Zivilprozess#

Civil Litigation, contentious proceedings for the assertion of civil claims (e.g. under landlord and tenant law, matrimonial law, or the law of damages). This aspect of the judicial function ( Jurisdiction and Administration of Justice) is for the most part regulated in the Law on Court Jurisdiction and the Code of Civil Procedure. The main supplementary statutes are the Labour Tribunal Law and the Social Court Law (1986). Proceedings are only instituted upon application (bringing suit). Procedural principles: publicity (except for matrimonial and family law litigations), orality, immediacy (i.e., apart from certain exceptions stipulated by law, the taking of evidence - the hearing of the parties to the lawsuit and of witnesses, evaluation of documentary evidence, the hearing of expert witnesses and evidence by inspection - is reserved to the judge hearing the case in question). The principle that both parties must be given a hearing is enshrined in Constitutional Law (Art. 6 European Convention on Human Rights). While the judge´s decision is limited to the object sought by the parties ("disposition principle"), the judge has to expedite proceedings as s/he best sees fit; accordingly s/he may ex officio require specific forms of evidence (in particular expert opinions) to be presented.

Literature#