Under German law, each side may break off negotiations until the contract is signed. Money spent in the hope of a deal is spent at one’s own risk. A judgment of the Federal Court of Justice of 29 March 1996 shows how narrow the exception is. A printer rented space in a building. The new owner planned to sell the units, and the two sides negotiated a price of 750,000 marks for the printer’s space. From April 1991 to February 1992, the printer paid to convert the rooms. Then the owner asked for 1,000,000 marks, and the sale failed. The court said that such costs can be claimed only if the contract could be taken as certain. Because a property sale needs a notary, the court set a further condition. As a rule, the other side must have acted on purpose, for example by pretending to be ready to sign. The court gave its reason. Liability for an honest change of mind would mean einen indirekten Zwang zum Vertragsabschluß, indirect pressure to conclude the contract.
The Jawort
Germans call the moment of marriage the Jawort, the yes-word. At the registry office, the registrar is to ask the two partners one by one ob sie die Ehe miteinander eingehen wollen, whether they want to marry each other. Only after both have answered yes does he declare them married. This is Section 1312 of the Civil Code. Section 1311 requires both to make the declaration in person, with both present at the same time. It adds one more sentence. Die Erklärungen können nicht unter einer Bedingung oder Zeitbestimmung abgegeben werden. The declarations cannot be made subject to a condition or a time limit. A partner who answers with a joke, a doubt or a condition can stop the ceremony. The newspaper Nordkurier put the rule in one line. Im Zweifel darf die Ehe nicht geschlossen werden. If there is doubt, the marriage may not take place.
The Guarantee Must Be Signed
A German who promises to pay another person’s debt must give that promise in writing. Section 766 of the Civil Code says: Zur Gültigkeit des Bürgschaftsvertrags ist schriftliche Erteilung der Bürgschaftserklärung erforderlich. For the guarantee to be valid, the guarantor must give his declaration in writing. An e-mail is not enough. The same section excludes the electronic form. In a judgment of 17 February 2000, the Federal Court of Justice described the purpose. The form requirement soll den Bürgen warnen und vor nicht ausreichend überlegten Erklärungen sichern. It is meant to warn the guarantor and to protect him from a declaration he has not thought through. Merchants are the exception. Under Section 350 of the Commercial Code, a guarantee that is part of their business is valid without the written form.
Agreed is agreed
Abgemacht ist abgemacht.
Ein Mann, ein Wort — a man, a word.
Darauf kannst du dich verlassen — you can rely on that.
Sein Wort halten — to keep one’s word, and sein Wort brechen, to break it, which is spoken of as damage done to the word itself.
The German expressions treat the agreement as a thing that exists after the conversation ends, independent of either party’s continued attention.
Chasing reads as doubt
A German supplier contacted mid-project to confirm that the agreement still holds will hear the question as it was not asked. The enquiry implies that something might have changed, that the priority might have slipped, or that the supplier might have forgotten. None of those is a neutral suggestion.
Payment falls due without asking
For monetary claims, a German debtor falls into default at the latest thirty days after the debt becomes due and the invoice arrives — without any reminder being sent. The provision is § 286 Abs. 3 BGB. The creditor is not required to chase. The obligation runs on its own clock.
Contracts must be kept
Pacta sunt servanda is quoted in German legal education as the foundation of contract law, and German civil law treats the binding force of agreement as a starting premise rather than as one consideration among several. An agreement is not a statement of current intention that both sides revisit. It is the thing that was settled.
Late and complete
Lieber richtig als schnell — rather correct than fast.
Was lange währt, wird endlich gut — what takes long becomes good in the end.
Gründlichkeit geht vor Schnelligkeit — thoroughness before speed.
Pfusch am Bau — botched building work, the standard German phrase for what haste produces.
Four ordinary expressions, all approving delay and all naming the same alternative.
The further period
Where performance is late, a German creditor generally cannot simply withdraw from the contract. He must first set a reasonable further period and let it run — § 323 Abs. 1 BGB. The law builds a second chance into lateness. What is not tolerated is the failure that survives the second chance.
The date must be agreed, not imposed
That automatic default only applies where the date was fixed by contract, by statute or by court judgment. A payment deadline written unilaterally on an invoice does not count — the Federal Court of Justice has held that it is merely an offer of credit terms.
A deadline one party announced is not a deadline. It has to have been agreed.