German Legal Materials — Translated Decisions

  1. Constitutional Law
    1. General Content
    2. Wrongful Life / Wrongful Birth; Damage to Mental Health
    3. 2 GG (Personal Freedoms)
    4. DNA Testing
    5. Art 3. GG (Equality)
    6. Art. 4 GG (Freedom of Faith, Conscience, and Creed)
    7. Art 5. GG (Freedom of Expression, Freedom of the Press, Freedom of Art and Scholarship, Research and Teaching)
    8. Art. 6 GG (Marriage and the Family)
    9. Art. 8 GG (Freedom of Assembly)
    10. Art. 12 GG (Freedom of Occupation)
    11. Art. 13 GG (Inviolability of the Home)
  2. Administrative Law
    1. Distinction between public law and private law
    2. Hierarchy of norms (Gesetzesvorrang)
    3. Legal reservation (Gesetzesvorbehalt)
    4. Subjective right (subjektives Recht)
    5. Discretion (Ermessen)
    6. Proportionality (Verhältnismäßigkeit)
    7. Indefinite legal concepts (unbestimmte Rechtsbegriffe)Margin of judgement (Beurteilungsspielraum)
    8. Executive legislation ¿¿¿ statutory orders (Rechtsverordnungen)
    9. Autonomous legislation ¿¿¿ by-laws (Satzungen)
    10. Administrative acts (Verwaltungsakt)
    11. Administrative contracts (öffentlich-rechtlicher Vertrag)
    12. Private-law activities of public administration (verwaltungsprivatrechtliches Handeln)
  3. Tort Law

    The arrangement of the translated decisions in the following sub-sections according to different subject matter follows the treatment of the subject in Professor Basil Markesinis' The German Law of Torts: A Comparative Treatise, 4th edition by Basil Markesinis and Hannes Unberath, Hart Publishing (2002). The decisions are best read in conjunction with the copious annotations provided in the book which give further references to the rich Anglo-American material.

    1. Nervous Shock
    2. Pre-natal Injuries
    3. Wrongful Life
    4. Unwanted Pregnancies
    5. Economic Loss I (cable cases)
    6. Economic Loss II (loss of use; other possible headings)
    7. Economic Loss III (negligent statements)
    8. Economic Loss IV (legal malpractice)
    9. Loss of Earnings
    10. Other Rights (family relationships)
    11. Established and Operating Business (eingerichteter und ausgeübter Gewerbebetrieb)
    12. The Constitutionalization of Private Law
    13. Personality and Privacy Rights
    14. Unlawfulness and Fault
    15. Informed Consent; Uncommon Risks
    16. Duties of Care
    17. Product Liability (Produkthaftung)
    18. Damage Caused to the Product
    19. Causation
    20. § 831 BGB (Haftung für den Verrichtungsgehilfen)
    21. § 278 BGB (Haftung für den Erfüllungsgehilfen)
    22. Traffic Accidents
    23. Strict Liability Act
    24. § 823 II BGB
    25. Liability of Statutory Bodies (Amtspflichtverletzung, § 839 BGB)
    26. Compensation and Satisfaction
    27. Limitation
    28. Joint Debtors Relationship (§ 840 BGB)
    29. Contributory Negligence
    30. Social Security Law, Employer's Privilege
    31. Medical Liability
  4. Contract Law
    1. The Formation of Contracts
    2. The Policing of Contracts
    3. Relaxation to Contractual Privity
    4. The Performance of Contracts
    5. Irregularities of Performance
      1. Impossibility
      2. Delay
      3. Positive Breach
      4. Anticipatory Breach
    6. The Principle of Good Faith
    7. Remedies
  5. Restitution Law
    1. Restitution