Top

Published in:

2023 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

An Introduction to Austrian Legal Culture

Authors : Konrad Lachmayer, Niklas Sonntag

Published in: Handbook on Legal Cultures

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

Austria as a continental European civil law system is the result of legal developments of the monarchy in the nineteenth century. The establishment of the republic in 1918 was followed by the enactment of the Federal Constitutional Act in 1920, which was significantly influenced by Hans Kelsen. The new republican Constitution also led to the establishment of a court of centralised constitutional review, the Austrian Constitutional Court. The hierarchy of norms comprising a strict principle of legality and the principle of legal certainty have played an important role. In contrast to this, civil proceedings are more characterised by substantive concepts of justice. After the Second World War, recognition of the importance of human rights increased tremendously. The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is part of the Austrian Constitution and has a major influence on it. Austria’s accession to the European Union (EU) in 1995 also shaped the legal landscape significantly. In this regard, it can be said that Austrian legal culture is Euro-friendly. EU law has an overwhelming impact, and courts are generally open-minded (e.g. regarding preliminary proceedings). Legal comparison performed by courts and by academia mainly focuses on Germany but lacks a global and multicultural perspective.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

previous chapter An Introduction to Australian Legal Culture

next chapter An Introduction to Belgian Legal Culture

A historic overview is given by Hausmaninger (2011), p. 1; Brauneder (2009), p. 187.

This is different from Germany, where higher education is a competence assigned to the states.

See with regard to the basic principles of the Austrian Constitution, Stelzer (2022), pp. 26–28.

In the last years there has been an increase in discussions on direct democracy, see the recent books by Öhlinger and Poier (2015) and Bußjäger et al. (2014). Given the political demands for direct democracy (in particular from populist voices, even when populists are in government), it is remarkable that the constitutional possibilities of such procedures are not being used. One might say that the Austrian legal system lacks a developed culture of direct democracy.

Austria adopted the German presidential model in 1929. While Germany dismissed the Weimar model of a Federal President after the Second World War, Austria set this model in force again in 1945. The political importance of the Federal President is, however, very modest. See with regard to the upset in the presidential elections in 2016, Lachmayer (2016).

See https://www.bundespraesident.at/alexander-van-der-bellen/.

See the website of the Statistik Austria available at https://www.statistik.at/.

See https://www.statistik.at/.

See https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/Issues/2022/08/31/Austria-2022-Article-IV-Consultation-Press-Release-Staff-Report-522764.

Within the structure of ordinary courts certain substructures exist, e.g. a separate commercial court or a labour and social court in Vienna. They are, however, part of the ordinary court system.

The federalist structure resulted in a need to ensure constitutional conformity of both federal as well as state legislation regarding the distribution of competences.

See in Wiederin (2021), p. 327.

See Öhlinger (2003), p. 206; Bezemek (2012), p. 115.

Article 6 entitles everyone to have a claim regarding civil rights and obligations or criminal charges heard by an independent tribunal. A 1987 Constitutional Court ruling (VfSlg. 11.500/1987) then differentiated between core and peripheral areas of civil law and held that decisions concerning the core area, including rights and obligations of citizens to one another, must be taken by the ordinary courts, whereas for matters of the peripheral area of civil rights, a review by the Administrative or Constitutional Court is sufficient. See Öhlinger and Eberhard (2019), para. 647; Stelzer (2022), pp. 163–169. Still, many areas of Austrian administrative procedure did not satisfy the above-mentioned requirements. In order to meet the standards set by Article 6 ECHR, special independent administrative bodies were established in 1991.

An overview is given by Hausmaninger (2011), p. 208; see also Grabenwarter (2015), pp. 9 f.

On written and oral proceedings, see Kodek and Mayr (2018), paras. 81–83.

An overview is given by Hausmaninger (2011), p. 183.

The competent appelate court is determinded depending on the court of first instance—the Supreme Court is the appellate court in procedures of nullity appeals in all cases decided by the jury and mixed courts, the Higher Regional Courts in all cases decided by the Regional Courts and concerning ordinary appeals against decisions by the jury and mixed courts and the Regional Court in all cases decided by the District Courts at first instance. See in detail Seiler (2015), paras. 94–116.

A cassatory judgement means that the court is (only) annulling the judgement of the lower court but does not itself rule in the case. It is moreover up to the lower court to decide again in the light of the reasoning of the upper court, which annulled its decision.

