Germany Archives - Page 11 of 334

Forcing a Quick Solution

In April 2026 the German business magazine Business Punk listed eight leadership mistakes that make team conflicts worse. One is Den Richter spielen, playing the judge. Sich auf eine Seite zu schlagen, ohne alle Hintergründe zu kennen, verschärft den Konflikt meist. Taking a side without knowing all the background usually makes the conflict worse.

Another is Schnelle Lösungen forcieren, forcing quick solutions. Doch das funktioniert selten. But that rarely works. Aktives Zuhören braucht Zeit – spart aber langfristig Nerven. Active listening takes time, but it saves stress in the long run.

A Settlement With Time to Think

A settlement reached in a German court can carry a reservation of revocation. It then takes effect only if no party revokes it in writing by a set date. In a labor case from Bamberg, the parties settled on 19 January 2004. Any revocation had to reach the court by 2 February 2004.

The law sets no period for this. The parties agree on it. In 2018 the Federal Court of Justice noted why the time matters. If the parties could not extend the period, many would revoke a settlement as a precaution, a step that ausreichender Überlegungszeit, enough time to think it over, would avoid.

Judgment on Another Day

A German civil court usually does not announce its judgment at the end of the hearing. It sets a separate date for that. Under § 310 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the date may be more than three weeks away only for important reasons, especially the size or difficulty of the case.

A judgment announced right after the hearing has its own name, the Stuhlurteil, the chair judgment. In civil cases the separate date is weit häufiger, far more common. In criminal trials, the judgment at the end of the main hearing is the rule.

To Merkel

In 2015 merkeln, a verb made from the name of Chancellor Angela Merkel, came second in the vote for the Jugendwort des Jahres, the youth word of the year, run by the publisher Langenscheidt. The winner was Smombie. The press explained merkeln as Nichtstun, keine Entscheidungen treffen, keine Äußerungen von sich geben. Doing nothing, making no decisions, saying nothing.

The word is a joke about waiting too long, not praise for patience.

The Judge Who Would Not Rule

In Lessing’s play Nathan der Weise (1779), Nathan tells the parable of the three rings. A father owns one precious ring. He has two perfect copies made and leaves a ring to each of his three sons. When he dies, each son comes with his ring, and each wants to be head of the house. Man untersucht, man zankt, man klagt. They investigate, they quarrel, they sue. The true ring cannot be proven.

The judge will not name a winner. Denkt ihr, dass ich Rätsel zu lösen da bin? Do you think I am here to solve riddles? He offers them his Rat, statt meines Spruches, his advice instead of his verdict.

Then he adjourns the case for a very long time. When the rings’ powers show in their children’s children’s children, he will call them back. So lad’ ich über tausend tausend Jahre sie wiederum vor diesen Stuhl. In a thousand thousand years I will summon them before this seat again. Da wird ein weisrer Mann auf diesem Stuhle sitzen als ich. A wiser man than I will sit on this seat then.

The Düsseldorf Table

The Düsseldorfer Tabelle, the Düsseldorf table, sets child support in Germany by the paying parent’s net income and the child’s age. In the 2025 table, the lowest income group sets the need of a child under six at 482 euros a month, and of a child of 18 or older at 693 euros. After child benefit is deducted, the parent pays 357 and 443 euros.

The Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf introduced the table in 1962, which gave it its name. It has no force of law. It is a guideline, prepared with all the Higher Regional Courts and the maintenance commission of the German Family Court Association. A tax advice association calls it eine bundesweit anerkannte Richtlinie, a guideline recognized throughout the country.

The Pictures Against the Referee

On 28 September 2024, in a Bundesliga match between VfL Wolfsburg and VfB Stuttgart, the referee sent off Stuttgart’s Atakan Karazor with a second yellow card. On 1 October the DFB sports court set the sending-off aside. It had read the referee’s report and examined the television pictures. They showed that Wolfsburg’s Arnold had fouled Karazor, not the other way around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VW81Hei3a4

A referee’s decision is normally final. The court could reverse it because the error was, in its words, ohne jeden Zweifel objektiv unrichtig, objectively wrong beyond any doubt.

Only Facts at the Scene

The German automobile club ADAC describes the Europäischer Unfallbericht, the European accident report, in two sentences. Im Verkehrsunfallbericht werden nur Fakten abgefragt. The accident report asks only for facts. Die Angaben im Unfallbericht stellen keine Schuldanerkenntnis dar. The information in it is not an admission of fault.

The question of fault does not have to be settled on the form. The version printed by the insurer Allianz calls itself kein Schuldanerkenntnis, sondern eine Wiedergabe des Unfallherganges, not an admission of fault but an account of how the accident happened. The ADAC also advises drivers to photograph the scene and the vehicles.

The Superior Investigates First

When facts suggest that a soldier has committed a breach of duty, the disciplinary superior must clear up the facts through the necessary investigation. That is § 32 of the Military Disciplinary Code. Werden Tatsachen bekannt, die den Verdacht eines Dienstvergehens rechtfertigen, so muss die oder der Disziplinarvorgesetzte den Sachverhalt durch die erforderlichen Ermittlungen aufklären.

The investigation covers the facts that incriminate the soldier, the facts that clear him, and the facts that bear on the kind and size of the measure. Before the decision, the soldier must always be asked whether he wants to say anything.

The Authority Finds the Facts

Die Behörde ermittelt den Sachverhalt von Amts wegen. The authority investigates the facts of its own motion. That is § 24 of the Administrative Procedure Act. The authority decides the kind and extent of the investigation. An das Vorbringen und an die Beweisanträge der Beteiligten ist sie nicht gebunden. It is not bound by what the parties submit or by their requests for evidence.

The same section adds a duty in the other direction. The authority must consider all circumstances that matter in the individual case, auch die für die Beteiligten günstigen, including those in the parties’ favor.