Top

Published in:

2024 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

Contract Law in Germany

Author : Hannes Henke

Published in: Are Legal Systems Converging or Diverging?

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

Contract law in Germany is regulated by the German Civil Code, which is over 120 years old. Nevertheless, contract law in particular has been the subject of far-reaching reforms since the beginning of the 2000s, such as through the Act on the Modernisation of the Law of Obligations of 2001. About 20 years later, due to developments in the field of digitalisation, another major reform took place. Both reforms were significantly influenced by a process of harmonisation within the European Union. At the same time, the early twenty-first century was marked by various crises, such as the financial crisis, Brexit, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought about profound social changes. Against this backdrop, this chapter examines the influence the aforementioned crises have had on the developments in contract law and, in particular, on the process of legal convergence within the European Union. It is shown that there is a clear convergence of national legal systems in contract law, although crises only have a minor impact on this.

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 Family and Child Law in Chile

next chapter Environmental Law in China

See, for example, Tröger (2014), p. 57.

See Finke (2020), pp. 152 et seq.

Dannemann and Schulze (2020), para. 22.

Säcker (2021), para. 16.

See, for example, the Act on Protection against Dismissal for Lease Agreements of Residential Spaces of 1971, BGBl. 1971 I, p. 1839, and the second Act on Protection against Dismissal for Lease Agreements of Residential Spaces of 1974, BGBl. 1974 I, p. 3603.

BGBl. 1976 I, p. 3317.

BGBl. 1979 I, p. 509.

BGBl. 2001 I, p. 3137.

Schuldrechtskommission (1992), pp. 16 et seq.

Schuldrechtskommission (1992), p. 26.

Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 1999 on certain aspects of the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees.

Directive 2000/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 June 2000 on combating late payment in commercial transactions.

Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market.

See Bundestag document 14/6040, pp. 79; 86.

Finkenauer (2022), § 313 BGB para. 23 et seq.

Reichsgericht, judgement of 3 February 1922, RGZ 103, p. 332; Federal Court of Justice, judgment of 14 July 1953, case V ZR 72/52; Federal Court of Justice, judgment of 25 September 1997, case II ZR 269/96.

See Mankowski (2021), Art. 79 CISG para. 41.

Schuldrechtskommission (1992), p. 149.

Bundestag document 14/6040, p. 175.

Ibid, p. 174.

Ibid.

See, for example, Ernst (2022), para. 28 et seq.

Finkenauer (2022), para. 209; Tröger (2014), p. 51 et seq.

However, German courts have not taken a special path with this. For comparable case law in Portugal, see Supreme Court of Justice Ruling of 23 January 2014, case 1117/10.9TVLSB.P1.S1 (reporting judge: Granja da Fonseca).

Superior Court of Justice Berlin, judgement of 5 November 2012 - case 8 U 171/11; Regional Court Dortmund, judgment of 21 April 2010 - case 20 O 26/09; Regional Court Kaiserslautern, judgement of 13 January 2010 – case 4 O 260/09.

See the comparable legal situation in France, Borghetti (2021), pp. 516–523.

Schulze (2020), para. 10.

See Ernst (2022), para. 13.

Directive 2004/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on markets in financial instruments.

Directive 2007/64/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November 2007 on payment services in the internal market.

Council Directive 87/102/EEC of 22 December 1986 for the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning consumer credit.

See Green Book on Financial Services: Protecting Consumer Interests, COM (96) 209.

Directive 2008/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on credit agreements for consumers.

Grundmann, Atamer (2011), pp. 12 et seq.

See Cherednychenko (2011), pp. 221 et seq.

Winterfeld and Rümker (2017), para. 9.

Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment firms.

Directive 2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on access to the activity of credit institutions and the prudential supervision of credit institutions and investment firms.

See Recital 1 Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 and Recital 79 Directive No 2013/36/EU.

FSB, Consumer Finance Protection with particular focus on credit, 26 October 2011, https://www.fsb.org/wp-content/uploads/r_111026a.pdf.

Directive 2014/17/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 February 2014 on credit agreements for consumers relating to residential immovable property.

