German legal citation
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As in most countries, [[Germany]] has a standard way of citing its [[legal code]]s and [[case law]]; an essentially identical system of citation is also used in [[Austria]].
==Citing portions of the German legal code==
As an example, the famous or notorious [[Paragraph 175]], which formerly made male [[homosexuality]] a crime in Germany, would most properly be cited in an English-language text as "§ 175 StGB (Germany)". "§" simply denotes "paragraph" (and can be pluralized as "§§"). "StGB" stands for ''Strafgesetzbuch'' ([[penal code]]); other similar usages would be "BGB" (''[[Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch]]'', the Civil Code) and "ZPO" (''Zivilprozessordnung'', the Civil Procedure Code). Paragraphs with the same number from these different codes are completely unrelated; thus, § 175 ZPO has nothing to do with § 175 StGB. Finally, unless the context is clear, "(Germany)" may be added to distinguish this from the similar system of citation for Austria; again, paragraphs with the same number in German and Austrian legal codes are unrelated, except in laws that were introduced in Austria with the [[Anschluss]] in 1938, such as the [[HGB]] (commercial code), which, of course, has frequently been amended in different ways in both countries since then. A method that is sometimes employed in Austrian legal writing to distinguish between Austrian and German law is to add a lower case "d" for Germany and an "ö" for Austria before the abbreviation of the respective code, e.g. "dHGB" and "öHGB" referring to the German and Austrian commercial codes.
Within such a paragraph, there may be numerous ''Absätze'' (singular ''Absatz''). The ''Absätze'' are cited as "Abs.". Thus, a particular portion of Paragraph 175 might be cited as "§ 175 Abs. 2 StGB (Germany)". Texts addressed at a purely legal audience commonly make use of an informal shorthand, abbreviating ''Absätze'' for example as Roman numerals. Thus, in such texts, this same provision might be cited simply as "§ 175 II StGB" or even "§ 175 II" depending on the amount of available context. In Austria, the ''Absätze'' are usually cited as "Abs" (without a dot), e.g. "§ 1295 Abs 2 [[ABGB]]". Numbered lists are cited with a capital "Z" (standing for ''Zahl'' i.e. number), e.g. "§ 73 Abs 1 Z 4 BWG". By contrast, in Germany, the abbreviation "Nr." is used instead.
In non-legal contexts, for example in text-formatting, the word ''Absatz'' would normally be equivalent to English "paragraph", but in legal usage an ''Absatz'' is a subdivision of a ''Paragraph''; we must either use the German word or translate it as "sub-paragraph". Margaret Marks suggests (for [[British English]]) translating ''Paragraph'' as "Section" and ''Absatz'' as "subsection". For [[American English]], she suggests leaving § intact except at the start of a sentence (where she would use "Section"), and translating ''Absatz'' as "subsection". [http://www.margaret-marks.com/Transblawg/archives/000076.html]
==Citing German case law==
The ''Entscheidungen des Bundesgerichtshofs in Strafsachen'' (cited as "BGHSt") covers criminal case law in the present-day [[Federal Republic of Germany]]. Case law from German unification (1871) until 1945 would be in the ''Entscheidungen des Reichsgerichts in Strafsachen'' (cited as "RGSt"). Similarly, cases in [[private law]] can be cited to ''Entscheidungen des Bundesgerichtshof in Zivilsachen'' ("BGHZ") and ''Entscheidungen des Reichsgerichts in Zivilsachen'' ("RGZ"). E.g. ''BGHZ 65, 182'' would refer to a case published in BGHZ, volume 65, beginning at page 182. Alternatively, cases may be cited to law reviews where they have been rendered, e.g. ''NJW 1982, 473''. Ideally, the date of the court decision and the docket number should be given before the citation, but whether this is required usually depends on the publisher.
It is not general practice to cite case names, since the names of parties are anonymized. However, in some areas of law (e.g. corporate law), where the name of a party (usually the company involved in the case) is generally known, some cases have gained notoriety under that name (e.g. the ''Holzmüller'' decision). In such cases, it may be helpful for readers to render that name, even though it is entirely optional and such case names are not official.
==Austrian case law==
Similar rules apply to Austrian case law. Decisions by the Supreme Court (''Oberster Gerichtshof'') can be cited to the official collections (SZ for private law and SSt for criminal law) or to law reviews. In the case of the official collections, other than in Germany, the cite normally does not refer to the page number, but to the number of the case, e.g. SZ 82/123 (referring to case number 123 in volume 82 of the official collection of private law cases).
==External links==
* [http://www.matheboard.de/lexikon/Abk%FCrzungen/Gesetze_und_Recht,definition.htm List of German codes and their abbreviations] (German language)
==References==
* For Austrian legal citation see ''Gerhard Friedl & Herbert Loebenstein, Abkürzungs- und Zitierregeln der österreichischen Rechtssprache und europarechtlicher Rechtsquellen (AZR), 5th ed., Manz, Vienna 2001.''
[[Category:German law]]
[[Category:Legal citation]]
[[Category:Austrian law]]