Quoting legal norms

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When citing legal norms , certain rules have developed in jurisprudence in order to substantiate statements with norms in the most uniform possible form . The purpose of a quotation is so that the reader can check a statement by looking up the cited source. In order to be able to find this source, the author of a legal paper must therefore state the legal norms as precisely as possible.

Although only the term law is used in the following for the sake of simplicity , the following rules can also be applied to quotations from ordinances, guidelines, statutes and contracts.

Basic rules

In academic papers , the standards are regularly cited directly in the text, while case law and literature are given in footnotes or brackets. Laws cited are not listed in the bibliography . A list of sources for the cited laws is also superfluous.

Paragraph and Article

The quotation begins with the naming of the respective paragraph or article.

A paragraph is abbreviated with the symbol " § ", several paragraphs with "§§". An article is abbreviated both in the singular and in the plural with "Art.", Rarely also with "Artt.". While the German legislator is required to avoid abbreviations when formulating the legal text, abbreviations are usually used for the structural levels in academic papers. In accordance with the DIN 5008 standard, a point is placed after the respective abbreviations .

If the designation of the paragraph or article is in Roman numerals , as is the case with some international treaties , these are also to be used when quoting.

If two consecutive paragraphs or articles are quoted, the first is to be named and an "f." If there are more than two consecutive standards, an “ff.” Is often used. However, since the reader then does not know how far the quotation extends, the first and last norm to be quoted must be linked by a hyphen .

Often paragraphs or articles added later in the law have a letter after the number. This must be stated after the number without spaces.

Examples

Simple examples: 

§ 1 BGB                 lies: „Paragraph eins BGB“
Art. 17 GG              lies: „Artikel siebzehn GG“
Art. 231 § 4 EGBGB      lies: „Artikel zweihunderteinunddreißig Paragraph vier EGBGB“
Art. IX BWÜ             lies: „Artikel neun BWÜ“

Examples of successive standards: 

§§ 12 f. ZPO            lies: „Paragraphen zwölf (und der) folgende ZPO“
§§ 12 ff. ZPO           lies: „Paragraphen zwölf fortfolgende / und die folgenden ZPO“
Art. 20 – 37 GG         lies: „Artikel zwanzig bis siebenunddreißig GG“

Examples with inserted standard: 

Art. 20a GG            lies: „Artikel zwanzig a GG“
§ 312f BGB             lies: „Paragraph dreihundertzwölf f BGB“

Sub-levels

The rules for intervening and for several successive paragraphs and articles can be transferred to the sub-levels.

Paragraph and sub-paragraph

There are several ways to cite a paragraph that traditionally denotes the level below the paragraph or article. You should not switch between the options within a document.

A paragraph is abbreviated as "Abs." In both the singular and the plural. Alternatively, it is possible to omit the abbreviation "Abs." And to represent the paragraph in Roman numerals. Another possibility is to put the number of the paragraph in brackets, which is unusual in Germany.

As a level below the paragraph one often finds sub- paragraphs in legal norms of the European Union . These are abbreviated with “UAbs.”.

Examples

Examples of the use of the abbreviation, Roman numerals and brackets: 

Art. 95 Abs. 5 EG
Art. 95 V EG
Art. 95 (5) EG

Example of a sub-paragraph: 

Art. 256 Abs. 1 UAbs. 1 AEUV

Sentence and half sentence

The sentence is abbreviated with “S.”. It can be the level below the paragraph or article or below the paragraph or sub-paragraph. If a sentence is the sub-level of a paragraph, the abbreviation is omitted if the paragraph is given in Roman numerals or in parentheses.

Half clauses are created when a sentence is divided by a semicolon . Half-sentences are abbreviated with "Hs."

Examples

Sentence as a sub-level of a paragraph, article and sub-paragraph: 

§ 2 S. 3 HGB
Art. 23 S. 2 EGBGB
Art. 256 Abs. 1 UAbs. 1 S. 1 AEUV

Sentence as a sub-level of a paragraph: 

§ 19 Abs. 4 S. 1 BVerfGG
§ 19 IV 1 BVerfGG
§ 19 (4) 1 BVerfGG

Example of a half-sentence: 

§ 11 S. 1 2. Hs. BGB

Alternative, variant and case

A standard can also have a corresponding subdivision without being formally divided. These are alternatives, variants or cases.

While alternatives are abbreviated with "Alt." And variants with "Var.", The word "Fall" is spelled out.

Examples

Example of an alternative, a variant and a case: 

§ 48 Abs. 2 Alt. 2 GmbHG
§ 261 Abs. 1 S. 1 Var. 3 StGB
Art. 3 Abs. 3 S. 1 Fall 4 GG

enumeration

Some standards contain lists. If these are numbered consecutively, the number must be quoted after the abbreviation "No.". If the list is structured alphabetically, the letter after the abbreviation “ lit. “( Latin for littera ) indicated. When a letter is further subdivided into sub-letters, the abbreviation "sublit." Is used. While the sub- letter is specified as a double letter in national standards , in European legal standards and international treaties this is usually quoted in lowercase Roman numerals.

