The terms of use of the Bavarian State Theaters are published as an official regulation. One sentence deals with latecomers. Mit Beginn der Veranstaltung erlischt aus Sicherheitsgründen und mit Rücksicht auf die mitwirkenden Künstlerinnen und Künstler sowie die anderen Besucherinnen und Besucher der Anspruch auf den gebuchten Platz. When the performance begins, the claim to the booked seat expires, for safety reasons and out of consideration for the performers and the other members of the audience. A latecomer is let into the hall only if there is a suitable break.
The Court Waits a Quarter of an Hour
A party who does not appear at a hearing in a German civil court can lose without the case being heard. The court issues a Versäumnisurteil, a judgment by default. The law sets no waiting period. By custom, courts wait 10 to 15 minutes after the case is called. On 5 July 2013, a hearing at the regional court of Dessau-Roßlau was set for 10 a.m. The judge issued a default judgment that dismissed the claim. The plaintiff’s lawyer entered the courtroom at 10:04 and objected that the customary wait had not been kept. The plaintiff then asked for the judge to be removed for bias. In 2014 the Higher Regional Court of Naumburg upheld the rejection of that request. It found that the judge’s view, that a default judgment may follow directly after the case is called, could be called mistaken, but that it was not a sign of bias.
One Warning, Then the Floor Is Gone
In the Bundestag, speaking time is shared out by agreement before the debate. The rules of procedure then say what happens to a member who runs over. The president soll ihm nach einmaliger Mahnung das Wort entziehen, should take away the floor after one warning. The Bundestag’s own glossary says that the chair watches the speaking time streng, strictly. On 16 October 2025, the AfD leader Alice Weidel spoke after a government statement by Chancellor Friedrich Merz and went over her time. According to Focus, President Julia Klöckner told her that her time was up. Weidel answered with a simple Danke and kept talking. Klöckner warned her several times and finally threatened to switch off her microphone.