Judgment (Austria)
In Austria, a decision on the matter in civil and criminal proceedings is usually made through a judgment . There are no judgments in proceedings except for disputes and in the area of the courts of public law . Judgments are pronounced and executed “In the name of the republic”.
Civil proceedings
A judgment can either
- verbally or directly after the end of the hearing
- be made by the judge as a reservation for a written copy if the judgment cannot be pronounced orally immediately (normal case).
The factual decision is called
- in possession proceedings: final decision
- in the dunning procedure: conditional payment order
- in mandate and bill of exchange mandate procedure: payment order
- In the existing proceedings after legal termination: transfer or takeover order
If one of the parties does not appear at the first oral hearing (or fails to meet the deadline for responding to the claim in court proceedings), a (genuine) default judgment can be made at the request of the party appearing. The submission of the defaulting party is completely disregarded, the submission of the appearing party is to be considered true.
If, on the other hand, a party misses a (later) hearing, a false default judgment can be made upon request. The party who did not appear is then excluded from further submission. The basis for the judge's decision is everything that has been put forward so far.
Criminal proceedings
In Austria there are three options for pronouncing a verdict in criminal proceedings:
- acquittal judgment,
- guilty verdict and
- Judgment of lack of jurisdiction
The Austrian criminal procedure has a two-tiered instance. Appeals (so-called “full appeal”) are permitted against judgments of the district court and the regional court as single judge. Here, not only the pronounced amount of punishment (so-called “criminal appeal”) and the establishment of the facts and the guilt of the accused (“guilty appeal”) can be combated, but also legally certain grounds for invalidity (“invalidity appeal”) can be asserted. A senate consisting of three judges at the regional court decides on the full appeal in the district court procedure; over those of the single judicial proceedings at the regional court, a senate consisting of three judges at the higher regional court.
In proceedings at the regional court as a lay judge or jury court, there is the possibility of a criminal appeal as well as an annulment complaint. The Higher Regional Court decides on the appeal, and the Supreme Court decides on the annulment appeal (and any appeal that may be made at the same time).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Art. 82 para. 2 B-VG.