If the standard is enumerated with bullets (one- quarter dash "-" or half- quarter dash "-"), i.e. without numbering, the dashes must be counted and then the respective number must be given after the non-abbreviated word "bullet".

Examples

Examples of numbered, alphabetical and unnumbered lists: 

§ 811 Abs. 1 Nr. 11 ZPO
Art. 12 lit. d EUV
§ 309 Nr. 8 lit. b sublit. dd BGB
Art. 218 Abs. 6 UAbs. 2 lit. a sublit. iv AEUV
Art. 13 Abs. 1 UAbs. 2 Spiegelstrich 7 EUV

Law name

The quotation ends with the naming of the respective law.

Well-known laws are usually cited in abbreviated form. If the legislator has specified an official abbreviation, this must be used, otherwise the Kirchner is to be used for German standards and Friedl / Loebenstein for Austrian standards . According to DIN standard 5008, there is no point after the abbreviation of the law. For laws that are rarely cited, it is advisable to use the abbreviation as well and to designate the law in a footnote when it is used for the first time.

The following should then be included in the footnote:

  • the title of the law,
  • the possibly existing short title,
  • the date of the resolution (Germany) or the announcement (Austria) in the form DD.MM.YYYY,
  • the abbreviation of the official gazette in which the law was published,
  • the year of publication of the official gazette,
  • and the number of the page on which the law begins in the official gazette.

The year of publication of the official gazette can be omitted if it is identical to the year of resolution or announcement already indicated.

A shorter variant, in which only the official sheet, its year of publication and the number of pages are given in the footnote, is also possible.

If the law consists of several books, the respective number is given after the abbreviation in Roman numerals.

If the law is not to be abbreviated in the text, the name of the law must be given in the genitive.

If an old version of the law is quoted, this must be made clear after the name of the law with "aF". If necessary, new versions can be marked with “nF”.

If the same name is used for a law by different states or (federal) states, a reference to the area of ​​validity in lower case must be given in front of the abbreviated law to distinguish it; to this, the ISO 3166 (Germany: de , Austria: at , Switzerland: ch ) and recourse for Germany but has proven to be consistently "d" and for Austria "a" or "ö". The labeling is particularly important if the corresponding, identically named laws - for historical reasons - also have similar content.

Examples

Use of the abbreviation of the law in the text: 

Die Kuhprämie beträgt gemäß § 7 Abs. 1 S. 2 MilchSoPrG1 je Kuh 21 €.

Full title of the law in the footnote: 

1 Gesetz über ein Sonderprogramm mit Maßnahmen für Milchviehhalter (Milch-Sonderprogrammgesetz) vom 14.04.2010, BGBl. I 2010, 410.

Complete title of the law in the footnote, but without an additional year 

1 Gesetz über ein Sonderprogramm mit Maßnahmen für Milchviehhalter (Milch-Sonderprogrammgesetz) vom 14.04.2010, BGBl. I 410.

Alternative short code in the footnote: 

1 BGBl. I 2010, 410.

Example of a quote with an indication of the book: 

§ 25 SGB VIII

Example of an unabbreviated legal statement: 

§ 40 des Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetzes

Examples of quotations from old and new versions of the law: 

§ 462 Alt. 1 BGB aF
§ 323 Abs. 1 BGB nF

Examples of quotations with distinction for different states: 

§ 15 dGmbHG oder § 15 deGmbHG
§ 15 aGmbHG oder § 15 atGmbHG

Special features of digital texts

In order to avoid unwanted automatic line breaks in legal regulations in digital texts, a protected space must be used between the respective abbreviation and the number instead of a space .

