Germany

Historically, the Gemeindeordnung was state law. During the Weimar Republic

Weimar Republic

The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...

, it became federal law named Deutsche Gemeindeordnung. The Nazi

Nazism

Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...

 regime made several revisions to comply with their political and legal philosophy.

The German constitution Grundgesetz written in 1949 strongly emphasised the state's authority, and as a result the enactment of the municipal code was transferred back to the states.

Each German state

States of Germany

Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...

 has its own municipal code. There may be further laws like a Kommunalwahlgesetz, containing legal norms for local elections, which are also enacted by the states.

The Gemeindeordnung substitutes a city statute, as it contains a constitution with basic and special rules for every form of community from the smallest village to big cities like Munich, Frankfurt and Cologne. Berlin and Hamburg are themselves city-state

City-state

A city-state is an independent or autonomous entity whose territory consists of a city which is not administered as a part of another local government.-Historical city-states:...

s and not part of a state.