Article 101 of the Basic Law says: Niemand darf seinem gesetzlichen Richter entzogen werden. No one may be removed from his lawful judge. In practice, the presiding committee of each court distributes the cases in a plan, the Geschäftsverteilungsplan. It makes this plan before the business year begins, for the whole year. The plan may be changed during the year only for narrow reasons, such as a judge who is overloaded. The judge for a case is therefore fixed in advance by a general rule.