Actor sequitur forum rei

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The Latin legal phrase Actor sequitur forum rei ( the plaintiff must follow the defendant's place of jurisdiction ) deals with jurisdiction . It states that if the plaintiff wants to bring an action against the defendant, he must do so at the local court responsible for the defendant.

The basic idea of ​​this regulation is that the equality of arms between the parties is more likely to be preserved. The plaintiff can decide with what exact content and at what point in time to sue the defendant. The defendant then has to present his legal defense under certain time pressure due to procedural deadlines and may first look for a lawyer. This should at least be made easier for him by not having to go to court in a distant court. The determination of the competent court is therefore not only a question of expediency, the principle of actor sequitur forum rei is rather a matter of justice. For such considerations, the law restricts the possibility of contractually agreeing a different court jurisdiction to protect the defendant.

On the contrary, this legal principle was used in military law in ancient Rome . Here, after the 1st century, the civilian defendant had to follow the soldier's place of jurisdiction, usually to the local military camp.

In German civil procedure law there is an expression of the principle in § 12 ZPO . There it is determined that the general place of jurisdiction of the defendant basically determines the local jurisdiction of the court. However, there are also a large number of exclusive and special jurisdictions that modify this rule.

In cases with a foreign connection, the international jurisdiction must first be checked. For this purpose, the EuGVVO applies in the member states of the EU . To the extent that Article 4 (1) provides that persons who are domiciled in a Member State's territory are to be sued in the courts of that Member State regardless of their nationality, this is also an expression of the actor sequitur forum rei principle .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Zöller-Vollkommer, Commentary on the ZPO, 26th edition, marginal note 2 to § 12
  2. ↑ cf. Section 38 ZPO
  3. ^ Gabriele Welsch, Social Aspects of the Roman Army in the Imperial Era, Verlag Steiner, Franz December 1998, pp. 147–155; see. also Hildegard Temporini, Wolfgang Haase: The rise and fall of the Roman world. 1st edition, Vol. 14, Law (Materien, continuation), de Gruyter, 1982, pp. 948-960

literature