See Recital 3 Mortgage Credit Directive.

Comana et al. (2019), p. 2.

Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments.

Comana et al. (2019), pp. 141 et seq.

Ibid, p. 148.

Piwowarski (2020), p. 147.

Poelzig (2022), para. 3.

Ibid, para. 224.

Gressler (2016), pp. 122 et seq.; Köndgen (2011), pp. 38 et seq.

On the problematic relationship see Haar (2011), pp. 273 et seq.

Poelzig (2022), para. 226; Zahrte (2019), para. 109.

See Articles 1 and 2 of the Protocol (No 22) of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union on the position of Denmark, OJ 2008 C 155, pp. 299 et seq.

Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations.

Article 66(a) of the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (2019)/C 384/01.

Dickinson (2016), p. 203; Ungerer (2019), p. 403; Lehmann and Zetzsche (2017), pp. 64 et seq.

Rüscher (2018), p. 941; Grupp (2017), p. 2066; Paulus (2020), § 10 para. 36 et seq.

Federal Court of Justice, judgement of 8 February1984 - case VIII ZR 254/8; Federal Court of Justice, judgement of 6 July 2000 – case I ZR 243/97; Finkenauer (2022), § 313 BGB para. 232.

Hirte and Schmidt-Kessel (2020), para. 153 et seq.

Ibid, para. 151 et seq.

Armbrüster (2021), para. 30 et seq.

See Grupp (2017), pp. 2065 et seq.

Federal Court of Justice, judgement of 12 January 2022 – case XII ZR 8/21, para. 55; see also Federal Court of Justice, judgement of 2 March 2022 – case XII ZR 36/21, para. 32.

See Prütting (2020), pp. 47 et seq.

Federal Court of Justice, judgement of 12 January 2022 – case XII ZR 8/21, para. 45, translation by the author; see also Federal Court of Justice, judgement of 2 March 2022 – case XII ZR 36/21, para. 30.

Oehm (2020), para. 2; Finkenauer (2022), para. 41 et seq.

Federal Court of Justice, judgement of 12 January 2022 – case XII ZR 8/21, para. 48.

Available at: https://www.europeanlawinstitute.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/p_eli/Publications/ELI_Principles_for_the_COVID-19_Crisis.pdf.

Wagner (2020), pp. 536 et seq.

Schmidt-Kessel and Möllnitz (2021), pp. 699–718.

Tonner (2021), Art. 240 § 6 EGBGB para. 5.

Directive (EU) 2015/2302 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on package travel and linked travel arrangements.

C(2020) 3125 final.

See explicitly in the corresponding motion, No. 403/A XXVII. GP, p. 43.

See § 2 of the Federal Law on Accompanying Measures to Covid-19 in the Judiciary, BGBl. I Nr. 24/2020.

Luna and Salvador Coderch (2021), pp. 836 et seq.

See Ganuza and Gómez Pomar (2021), pp. 577 et seq.

Available at: https://www.bmjv.de/SharedDocs/Gesetzgebungsverfahren/Dokumente/Corona-Pandemie.pdf.

Directive (EU) 2019/770 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2019 on certain aspects concerning contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services.

Directive (EU) 2019/771 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2019 on certain aspects concerning contracts for the sale of goods.

See, for example, Recital 3 of the Digital Content Directive and Article 3 of the Sale of Goods Directive.

Article 4 of the Sale of Goods Directive and Art. 4 of the Digital Content Directive.

Kötz (2017), p. 1; Weatherill (2016), p. 3.

COM(2003) 68 final.

Schulze and Zoll (2021), Chap. 1 para. 50.

Ibid, Chap. 1 para. 52.

COM(2011) 635 final.

COM(2015) 634 final.

COM(2015) 635 final.

Kötz (2017), p. 11.

Weatherill (2016), p. 54.

Kötz (2017), p. 11.

Weatherill (2016), p. 4.

COM(2022) 68 final.

Article 13 of the draft Data Act.

Article 23 of the draft Data Act.

