In German law, silence is in principle not consent. Business has an exception, the kaufmännisches Bestätigungsschreiben, the commercial letter of confirmation. After negotiations, one side writes down what was agreed and sends it. If the other side does not object without delay, the contract stands as the letter describes it. The letter does not need to carry that name. Auch ein „Besprechungsprotokoll” wirkt wie ein kaufmännisches Bestätigungsschreiben. The minutes of a meeting have the same effect. The objection must come quickly. In 2023 the Higher Regional Court of Bamberg held that such a letter must be answered within a day or two. In 2024 the Federal Court of Justice refused leave to appeal, so the ruling became final.
meetings
The Members Want the Floor
At Bayern Munich’s annual general meeting on 25 November 2021, a member had moved that the club end its sponsorship by Qatar Airways. The motion was not put to a vote. The vice president said: Ich werde hier nicht zulassen, dass wir über rechtswidrige Anträge abstimmen. I will not allow us to vote here on unlawful motions. Many members missed an open debate on Qatar and human rights. They chanted Wir sind Bayern – und ihr nicht, we are Bayern, and you are not. After midnight, president Herbert Hainer closed the list of speakers, and the meeting ended amid protests. The member who had made the motion later reported that Hainer had called him.
Every Participant Writes a Card
The Metaplan method structures discussions on pinboards. It comes from the firm that the brothers Eberhard and Wolfgang Schnelle founded in 1959. In 1961 the firm moved to Quickborn, near Hamburg. A teaching paper of the University of Cologne names its aims. Es werden Arbeitsformen verwendet, in denen sich alle Teilnehmenden äußern. It uses forms of work in which all participants speak up. It aims to limit the dominance of those who talk a lot, and card queries can be anonymous if wanted. A handout on the card query from the Bavarian state institute for school quality puts it simply: Wichtig: die Beiträge von allen Teilnehmenden werden gebraucht! Alle Beiträge finden Beachtung! Important: the contributions of all participants are needed. All contributions receive attention.
The Presiding Judge Votes Last
When a German court deliberates, the Courts Constitution Act fixes the order of the vote. Professional judges vote by seniority in office, and the junior votes before the senior. Die Schöffen stimmen vor den Richtern. The lay judges vote before the professional judges. Zuletzt stimmt der Vorsitzende. The presiding judge votes last. The official information sheet for lay judges tells them that they hold judicial office with the same vote as the professional judges.
The Electric Chair
From 1947 to 1967, the writer Hans Werner Richter invited authors to the meetings of the Gruppe 47. Authors read unpublished texts aloud, and the others criticized them on the spot. The reader sat on the free chair next to Richter, which was jokingly called the elektrischer Stuhl, the electric chair. Zur wichtigen Maxime wurde, dass der Vortragende sich nicht verteidigen durfte, sowie dass die Kritik der konkreten Texte im Mittelpunkt stand. It became an important rule that the reader was not allowed to defend himself, and that the criticism focused on the actual texts. In 1958 Günter Grass read the first chapter of his still unpublished novel Die Blechtrommel at a meeting in the Allgäu and won the group’s prize.
The Party Says No to Its Leader
On 21 January 2018, the SPD held a special party conference in Bonn. The party leader, Martin Schulz, asked the delegates to approve coalition talks with the CDU and CSU. He called the vote a Schlüsselmoment, a key moment. Kevin Kühnert, the 28-year-old leader of the party’s youth organization, led the opposition from the floor. Heute einmal ein Zwerg sein, um künftig wieder Riesen sein zu können. Be a dwarf for once today, so that we can be giants again in the future. The delegates approved the talks by 362 votes to 279.
Any Objection?
In many German assemblies, a motion on procedure is settled quickly. After the motion, a member may give a Gegenrede, a speech against it. The student parliament of the University of Paderborn wrote the rule down in 2019. Gibt es gegen einen Antrag zur Geschäftsordnung keine Gegenrede, so gilt der Antrag als angenommen. If nobody speaks against a procedural motion, it counts as adopted. If someone does, the vote follows at once. The assembly rules of a Hamburg sports club allow one member to speak for the motion and one against, then a vote by show of hands or by standing up.
Leaving the Room
A member of a town council in North Rhine-Westphalia may have a personal stake in a decision. It may bring a direct advantage or disadvantage to the member, to a relative or to a person the member represents. In that case the member darf weder beratend noch entscheidend mitwirken, may take part neither in the discussion nor in the decision. The member must declare this without being asked and den Sitzungsraum verlassen, leave the meeting room. In a public session, the member may sit with the public.
Only the Captain
Since the 2024–25 season, German football has applied one rule at every level, from the professional leagues to youth football. Nur der Teamkapitän darf sich nähern und den Referee ansprechen. Only the team captain may approach the referee and speak to him. A player who ignores this is cautioned with a yellow card. If the goalkeeper is captain, a field player is named before the match. A DFB referee official gave the reason. The referee no longer has to talk with several players at once while under pressure.
Women and Men in Turn
The Green Party’s women’s statute sets the order of speakers at its meetings. Its long-standing federal wording reads: Redelisten werden getrennt geführt, Frauen und Männer reden abwechselnd. Lists of speakers are kept separately, and women and men speak in turn. Ist die Redeliste der Frauen erschöpft, ist die Versammlung zu befragen, ob die Debatte fortgesetzt werden soll. When the women’s list is used up, the assembly is asked whether the debate should go on. The Cologne Greens write that the quota became binding in 1986, with the women’s statute. In 2023 the Greens in a Bremen district council proposed the same order for its meetings: the floor in der Reihenfolge der Wortmeldungen abwechselnd Frauen und Männern, alternately to women and men, in the order of the requests.