Illusion
In general terms, visual inspection is the inspection or sensory perception of an object or process. In law, the term visual appearance refers to the judge's “sensual perception of conclusive facts” . The judicial inspection is evidence (cf. § 144 , § 371 f. ZPO , § 86 StPO , § 96 Abs. 1 VwGO , § 81 Abs. 1 FGO , § 118 Abs. 1 SGG ) in German court proceedings. Appearance does not just mean looking at it , but every direct sensory perception of an object, be it through seeing , hearing , feeling or even tasting and smelling .
The visual inspection is subject to the so-called strict evidence in accordance with § 355 ZPO. The evidence by visual inspection is provided by means of the judge's direct sensory perception for the purposes of evidence by specifying the fact to be proven and by designating the object of the visual inspection.
Evidence is taken by the court or a commissioned or requested judge . It can be ordered that an expert is called in.
Deviating from the current definition of visual inspection, which presupposes the judge's own perception, at the time of the Reich Chamber of Commerce , visual inspection ( mhd. Ougenschin ; Latin inspectio ocularis , probatio ad oculum ) was also understood to be third party cartographic records. These were often made by well-known artists who, in the context of site inspections, by commissions commissioned by the court, for the judges “inspected” the local conditions and also reflected the applicable legal relationships - often only passed down orally. These recordings are sketches, but also artistically designed maps, which show a certain landscape and its economic use in great detail through symbolic representation of plow teams, wagons or barges on rivers. This evidence - referred to as inspection - became part of the court files for the respective case, which is why it has largely remained scientifically undeveloped to this day.
In medieval popular law, the glancing appearance played a special role in the deliberate act , when the perpetrator caught in the act and his loot were brought to court.