Examples

Example for the use of protected spaces: § 433 Paragraph 1 Sentence 1 BGB 

in HTML: § 433 Abs. 1 S. 1 BGB
in LaTeX: \S~433 Abs.~1 S.~1 BGB

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Marcus Bergmann / Christian Schröder / Michael Sturm: Correct citation: A guide for law studies and legal practice . Verlag Franz Vahlen, Munich 2010, Rn. 607
  2. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 128.
  3. ↑ Marcus Bergmann / Christian Schröder / Michael Sturm: Correct citation: A guide for law studies and legal practice . Verlag Franz Vahlen, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-8006-4150-5 , Rn. 606.
  4. ↑ Different, however, Manuel René Theisen: Scientific work: Technology - Methodology - Form . Verlag Franz Vahlen, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-8006-3830-7 , p. 158 f.
  5. ↑ "Artt." For the plural form Manuel René Theisen calls for: Scientific work: Technology - Methodology - Form . Verlag Franz Vahlen, Munich 2011, p. 158.
  6. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 71.
  7. ↑ Stephan Keiler / Christoph Bezemek, Rn. 20th
  8. ↑ According to the Federal Ministry of Justice (ed.): Handbuch der Rechtsformlichkeit , Rn. 173, 196.
  9. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 84.
  10. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 72.
  11. ↑ Stephan Keiler / Christoph Bezemek, Rn. 21st
  12. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 72.
  13. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 71.
  14. ↑ Manuel René Theisen: Scientific work: technology - methodology - form . Verlag Franz Vahlen, Munich 2011, p. 158.
  15. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 72.
  16. ↑ Manuel René Theisen: Scientific work: technology - methodology - form . Verlag Franz Vahlen, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-8006-3830-7 , p. 158.
  17. ↑ Stephan Keiler / Christoph Bezemek, Rn. 20th
  18. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 72.
  19. ↑ Manuel René Theisen: Scientific work: technology - methodology - form . Verlag Franz Vahlen, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-8006-3830-7 , p. 158.
  20. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 73.
  21. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 82.
  22. ↑ Stephan Keiler / Christoph Bezemek, Rn. 20th
  23. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 73.
  24. ↑ Manuel René Theisen: Scientific work: technology - methodology - form . Verlag Franz Vahlen, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-8006-3830-7 , p. 158.
  25. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 74.
  26. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 74.
  27. ↑ Manuel René Theisen: Scientific work: technology - methodology - form . Verlag Franz Vahlen, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-8006-3830-7 , p. 158.
  28. ↑ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 74 f.
  29. ↑ Stephan Keiler / Christoph Bezemek, Rn. 20th
  30. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 75.
  31. ↑ In addition to “No.”, “Ziff.” For “digit” is also possible according to Manuel René Theisen: Scientific work: Technology - Methodology - Form . Verlag Franz Vahlen, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-8006-3830-7 , p. 158.
  32. ↑ "Z" for "number" demand Stephan Keiler / Christoph Bezemek, Rn. 20th
  33. ↑ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 75 f.
  34. ↑ Also possible is “letter” for “letter” according to Manuel René Theisen: Scientific work: technology - methodology - form . Verlag Franz Vahlen, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-8006-3830-7 , p. 158.
  35. ↑ Stephan Keiler / Christoph Bezemek, Rn. 20th
  36. ↑ Stephan Keiler / Christoph Bezemek, Rn. 20th
  37. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 76.
  38. ↑ "GS" for "dash" or "SS" for "dash" require Stephan Keiler / Christoph Bezemek, Rn. 20th
  39. ↑ Marcus Bergmann / Christian Schröder / Michael Sturm: Correct citation: A guide for law studies and legal practice . Verlag Franz Vahlen, Munich 2010, Rn. 609
  40. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 76.
  41. ↑ Stephan Keiler / Christoph Bezemek, Rn. 20th
  42. ↑ Hildebert Kirchner: List of abbreviations of legal language . 7th edition. De Gruyter , Berlin / Boston, Massachusetts 2013, ISBN 978-3-11-025429-7 .
  43. ↑ Gerhard Friedl (original) / Herbert Loebenstein (original) / Peter Dax (Hrsg.) / Gerhard Hopf (arr.): Abbreviation and citation rules of the Austrian legal language and European legal sources (AZR): including list of abbreviations 7th edition, Manz , Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-214-06199-9 .
  44. ↑ Marcus Bergmann / Christian Schröder / Michael Sturm: Correct citation: A guide for law studies and legal practice . Verlag Franz Vahlen, Munich 2010, Rn. 780.
  45. ↑ Marcus Bergmann / Christian Schröder / Michael Sturm: Correct citation: A guide for law studies and legal practice . Verlag Franz Vahlen, Munich 2010, Rn. 610.
  46. ↑ Marcus Bergmann / Christian Schröder / Michael Sturm: Correct citation: A guide for law studies and legal practice . Verlag Franz Vahlen, Munich 2010, Rn. 611, 613, 615.
  47. ^ Similar to B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 77 f.
  48. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 78.
  49. ↑ Always ask for the year Marcus Bergmann / Christian Schröder / Michael Sturm: Correct citation: A guide for law studies and legal practice . Verlag Franz Vahlen, Munich 2010, Rn. 615.
  50. ↑ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 77 f.
  51. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 76.
  52. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 77.
  53. ^ B. Sharon Byrd / Matthias Lehmann, p. 78.
  54. ↑ Stephan Keiler / Christoph Bezemek, Rn. 17th
  55. ↑ Stephan Keiler / Christoph Bezemek, Rn. 22nd
  56. ↑ This is also recommended by Nomos Verlag in its guidelines for manuscript design. (PDF; 116 kB).