Armbrüster C (2021) § 134 BGB. In: Säcker F, Rixecker R, Oetker H, Limperg B (eds) Münchener Kommentar zum Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuch, 9th edn. C.H. Beck, München

Borghetti J-S (2021) Non-performance and the change of circumstances under French law. In: Hondius E, Santos Silva M, Nicolussi A, Salvador Coderch P, Wendehorst C, Zoll F (eds) Coronavirus and the law in Europe. Intersentia, Cambridge, pp 509–526. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781839701801

Cherednychenko O (2011) Full harmonization of retail financial services contract law in Europe: a success or a failure. In: Grundmann S, Atamer Y (eds) Financial services, financial crisis and general European contract law. Wolters Kluwer Law International, Alphen aan den Rijn, pp 221–258

Comana M, Previtali D, Bellardini L (2019) The MiFID II Framework. Springer, Cham, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12504-2

Dannemann G, Schulze R (2020) Introduction. In: Dannemann G, Schulze R (eds) German civil code, vol I. C.H. Beck, MünchenCrossRef

Dickinson A (2016) Back to the future: the UK’s EU exit and the conflict of laws. J Priv Int Law 12:2, https://doi.org/10.1080/17441048.2016.1209847, pp 195–210

Ernst W (2022) § 275 BGB. In: Säcker F, Rixecker R, Oetker H, Limperg B (eds) Münchener Kommentar zum Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuch, 9th edn. C.H. Beck, München

Finke J (2020) Krisen. Ein Erklärungsversuch dynamischer Rechtsentwicklungen in Krisenzeiten. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen

Finkenauer T (2022) § 313 BGB. In: Säcker F, Rixecker R, Oetker H, Limperg B (eds) Münchener Kommentar zum Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuch, 9th edn. C.H. Beck, München

Ganuza JJ, Gómez Pomar F (2021) Government emergency intervention in private contracts in times of COVID-19. In: Hondius E, Santos Silva M, Nicolussi A, Salvador Coderch P, Wendehorst C, Zoll F (eds) Coronavirus and the law in Europe. Intersentia, Cambridge, pp 567–602, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781839701801

Gressler (2016) Financial crisis and general contract law. In: Schmidt J, Esplugues Mota C, Arenas Garcia R (eds) EU law after the financial crisis. Intersentia, Cambridge, pp 117–132, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781780685205.010

Grundmann S, Atamer Y (2011) European contract law and banking contracts after the financial crisis: challenges for contracting and market transactions. In: Grundmann S, Atamer Y (eds) Financial services, financial crisis and general European contract law. Wolters Kluwer Law International, Alphen aan den Rijn, pp 3–31

Grupp TM (2017) Vertragsgestaltung in Zeiten von Brexit, Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (NJW), pp 2065–2070

Haar B (2011) From public law to private law: market supervision and contract law standards. In: Grundmann S, Atamer Y (eds) Financial services, financial crisis and general European contract law. Wolters Kluwer Law International, Alphen aan den Rijn, pp 259–277

Hirte H, Schmidt-Kessel M (2020) § 28 Legislative Vorsorge für den Brexit: Deutsche Begleitgesetzgebung zum Bexit und ungeregelte Felder. In: Kramme M, Baldus C, Schmidt-Kessel M (eds) Brexit, 2nd edn. Nomos, Baden-Baden, pp 709–777

Köndgen J (2011) Policy responses to credit crisis: does the law of contract provide an answer? In: Grundmann S, Atamer Y (eds) Financial services, financial crisis and general European contract law. Wolters Kluwer Law International, Alphen aan den Rijn, pp 35–59

Kötz H (2017) European contract law, 2nd edn. Oxford University PressCrossRef

Lehmann M, Zetzsche DA (2017) Die Auswirkungen des Brexit auf das Zivil- und Wirtschaftsrecht, Juristen Zeitung (JZ), pp 62–71

Luna Á, Salvador Coderch P (2021) Spanish consumer law in the COVID-19 emergency. In: Hondius E, Santos Silva M, Nicolussi A, Salvador Coderch P, Wendehorst C, Zoll F (eds) Coronavirus and the law in Europe. Intersentia, Cambridge, pp 833–848, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781839701801

