This course explains the law of Germany, not US law. Rules that look the same elsewhere may be different.
Course · Law by country · Germany
German Law
The law of Germany in one course: the foundations and the Basic Law, federalism and the Constitutional Court, the five court branches and the legal professions, fundamental rights and administrative law, private law, business and employment law, and criminal law and procedure.
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Germany is the home of the Civil Code of 1900 and the second great model of the civil law tradition: a system built on codes and on systematic legal science, with a constitution (the Basic Law of 1949) that is protected by a powerful Constitutional Court and a federal structure that gives the sixteen Länder real powers. It has five branches of courts, a distinctive method for analysing both private and criminal law, and a legal education that ends in two state examinations. This course gives a complete first map. It starts with the history and the sources of German law and the hierarchy of norms; then the Basic Law, federalism and the Constitutional Court; then the courts and the legal professions; then fundamental rights and administrative law; then the Civil Code on contract, tort, property, family and succession; then business, consumer, competition and employment law; and finally criminal law and procedure. It uses landmark decisions that have lasted, invented people and businesses, and three working tools.
The Curriculum
Foundations of the German legal system: history, sources, the Basic Law, the Civil Code, the hierarchy of norms and the rule of law→
History, sources, the Basic Law, the Civil Code, the hierarchy of norms and the Rechtsstaat. Practice: Which Source, Which Norm Prevails and Spot the Mistake.
Federalism, government and the Constitutional Court: the Länder, the Bundestag and Bundesrat, the President, the Chancellor and constitutional review→
Federalism, the Bundestag, the Bundesrat, the President, the Chancellor, separation of powers and the Constitutional Court. Practice: Who Decides, Which Proceeding and Spot the Mistake.
Courts, judges and the legal professions: the five branches of courts, ordinary and specialised courts, judicial independence, legal training, lawyers, notaries and prosecutors→
Five branches of courts, ordinary courts, specialised courts, judicial independence, legal training, lawyers, notaries and prosecutors. Practice: Which Court, Which Professional and Spot the Mistake.
Fundamental rights and administrative law: human dignity, the structure of rights, administrative acts, judicial review, state administration, tax and migration→
Human dignity and fundamental rights, administrative acts and discretion, judicial review, administration, tax and migration. Practice: Which Step, Which Action and Spot the Mistake.
Private law: persons, legal transactions, breach, tort, property, family, succession, civil procedure and dispute resolution→
Persons and capacity, contract and breach, tort, property, family, succession, civil procedure and mediation. Practice: Which Rule, Which Remedy and Spot the Mistake.
Business, consumer, competition and employment law: merchants, companies, insolvency, consumers, cartels, intellectual property and the law of work→
Commercial law, companies, insolvency, consumers, competition, intellectual property and employment. Practice: Which Form, Which Rule and Spot the Mistake.
Criminal law, procedure and sentencing: the structure of an offence, intent and negligence, defences and excuses, investigation, trial, evidence, penalties, appeals and cooperation→
Elements, unlawfulness and guilt, intent and negligence, defences, investigation, trial, evidence, penalties, appeals and cooperation. Practice: Which Step, Which Rule and Spot the Mistake.
Capstone: Capstone: Anna Weber and the bicycle workshop→
A bicycle workshop in Stuttgart, a dismissal, a mistyped price, a notice from the city, a will and an arrest. Choose the court branch, the avoidance, the compulsory share and the rights of the arrested.
What It Covers
“You will be able to say, for any German legal problem, which source and which court apply, which rule governs it, which time limit runs and what the likely remedy is.”
- Follows the problem: a four-question order of thought (which branch of courts, which rule in the hierarchy of norms, which ground or time limit, and what remedy) that works on every problem in the course and the capstone.
- Teaches the structure behind the rules, so that a student who knows how the codes, the five court branches and the three-step method fit together can read any new statute or decision, and compare a civil law system with the common law.
- Three tools with invented facts: a Court Finder, a Validity Checker and a Compulsory Share Calculator, each showing how the answer changes when a fact does.
- Honest about limits: it teaches durable provisions and landmark decisions, gives German terms with their English meaning, and does not state changing figures or recent decisions. It is general education, not advice, and it links to the site’s Germany portal and to the Civil Law gateway.
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Cooling the Room$15 →How conflict escalates, mapping a dispute, de-escalation, hard conversations, choosing a process, mediation, power, culture and ethics, with practice mediations.
The Client Conversation$15 →Trust, the first meeting, fees and scope, updates in plain words, advice and decisions, bad news, boundaries and ethics, with practice meetings.Module 1 is free to try. Sign in, pass each module quiz and the course average, and your Certificate of Completion is emailed to you automatically. This course teaches method and technique with invented people and figures; it is general education, not legal advice, and professional rules differ from country to country.
Common questions
- Do I need to know German?
- No. The course is in English. It gives the standard German terms next to the English, because German legal vocabulary is widely used in comparative law.
- Does it cover the law of Austria or Switzerland?
- No. It covers the law of Germany. Austria and Switzerland have their own systems, though they share much of the German tradition.
- Does it give the current law on every point?
- It teaches the provisions and landmark decisions that have lasted. Detailed rules, amounts, thresholds and recent reforms change, so check current law for any real matter.
- Are the tools real data?
- No. The tools apply well-known rules in simplified form to invented facts. They show the structure of the answer and cannot decide a case.
- Is it useful for practice or for exams?
- Yes. It covers the core subjects of German legal study at a first-map level and is useful for anyone who needs to understand how German law and its courts work, including common-law lawyers who deal with Germany.
- How do I get the Certificate of Completion?
- Sign in, pass each module quiz and keep a course average of at least 75. The certificate is then issued and emailed to you automatically.
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