The digitalization of German civil justice: from video conference to the basic document within a structuring of the process

Abstract

The German Zivilprozessordnung dates back to 1877. The former Civilprozeßordnung was characterized by the broad autonomy of the parties, reflected in the dispositive principle and the parties’ responsibility for factual allegations and evidence, hearings as procedural tools (with orality, concentration, immediacy, and publicity), as well as the free assessment of evidence. This article descriptively and critically analyzes the particularities of the digitalization of civil justice in Germany, which encompassed not only the use of virtual proceedings, but also the structuring of proceedings based on a foundational document. The empirical research interest focused on an open inquiry into the suitability and practical use of the foundational document. Particular attention was paid to the debates surrounding virtual hearings and the fundamental requirements for safeguarding due process and fair trial guarantees. The study then examines the procedural foundations of the so-called structuring (or design) of proceedings based on a document jointly prepared by the parties and the judge, which would replace the complaint and according to which the structure and planning of the proceedings would be determined, while also serving as the framework for the judge’s decision-making (principle of congruence). The foundational document was positively implemented in pilot projects within civil courts. The qualitative and quantitative empirical data available to date have been optimistic.