiss its own staff,
• financial and fiscal sovereignty, i.e. the right of the municipality to regulate its own finances within the framework of the law,
• as well as planning sovereignty, i.e. the power to regulate building development in the municipality.

As part of the state system, the municipalities are subject to state supervision. The task of state supervision is to monitor the legality and, in the case of tasks assigned to the municipalities by the state (transferred scope of action), also the expediency of municipal administrative activities. The purpose of state supervision is to advise, promote and protect the municipalities in the performance of their tasks in an understanding manner and to strengthen the decisiveness and personal responsibility of the municipal bodies. Supervisory intervention is at the discretion of the state supervisory authority.

As public corporations, municipalities are legal entities and therefore have legal capacity and can be party to legal proceedings. A municipality can therefore, for example, acquire assets, be appointed as an heir, be a contractual partner under private law and be the debtor of liabilities.

• Article 28 (2) of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany (GG)
• Art. 11 para. 2 Constitution of the Free State of Bavaria
• Art. 108 ff. Municipal Code for the Free State of Bavaria (Gemeindeordnung - GO)