Germany, Processes, Judgement - understand-culture

News on the State of the Business

Section 666 of the German Civil Code sets the information duty of a person who carries out a task for someone else. Der Beauftragte ist verpflichtet, dem Auftraggeber die erforderlichen Nachrichten zu geben, auf Verlangen über den Stand des Geschäfts Auskunft zu erteilen und nach der Ausführung des Auftrags Rechenschaft abzulegen.

The agent must give the principal the necessary news. On request, he must report on the state of the business. After the task is done, he must give an account.

Section 665 lets the agent depart from the principal’s instructions if he may assume that the principal bei Kenntnis der Sachlage die Abweichung billigen würde, would approve the change if he knew the facts. Before he departs, he must notify the principal and wait for his decision, unless the delay brings danger. Section 675 applies both rules to paid service and work contracts that involve handling another person’s affairs.

Words for Knowing by Practice

Faustregel — fist rule. A rule of thumb.

Erfahrungswert — value of experience. A figure that is not calculated but known from practice.

aus dem Handgelenk — from the wrist. Done without preparation by someone with practice.

Gespür — a feel for something. Ein Gespür für die Situation haben, to have a feel for the situation.

abschmecken — to taste and adjust. German recipes often end with mit Salz und Pfeffer abschmecken, season to taste with salt and pepper. The recipe gives the frame, and the cook decides the amount.

The Care of a Proper Merchant

Section 347 of the German Commercial Code sets one general standard for the care a merchant owes. Wer aus einem Geschäfte, das auf seiner Seite ein Handelsgeschäft ist, einem anderen zur Sorgfalt verpflichtet ist, hat für die Sorgfalt eines ordentlichen Kaufmanns einzustehen. Whoever owes another person care in a transaction that is commercial on his side must answer for the care of a proper merchant.

Two Lawyers, Three Opinions

Es kommt darauf an. It depends. For years it was taken to be the most typical way for a German lawyer to begin a sentence, Professor Roland Schimmel wrote in 2015.

Zwei Juristen, drei Meinungen. Two lawyers, three opinions.

Keine Regel ohne Ausnahme. No rule without an exception.

Ausnahmen bestätigen die Regel. Exceptions confirm the rule.

A Standard Is Not for Laypeople

DIN, the German Institute for Standardization, has set out principles for applying its standards. They begin with responsibility. Jeder deliktsfähige Mensch hat sein Handeln (Tun und Unterlassen) selbst zu verantworten. Der Anwender einer DIN-Norm ist davon nicht ausgenommen. Every person who is legally liable is responsible for his own actions and omissions. The user of a DIN standard is no exception.

The user must therefore keep several points in mind. He needs the understanding required to apply the standard correctly, because DIN-Normen sind nicht für Laien gedacht, DIN standards are not meant for laypeople. The standard is only one source of technically proper conduct im Regelfall, in the normal case. And applying it wider besseres eigenes Wissen, against one’s own better knowledge, is forbidden.

The First Rule of the Road

The German road traffic regulations open with a section called Grundregeln, basic rules. Its first sentence reads: Die Teilnahme am Straßenverkehr erfordert ständige Vorsicht und gegenseitige Rücksicht. Taking part in road traffic requires constant care and mutual consideration.

The second sentence reads: Wer am Verkehr teilnimmt hat sich so zu verhalten, dass kein Anderer geschädigt, gefährdet oder mehr, als nach den Umständen unvermeidbar, behindert oder belästigt wird. Anyone taking part in traffic must behave so that no one else is harmed, endangered, or hindered or inconvenienced more than the circumstances make unavoidable.

The rule does not say what the circumstances make unavoidable.

Judgment Can Only Be Practiced

In the Critique of Pure Reason of 1781, Immanuel Kant separates knowing rules from applying them. The understanding, he writes, can be taught and equipped with rules. Judgment, however, is ein besonderes Talent …, welches gar nicht belehrt, sondern nur geübt sein will, a special talent that cannot be taught at all, only practiced.

A doctor, a judge or a statesman, Kant writes, can have many fine rules in his head and still easily go wrong in applying them. He may see the general in the abstract and not be able to tell whether a case in the concrete belongs under it. Or he has not been trained enough durch Beispiele und wirkliche Geschäfte, through examples and real business. Examples, Kant concludes, sharpen judgment.

In a footnote he adds: Der Mangel an Urteilskraft ist eigentlich das, was man Dummheit nennt. The lack of judgment is really what one calls stupidity.

What Paramedics May Do Alone

Germany’s emergency paramedics, the Notfallsanitäter, train for three years. Since 4 March 2021, Section 2a of the Paramedics Act has given them a defined right to act on their own. Until the emergency doctor arrives, or until other medical care begins, including care by a doctor over video, they may carry out medical measures on their own responsibility.

These include invasive measures and medication. The law sets two conditions. The paramedics must have learned the measure in their training and must master it, erlernt haben und beherrschen. The measure must also be necessary to avert danger to life or serious lasting harm to the patient.

Before the new section, such steps rested on the general rule of necessity in Section 34 of the Criminal Code. During the debate on the law in December 2020, the paramedics’ professional association described the dilemma: a paramedic faces a conflict of conscience over whether to act invasively or to wait for the emergency doctor.

Corridors for Action and Decision

The German Medical Association distinguishes two kinds of medical rules. Richtlinien rest on a legal basis. Leitlinien, clinical guidelines, do not. The association defines them in one sentence. Leitlinien sind als Handlungs- und Entscheidungskorridore zu verstehen, von denen in begründeten Fällen abgewichen werden kann oder sogar muss. Guidelines are to be understood as corridors for action and decision, from which a doctor may, or even must, depart in justified cases.

The Press Code

German journalism has a written code of good practice, the Pressekodex of the German Press Council. It was handed to Federal President Gustav Heinemann on 12 December 1973. By tradition, every later change is also handed to the sitting Federal President. One of its most debated rules concerns whether to mention the ethnic or national group of a suspect.

In 2016 several editors called for this guideline to be deleted. The Council did not delete it. On 22 March 2017 it rewrote guideline 12.1. It now says that membership of a group soll in der Regel nicht erwähnt werden, es sei denn, es besteht ein begründetes öffentliches Interesse, should as a rule not be mentioned unless there is a justified public interest.