German Civil Code

The German civil code is a set of civil law laws that was adopted by the Reichstag in 1896, and entered into force four years later, in 1900.

The structure of the code is based on a pandemic system, with the allocation of the common part, the obligatory, proprietary, family and inheritance rights. Thus, the code consists of five books, each of which corresponds to its own branch of law. The first book is devoted to the common part. It examines the main provisions of civil law, as well as the norms that determine the status of a physical and legal person, legal capacity and the calculation of periods of limitation.

The second book is devoted to the law of obligations; The third book reveals the provisions of corporeal right; The fourth discloses the rules of family law; Book five highlights the provisions of family law.

The German civil code of 1900 divides the legal capacity of a legal entity and an individual. The legal capacity of the latter arises from the moment of birth, and the legal capacity - upon reaching the age of 21. The persons who are in a state of mental disorder were deprived of their legal capacity, therefore their will was considered null and void.

Only entities, unions or institutions were recognized as legal entities. In order for a legal entity to be recognized as legally capable, an act on the establishment of an institution that must be approved by the union state, within which the legal entity will have its registration, is necessary for this. The same book sets out the rules that reveal the reasons for depriving society of legal capacity. The German civil code of 1896 does not regulate the status of limited liability companies, as well as joint-stock companies. Provisions with respect to these forms of legal entity are contained in a number of laws existing along with the civil code.

The German civil code in the part on the compulsory law establishes the only form of occurrence of obligations - a contract. Among other things, the second book clarifies cases of invalidation of contracts. The grounds for this can be a violation of "good conscience" and "goodwill".

The German civil code in the third book on property law reveals varieties of this branch of law. To their list are: the right of ownership, the right to use someone else's thing and gain from this value, the right to acquire something. This legislative norm expanded the domain of tenure rights, and also provided them with protection against unlawful seizure. Causing the same harm entails the obligation of its reimbursement.

German civil code discloses the rules of the law of marriage. The marriage, according to them, recognized the secular legal institution, with the reservation that the church duties continue to operate independently of the provisions of this book. She also regulated the age of marriage: women - sixteen years, men - twenty-one years. In addition, there were listed cases that prevented the marriage, and for divorce, there were essential reasons, and only the mutual desire of the parties was not enough. Parenting is the right of both parents. Special attention is paid to children born out of wedlock.

Norms of inheritance law are given no less attention. The question of the rules of inheritance, as well as the procedure for the entry of inheritance law and its acceptance by heirs is disclosed. In the absence of close relatives, heirs are appointed in accordance with the degree of kinship, which was called "parantella". The first degree is the persons on the descending line, the second degree is the parents with the persons on the descending line, the third degree - the grandmother and the grandfather with the descending ones. The German civil code introduces the distinctive feature of this branch of law. According to him, the surviving spouse was guaranteed hereditary provision.

Thus, the code became the basic normative act, which had a significant impact on the legislation not only of Germany, but also of other states.