General part of civil law (Germany)

The general part (AT) of the German Civil Code (BGB) comprises §§ 1–240, which as Book 1 precedes the main regulatory areas of the BGB - the four books of the law of obligations , property law , family law and inheritance law .

The BGB is the most important law of German private law . It is a systematically and abstractly conceived law that tries to avoid double regulations. Therefore there is a general part. This contains common rules that apply to the remaining four books. The following law of obligations, property, family and inheritance only contains the regulations that concern the specific material matter. One speaks of the AT clamp technology . The high degree of abstraction of the set of rules means that the norms are difficult to understand for the layperson.

Although the BGB as a whole follows the structure of the so-called pandect system of the 19th century, the structure of the AT and its sections at least partially follows the institutional system . This divides the law into three categories: "personae", "res" and "actiones" (personal, property and procedural law).

people

The People section contains regulations on

Natural people
- Legal capacity ( § 1 ), age of majority ( § 2 ), place of residence ( §§ 7-11 ), naming rights ( § 12 ) and definitions of the terms consumer ( § 13 ) and entrepreneur ( § 14 )
and about legal persons
- about associations in general ( Sections 21–54 ), in particular the association's liability for its organs ( Section 31 ), and through registered associations ( Sections 55–79 ), foundations ( Sections 80–88 ) and public legal entities Right ( § 89 ).

Things and animals

In the section Things and animals you can find definitions of things ( § 90 ), essential components of a thing ( §§ 93 f. ), Fruits ( § 99 ) and uses ( § 100 ).

Legal transactions

The section on legal transactions is an essential part of the general part . Here you can find regulations about

Capacity ( §§ 104-113 )

" Pocket money paragraph "

Declarations of intent ( §§ 116-144 ),

Differentiation from the real act and the business-like action
Components of a declaration of intent
- Awareness of explanation , see also Trier wine auction
In particular, the requirements and consequences of contestability ( Sections 119–124, 142–144 )
Forms of legal transactions, etc. a. Written form , electronic form , notarial certification ( §§ 126–129 )
Nullity due to a lack of form ( Section 125 ), violation of a legal prohibition ( Section 134 ) or immorality ( Section 138 )
- Text form
Interpretation of declarations of intent ( Section 133 )

Treaties ( 145–157 ), in particular

their formation through offer and acceptance and the time of commitment to an offer
Factual contract , see also Hamburg parking lot case
open or hidden lack of agreement ( §§ 154 f. )
the interpretation of contracts ( § 157 )

Conditions and Timings ( 158–163 )

Representation and power of attorney ( 164–181 ) including the liability of the representative without power of attorney
( § 179 )
- Legal representative (Germany)

Consent and Approval ( 182-185 )

deadlines and appointments

The section on deadlines and dates ( §§ 186–193 ) regulates when deadlines begin and end and how they are calculated.

Statute of limitations

The section on the statute of limitations ( 194–218 ) was significantly redesigned in connection with the modernization of the law of obligations with effect from January 1, 2002. Among other things, it regulates in a very complicated way

Various limitation periods (in particular Sections 195–197 ; however, there are also limitation provisions outside of the general section)

the beginning of the statute of limitations ( §§ 199-201 )

the suspension of the statute of limitations ( §§ 203-209 )

the restart of the statute of limitations ( Section 212 ; new term instead of the earlier interruption of the statute of limitations )

In which cases the statute of limitations does not preclude offsetting ( Section 215 )

Exercise of rights, self-defense, self-help

In the section Exercising rights, self-defense, self-help ( Sections 226–231 ) there are regulations on the ban on harassment ( Section 226 ), self-defense ( Section 227 ) and emergency ( Section 228 ) as well as self-help ( 229-231 ).

Security deposit

In §§ 232-240 eventually find provisions about possible forms of security .

literature

Brox (del.), Walker (author.): General part of the civil code . Verlag Franz Vahlen, Munich 2019. ISBN 978-3-8006-6025-4 .
Schroeter: The calculation of deadlines in civil law , Legal Training (JuS) 2007, p. 29 ff.
Köhler: BGB General Part , 25th edition, 2002.