landesrechtlich

Landesrechtlich is a German legal term used to designate matters that fall under the jurisdiction of the Länder (federal states) in federal systems such as Germany and Austria. As an adjective or adverb, it describes laws, regulations, or administrative rules that are enacted or applied at the state level rather than by the federal government. The term is commonly contrasted with bundesrechtlich, which refers to federal law.

In Germany, the Basic Law allocates competences between the Federation and the Länder. Länder regulate many areas through their own laws and administrative rules, including education, police powers, cultural affairs, local government, civil service, and building and environmental regulations. Landesrechtliche Normen are implemented by state administrations and interpreted by state courts. In areas where federal and state competences intersect, both bundesrechtliche and landesrechtliche rules may apply, sometimes with different effects in different states.

In Austria, a similar distinction exists. The term landsrechtlich denotes provisions enacted by the Länder within the framework of the federal constitutional order. The concept also appears in comparative German-language legal writing to discuss how state-level law interacts with national law.

Legal practice and scholarship use the contrast between landesrechtlich and bundesrechtlich to analyze authority, rulemaking, and the uniformity of legal standards across the federation. The term signals jurisdictional subsidiarity and helps explain variations in regulations among states.