Judicial training in Austria includes extensive training of prospective judges in civil, criminal and procedural law, as well as a wide range of specialised courses on topics such as law and language or protection from violence. In future, training will be supplemented by an obligatory curriculum on the history of the judiciary (“Curriculum Justizgeschichte”). The subjects in this two-module course range from the judiciary in the 19th century to the current challenges faced by, and expectations of, judges, with a particular focus on the National Socialist era.
The author analyses the development of the 2015/2016 Curriculum on the History of the Judiciary and examines its contents as well as its didactic structure. In addition to evaluating the Curriculum, the article also looks ahead and makes proposals for the future set-up of training in judicial history.