Landesgerichte#

Courts, Provincial (Austrian name: Landesgerichte), are courts of first instance. There are 18 provincial courts, of which there is one in every provincial capital (in Vorarlberg it is at Feldkirch); like the Bezirksgerichte (district courts) they have original jurisdiction over certain matters; they are commercial courts for commercial cases, except for Vienna, where there is a special commercial court; they also act as labour and social courts for labour and social cases, again except for Vienna, where there is a special labour and social court; in Vienna and Graz there are separate provincial courts for civil and criminal cases. Provincial courts are also courts of appeal for Bezirksgerichte (district courts) sitting as commercial courts for commercial matters, the one exception is Vienna, where the court of second instance is the commercial court of Vienna.