According to the data published by the Ministry of Justice, see https://www.justiz.gv.at/ (in German).

See § 509 of the Civil Procedure Code.

See recently Ziniel (2014), p. 437.

See https://www.justiz.gv.at/home/justiz/daten-und-fakten/personalstand-in-der-justiz.8ab4a8a422985de30122a92fc5bc63a9.de.html.

See https://www.justiz.gv.at/home/justiz/frauenfoerderung.381.de.html.

This is regulated in § 433 and § 204 of the Civil Procedure Code.

See e.g. §§ 39 ff. of the Austrian Rental Code and § 8 of the Law on Incorporated Associations.

See in detail Kodek and Mayr (2018), paras. 13–21; Tomandl (1997), pp. 204 ff.

See Seiler (2015), paras. 685–723.

https://orf.at/v2/stories/2432134/2432133/.

Even though this government was called a ‘transitional government’ by the press and the general public, it must be qualified as a regular government with full competences from a constitutional perspective because it was not constituted as such.

The Ibiza Scandal concerned the publication of a covertly filmed video, in which the then Vice-Chancellor of Austria Heinz-Christian Strache was shown discussing potential voter manipulation in exchange for public contracts with a pretended investor. The publication ultimately led to the collapse of the ÖVP/FPÖ government and premature reelections. See Lachmayer and Wieser (2019).

See https://kurier.at/politik/inland/justizminister-jabloner-die-justiz-stirbt-einen-stillen-tod/400541399.

Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeits-Novelle 2012, BGBl I 51/2012. For an overview, see Gamper (2015), pp. 33 ff.

https://www.vwgh.gv.at/gerichtshof/richterinnen_und_richter/index.html.

See the annual report of the Court to the parliament, available at https://www.vwgh.gv.at/ (in German).

The theoretical background in particular is elaborated in Kelsen (2010), pp. 1485 ff.

See Lachmayer (2017), pp. 85–87.

See Gamper and Palermo (2008), p. 68; Öhlinger and Eberhard (2019), para. 991; compare also Grabenwarter (2015), p. 12.

Data according to the 2021 annual report of the Austrian Constitutional Court, available at https://www.vfgh.at/ (in German). The judgements are officially published, and the repealed norms are additionally published in the federal and state law gazettes, mainly due to their normative character.

This competence of the Court does not include EU law, which is not understood as general international law by the Constitutional Court.

See VfSlg. 19.632/2012.

The main provision on the differentiation is § 1 of the General Norm on Jurisdiction (Jurisdiktionsnorm) of 1895, according to which all civil cases are subject to ordinary courts’ decisions. Some profound considerations on this question can be found in Gschnitzer (1966), p. 2 ff; Kelsen (1960), pp. 284 ff.

Public law contracts exist as well, however, only quite limitedly.

See Gamper (2008), p. 94.

Apart from the 1920 Federal Constitutional Act, several constitutional norms dating back to 1863 and 1867 are still in force.

This culture was started after the Second World War, when a grand coalition government (between the conservative People’s Party and the Social Democrats) had a constitutional amending majority for a long time in parliament. Although in the late 1960s and the 1970s one of these two parties had an absolute majority in parliament but without a constitutional amending majority, the two grand parties still went on to amend the constitution regularly. This kind of political consensus was developed as a reaction to the deeply divided party system in the first republic in the 1920s. The post-World War II consensus of the two grand parties made this culture of amending the constitution on a regular basis to govern the country possible.

Stelzer (2022), p. 21.

See Lachmayer and Eberhard (2008), p. 115.

See in particular Merkl (2010), p. 1071.

See Lachmayer and Eberhard (2008), pp. 116–117.

Öhlinger and Eberhard (2019), para. 597–611; Gamper (2008), p. 105; compare also Grabenwarter (2015), p. 6.

The bills are usually drafted in the respective ministry. Thus, influence on the draft is first a political one (with regard to the minister in charge) as well as an expert one as the civil servants in the ministries will provide their knowledge of legislation.

See http://www.ris.bka.gv.at/. On the role of preparatory work in interpretation, see Tomandl (1997), p. 84 ff; Hausmaninger (2011), pp. 31 ff.

See the decision made by the Constitutional Court: VfSlg 16.241/2001 and in detail Gamper (2003), pp. 131 ff.

