Quod non est in actis, non est in mundo. What is not in the files is not in the world. In German the maxim reads Was nicht in den Akten ist, ist nicht in der Welt. It comes from written court procedure, in which nothing could be considered that was not in the court files. Berlin’s administration puts the same idea in a handbook for its officials. They must keep files and darin ihr Handeln vollständig, nachvollziehbar und transparent dokumentieren, document their actions in them completely, traceably and transparently. In 2017 the legal journalist Martin Rath called the maxim eine billige Weisheit, a cheap wisdom. He also wrote that the file is a Mittel der Vernunft, an instrument of reason.
Notice Only on Paper
Under Section 623 of the German Civil Code, an employment relationship can be ended by notice or by a termination agreement only in writing. The sentence ends: die elektronische Form ist ausgeschlossen, the electronic form is excluded. Notice by e-mail is therefore not possible.
In Black and White
In the study scene of Goethe’s Faust I, a young student asks for advice. Mephistopheles tells him to take notes as if the Holy Spirit were dictating. The student answers: Denn, was man schwarz auf weiß besitzt, / Kann man getrost nach Hause tragen. For what one has in black and white, one can carry home with confidence. Schwarz auf weiß, black on white, is the everyday German phrase for something in writing.
In the play the line is usually read as ironic. Mephistopheles is teasing a student who trusts paper.