Mankowski P (2021) Art. 79 CISG. In: Drescher I, Fleischer H, Schmidt K (eds) Münchener Kommentar zum Handelsgesetzbuch, 5th edn. C.H. Beck, München

Oehm M (2020) § 313 BGB. In: Dannemann G, Schulze R (eds) German Civil Code, vol I. C.H. Beck, München

Paulus D (2020) § 10 Der Brexit als Störung der “politischen” Geschäftsgrundlage. In: Kramme M, Baldus C, Schmidt-Kessel M (eds) Brexit, 2nd edn. Nomos, Baden-Baden, pp 234–258

Piwowarski R (2020) Anlegerleitbilder und Anlegerschutz der MiFID II. Nomos, Baden-BadenCrossRef

Poelzig D (2022) § 63 WpHG. In: Seibt CH, Buck-Heeb P, Harnos R (eds) Beckscher Online-Kommentar Wertpapierhandelsrecht, 6th edn. C.H. Beck, München

Prütting J (2020) Wegfall der Geschäftsgrundlage als Antwort des Zivilrechts auf Vertragsstörungen? In: Effer-Uhe D, Mohnert A (eds) Vertragsrecht in der Coronakrise. Nomos, Baden-Baden, pp 47–72, https://doi.org/10.5771/9783748909279-47

Rüscher D (2018) Vertragsanpassungen als Reaktion auf den Brexit nach deutschem, englischem, französischem, italienischem und spanischem Recht sowie nach UN-Kaufrecht, Europäische Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht (EuZW), pp 937–943

Säcker F (2021) Introduction. In: Säcker F, Rixecker R, Oetker H, Limperg B (eds) Münchener Kommentar zum Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuch, 9th edn. C.H. Beck, München

Schmidt-Kessel M, Möllnitz C (2021) Particular corona contract law in Germany. In: Hondius E, Santos Silva M, Nicolussi A, Salvador Coderch P, Wendehorst C, Zoll F (eds) Coronavirus and the law in Europe. Intersentia Cambridge, pp 699–718, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781839701801

Schuldrechtskommission (1992) Abschlußbericht der Kommission zur Überarbeitung des Schuldrechts. German Federal Gazette, Köln

Schulze R (2020) § 275 BGB. In: Dannemann G, Schulze R (eds) German Civil Code, vol I. C.H. Beck, München

Schulze R, Zoll F (2021) European contract law, 3rd edn. C.H. Beck, München

Tonner (2021) Art. 240 § 6 EGBGB. In: Säcker F, Rixecker R, Oetker H, Limperg B (eds) Münchener Kommentar zum Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuch, 8th edn. C.H. Beck, München

Tröger T (2014) Das Vertragsrecht der Krise: Vertragstheorie und -dogmatik im Lichte der Finanzkrise. In: Tobias T, Antonios K (eds) Gestaltung und Anpassung von Verträgen in Krisenzeiten. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, pp 49–74

Ungerer J (2019) Consequences of Brexit for European private international law, European Papers, 4(1), European Forum, Insight of 27 February 2019, pp 395–407, https://doi.org/10.15166/2499-8249/281

Wagner G (2020) Corona Law, Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht (ZEuP), pp 531–542

Weatherill S (2016) Contract law of the internal market. Intersentia, Cambridge, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781780687506

Winterfeld J, Rümker D (2017) § 124a Finanzmarktstabilisierungsgesetze. In: Schimansky H, Bunte H-J, Lwowski H-J (eds) Bankrechts-Handbuch, 5th edn. C.H. Beck, München

Zahrte K (2019) M. Anlageberatung. In: Drescher I, Fleischer H, Schmidt K (eds) Münchener Kommentar zum Handelsgesetzbuch, 4th edn. C.H. Beck, München

Title: Contract Law in Germany
Author: Hannes Henke
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Book: Are Legal Systems Converging or Diverging?
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-38179-9

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-031-38180-5

Copyright Year: 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38180-5_9

Springer Professional

Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

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

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Premium Partner