Walter (1963), p. 225.

The main theoretical positions on this question are outlined in Walter (1963); Gschnitzer (1966), pp. 18 ff. See also with regard to custom in Austrian constitutional law, Tiefenthaler (2012).

See § 33 of the Federal Forestry Code (Forstgesetz) and the provisions in the Farmers Inheritance Law (Anerbengesetz).

For example, the fact that the rather weak representation of the states in the Federal Council of the parliament is substituted by regular conferences of the State Governors not regulated in the Constitution but with high political influence. In addition, the long-practiced principle of unanimity in decisions made by the federal government had not been laid down explicitly in the Federal Constitutional Act until 2020 but could previously be understood as a constitutional convention. Regarding the acknowledged customary rules in international law, these are explicitly part of the Austrian legal system due to the transformation clause in Article 9 of the Federal Constitutional Act; see in detail Öhlinger and Müller (2002).

Kodek (2014), paras. 21 ff.

See Öhlinger and Eberhard (2019), para. 760.

This is particularly the case in social welfare and tax law. The Austrian Social Security Act (Allgemeines Sozialversicherungsgesetz) of 1955 has been amended 311 times, the Austrian Income Tax Code (Einkommensteuergesetz) of 1988 has been amended 118 times, and in addition to this, 27 provisions of that law have been repealed by the Constitutional Court.

See in particular § 863 paragraph 2, § 879, and § 914 of the Austrian General Civil Law Code. See also Hausmaninger (2011), p. 249.

See §§ 32 ff. of the Austrian Criminal Code. See in detail recently Birklbauer (2014), p. 107.

See Tomandl (1997), pp. 146 ff.

See on the history and character of fundamental rights in Austria Stelzer (2022), pp. 190–194.

See the Constitutional Court’s rulings VfSlg. 7.461/1974 and VfSlg. 13.917/1994.

Back then, Austria had neither a parliament nor a constitution. See, on the relevance and dynamic of the Austrian General Civil Law Code, Fischer-Czermak et al. (2012).

Hinghofer Salzey (2014), pp. 223 and 225–226.

Ibid., pp. 227–31.

Lachmayer (2014), pp. 65–91.

Lachmayer (2017), pp. 75–114.

Khakzadeh-Leiler (2011).

Lachmayer (2014), pp. 85–89.

Data of 2020/21 according to Statistik Austria, available at https://www.statistik.at/statistiken/bevoelkerung-und-soziales/bildung/studierende-belegte-studien.

Data of 2020/21 according to Statistik Austria, available at https://www.statistik.at/statistiken/bevoelkerung-und-soziales/bildung/studienabschluesse.

The only exception is the Faculty of Law at the University of Vienna, where it is enough to write two seminar papers.

See the university report 2020, available at https://www.bmbwf.gv.at/Themen/HS-Uni/Hochschulgovernance/Steuerungsinstrumente/Universit%C3%A4tsbericht.html.

See the performance report of the University of Vienna for 2021, available at https://www.univie.ac.at/ueber-uns/auf-einen-blick/zahlen-daten-broschueren/, as well as information on the staff of the Faculty of Law, available at https://juridicum.univie.ac.at/menschen/.

A search for books related to law published in 2021 in Austria on the online shop of one of the main publishers (but including books from other publishing houses as well) comes up with over 400 results.

An overview of the legal professions in Austria is given by Hausmaninger (2011), pp. 107 ff.

See Gamper (2013), p. 213. Anna Gamper is a professor of public law at the University of Innsbruck.

See a similar provision in Article 25 of the German Basic Law.

See Stelzer (2022), pp. 123–125.

Examples include the declaration of the constitutionality of the European Stability Mechanism Treaty (VfSlg. 19.750/2013) and the Fiscal Stability Treaty (VfSlg. 19.809/2013).

VfSlg. 20.185/2017.

See the amendment published in BGBl 59/1964.

See, e.g., a statement by the former president of the Austrian Constitution Court in January 2015: ‘By being implemented by the Constitutional Court, the Convention and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights have become a major yardstick for the constitutionality of Austrian legislation. In many cases, judgements of the European Court of Human Rights or of the Constitutional Court concerning the interpretation of the Convention have caused Austrian legislation to be adjusted in the spirit of improving the safeguard of fundamental rights and freedoms. Recent judgements that highlight this influence concern medically assisted reproduction, the principle of non-discrimination with regard to sexual orientation as well as certain issues of asylum and immigration’, available at http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Speech_20150130_Seminar_Gerhart_Holzinger_2015_ENG.PDF.

