Councillor

A councilor ( in medieval Germany also Ratmann ) or Council mistress or councilor is a deputy in the town council of a municipality (ie in Germany mostly in the city council or city council ).

A gender-neutral expression is council member. This includes, in Lower Saxony but also the mayor, as he ex-officio to the Council consulted, but without being alderman in the above sense.

The Alderman is a member of a party generally. In the Council's work, he is usually in several Council committees that prepare the full Council decision templates.

In Germany, council members are elected usually every five years. The Council's work is an honorary post. Only about advanced tasks or an extended area of ​​responsibility, it is possible to exercise the Council's mandate as Vollzeitberufspoltiker, without any other gainful employment: Group President, or as a full-time mayor.

In Icelandic is ráðherra the political term for a minister.

History

In the history councilors were often in the city council (or Senate ) was appointed instead of being elected by the citizens. Typical examples are the City of parliaments in ancient Greece and Rome, where one councilor or senator could only be by was not dependent on making a living through this activity, or the city councils of the gifted to the city charter Lübeck Hanseatic cities, in the event of death new councilors the Board co-opted and almost always supplemented from members of the mercantile community itself. In the 19th century ( in Bremen: 1810-1822 ) are in the Hanseatic cities of the terms "advice" and " alderman " replaced by " Senate " and "Senator".

• Municipal Law ( Germany )
• Local politics ( Germany )
• Local politicians ( Germany )