The exam instructions of the criminal law chair at the University of Mainz used to say: Es ist auf alle im Sachverhalt aufgeworfenen Rechtsfragen – ggf. hilfsgutachterlich – einzugehen. All legal questions raised by the facts must be addressed, if necessary in an auxiliary opinion. A student who decides early that a claim fails must still work through the remaining questions, as if the first conclusion were wrong.
In 2024 the chair of Professor Volker Erb struck the sentence. The instructions now say: Hilfsgutachten aller Art müssen in jedem Fall unterbleiben. Auxiliary opinions of any kind must be left out in every case.