VfSlg 11.500/1987.

VfSlg 18.833/2009.

In 2015, the Austrian Constitutional Court, e.g., opened up the possibility for the adoption of children by homosexual partners (VfSlg. 19.942/2014). In 2017, the Constitutional Court declared the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage as unconstitutional (VfSlg 20.225/2017) and in 2018 opened up the possibility for non-binary persons to declare themselves as belonging to a third gender in official documents (VfSlg 20.258/2018).

See with regard to freedom of expression in recent years an overview available at https://blog.lehofer.at/2013/10/Artikel10-AT.html.

See Lachmayer (2019), pp. 1274–1275.

Potacs (2010), p. 117.

See e.g. VfGH 28.11.2012, G 47/12; 2.3.2001, W I-14/99; 12.12.2000, KR 1-6/00, KR 8/00; 10.3.1999, B 2251/97, B 2594/99. Further information is available at https://www.vfgh.gv.at/rechtsprechung/referral_for_a_preliminary_ruling.en.html.

See Gamper (2013), p. 213.

See Gelter and Siems (2013); see also Gelter and Siems (2014).

Bezemek C (2012) A Kelsenian model of constitutional adjudication. Zeitschrift für Öffentliches Recht 67:115–128. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1937575CrossRef

Birklbauer A (2014) Abwägungsentscheidungen im Strafrecht. In: Khakzadeh-Leiler L et al (eds) Interessenabwägung und Abwägungsentscheidungen. Verlag Österreich, Wien, pp 107–128

Brauneder W (2009) Österreichische Verfassungsgeschichte, 11th edn. Manz, Wien

Bußjäger P et al (2014) Direkte Demokratie im Diskurs. New Academic Press, Wien

Fischer-Czermak C et al (2012) Festschrift 200 Jahre ABGB. Manz, Wien

Gamper A (2003) The principle of homogeneity and democracy in Austrian federalism: the Constitutional Court’s Ruling on direct democracy in Vorarlberg. In: Bußjäger P, Gamper A (eds) The homogeneity of democracy, rights and the rule of law in federal or confederal systems. Braumüller, Wien, pp 125–140

Gamper A (2008) Introduction to the study of the law of the Austrian constitution. ICLJ 2:92–111CrossRef

Gamper A (2013) Austria: non-cosmopolitan, but Europe-friendly – the Constitutional Court’s comparative approach. In: Groppi T, Ponthoreau MC (eds) The use of foreign precedents by constitutional judges. Hart, Oxford, pp 213–227. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781472561312.ch-008CrossRef

Gamper A (2015) Administrative law. In: Grabenwarter C, Schauer M (eds) Introduction to the law of Austria. Wolters Kluwer, Alphen aan den Rijn

Gamper A, Palermo F (2008) The Constitutional Court of Austria: modern profiles of an archetype of constitutional review. J Comp Law 3:64–79

Gelter M, Siems M (2013) Language, legal origins, and culture before the courts: cross-citations between Supreme Courts in Europe. Supreme Court Econ Rev 21:215–269. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1629169CrossRef

Gelter M, Siems M (2014) Citations to foreign courts – illegitimate and superfluous, or unavoidable? Evidence from Europe. Am J Comp Law 62:35–86. https://doi.org/10.5131/ajcl.2013.0012CrossRef

Grabenwarter C (2015) Constitutional law. In: Grabenwarter C, Schauer M (eds) Introduction to the law of Austria. Wolters Kluwer, Alphen aan den Rijn

Gschnitzer F (1966) Allgemeiner Teil des bürgerlichen Rechts. Springer, WienCrossRef

Hausmaninger H (2011) The Austrian legal system, 4th edn. Manz, Wien

Hinghofer Salzey S (2014) Methodology in Austria vis-à-vis Germany. In: Helland I, Koch S (eds) Nordic and Germanic legal methods. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, pp 223–238

Kelsen H (1960) Reine Rechtslehre, 2nd edn. Verlag Österreich, Wien

Kelsen H (2010) Wesen und Entwicklung der Staatsgerichtsbarkeit. In: Klecatsky HR, Marcic R, Schambeck H (eds) Die Wiener rechtstheoretische Schule. Verlag Österreich, Wien, pp 1485–1532

Khakzadeh-Leiler L (2011) Die Grundrechte in der Judikatur des Obersten Gerichtshofs. Verlag Österreich, WienCrossRef

Kodek G (2014) § 12 ABGB. In: Rummel P, Lukas M (eds) ABGB-Kommentar, 4th edn. Manz, Wien

Kodek GE, Mayr PG (2018) Zivilprozessrecht, 4th edn. facultas.wuv, Wien

Lachmayer K (2014) Eine Sprache, zwei Rechtskulturen: deutsches und österreichisches Verfassungsrechtsdenken. In: Kischel U (ed) Der Einfluss des deutschen Verfassungsrechtsdenkens in der Welt: Bedeutung, Grenzen, Zukunftsperspektiven. Mohr Siebeck Verlag, Tübingen, pp 65–91

Lachmayer K (2016) The Austrian presidential crisis of 2016. Int J Const Law Blog, 9 December 2016. Available at http://www.iconnectblog.com/2016/12/the-austrian-presidential-crisis

Lachmayer K (2017) Constitutional reasoning in the Austrian Constitutional Court. In: Jakab A et al (eds) Constitutional reasoning. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 85–87

Lachmayer K (2019) The Constitution of Austria in International Constitutional Networks: pluralism, dialogues and diversity. In: Albi A, Bardutzky S (eds) National Constitutions in European and Global Governance: democracy, rights, the rule of law. National Reports. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague, pp 1271–1322. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-273-6_2CrossRef

Lachmayer K, Eberhard H (2008) Constitutional reform 2008 in Austria. ICLJ 2:112–123

Lachmayer K, Sonntag N (2020) An introduction to Australian legal culture. In: Koch S, Sunde JØ (eds) Comparing legal cultures, 2nd rev. edn. Fagbokforlaget, Bergen, pp 511–540

Lachmayer K, Wieser L (2019) Entering into new constitutional territory in Austria. Verfassungsblog, 3 June 2019. Available at https://verfassungsblog.de/entering-into-new-constitutional-territory-in-austria/

Merkl A (2010) Prolegomena einer Theorie des rechtlichen Stufenbaues. In: Klecatsky HR et al (eds) Die Wiener rechtstheoretische Schule. Verlag Österreich, Wien, pp 1071–1112. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-5991-0_9CrossRef

Öhlinger T (2003) The genesis of the Austrian model of constitutional review of legislation. Ratio Juris 16:206–222. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9337.00233CrossRef

Öhlinger T, Eberhard H (2019) Verfassungsrecht, 12th edn. facultas.wuv, Wien

Öhlinger T, Müller AT (2002) Art 9/1 B-VG. In: Korinek K, Holoubek M (eds) Österreichisches Bundesverfassungsrecht. Springer, Wien

Öhlinger T, Poier K (2015) Direkte Demokratie und Parlamentarismus. Böhlau, WienCrossRef

Potacs M (2010) Das Verhältnis zwischen der EU und ihren Mitgliedstaaten im Lichte traditioneller Modelle. Z öffentl Recht 65:117–139. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00708-010-0045-3CrossRef

Seiler S (2015) Strafprozessrecht, 14th edn. facultas.wuv, Wien

Stelzer M (2022) The constitution of the Republic of Austria. Hart Publishing, Oxford

Tiefenthaler V (2012) Gewohnheit und Verfassung. facultas.wuv, WienCrossRef

Tomandl T (1997) Rechtsstaat Österreich. Manz, Wien

Walter R (1963) Die Gewohnheit als rechtserzeugender Tatbestand. Österreichische Juristen-Zeitung 18:225

Wiederin E (2021) From the Federalist Papers to Hans Kelsen’s “Dearest Child”: the genesis of the Austrian Constitutional Court. Zeitschrift für öffentliches Recht 76:313–329. https://doi.org/10.33196/zoer202102031301CrossRef

Ziniel T (2014) Strengthening the judicial review system in Austria. ICLJ 8:437–444CrossRef

Title: An Introduction to Austrian Legal Culture
Authors: Konrad Lachmayer
Niklas Sonntag
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Book: Handbook on Legal Cultures
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-27744-3

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-031-27745-0

Copyright Year: 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27745-0_4