Book1 Chapter05

GERMAN CIVIL CODE OF 1896

• Based on the English Translation by: Wang, Chung Hui (1907). The German Civil Code, translated and annotated with historical introduction and appendices. London: Stevens and Sons. [available on Archive.org]

BOOK I. General Principles.

Chapter V. Prescriptions.

Section 194.

• [I] The right to demand an act or forbearance from another (i.e., a claim) is subject to prescription.
• [II] A claim arising from a relation of family law is not subject to prescription, so far as it has for its object the establishment for the future of the condition proper to the relation.

Section 195.

• The regular period of prescription is thirty years.

Section 196.

• [I] The period of prescription is two years for the following claims:
• (1) Claims of merchants, manufacturers, artisans and those who practise industrial arts, for delivery of goods, performance of work and care of others' affairs, including disbursements, unless the service is rendered for the carrying on of an industry conducted by the debtor;
• (2) Claims of those whose industry is agriculture or forestry, for delivery of agricultural or forest products, so far as the delivery is for the domestic use of the debtor;
• (3) Claims of carriers by railroad, freighters, boatmen, cab-drivers and messengers, for fare, freight, hire, and fees, including disbursements;
• (4) Claims of innkeepers and those who make a business of providing food and drink, for supplying lodging and food or for other services rendered to the guests to satisfy their needs, including disbursements;
• (5) Claims of those who sell lottery tickets, for the sale of the tickets, unless the tickets are delivered for further sale;
• (6) Claims of those who make a business of letting moveables under an ordinary lease, for the rent;
• (7) Claims of those who, without belonging to the classes specified in (1), make a business of the care of others' affairs or the rendering of services, for the compensation due to them from the business, including disbursements;
• (8) Claims of those who are in private service, for the wages, pay, or other remuneration for service, including disbursements; also claims of the employers for advances made upon such claims;
• (9) Claims of workmen -- journeymen, assistants, apprentices, factory hands -- day labourers and artisans, for the wages and other allowances agreed upon in lieu of or as part of the wages, including disbursements; also claims of the employers for advances made upon such claims;
• (10) Claims of masters of apprentices, for the premium and other services agreed upon in the contract of apprenticeship and for disbursements made on behalf of the apprentices;
• (11) Claims of public institutions for instruction, education, maintenance or care of the sick, and of proprietors of private institutions of such kind for providing instruction, maintenance or care of the sick, and for any outlay connected therewith;
• (12) Claims of those who receive persons to be maintained or educated, for services and outlay of the kind specified in (11);
• (13) Claims of public and private teachers, for their fees, not, however, the claims of public teachers if they have been deferred in accordance with special arrangements;
• (14) Claims of medical practitioners, including surgeons, accoucheurs, dentists and veterinary surgeons; and claims of midwives, for their services, including disbursements;
• (15) Claims of attorneys, notaries and bailiffs as well as of all persons who are publicly appointed or admitted for the conduct of certain affairs, for their fees and disbursements, 80 far as these do not go into the public treasury;
• (16) Claims of parties to an action, for advances made to their attorney;
• (17) Claims of witnesses and experts, for their fees and disbursements.
• [II] So far as the claims specified in par. 1 (1), (2) and (5) are not subject to prescription in two years, the period is four years.

Section 197.

• The period of prescription is four years for claims to arrears of interest, including the sums payable in addition to interest for the purpose of paying off the principal by instalments; for claims for arrears of rent under ordinary and usufructuary leases, so far as they are not provided for by 196, par. 1; and for claims for arrears of annuities, recurrent acts of performance stipulated for in the transfer of a farm, salaries, pay for engagements pending vacancies, pensions, allowances for maintenance, and all other periodical payments.

Section 198.

• Prescription begins to run from the moment when the claim comes into being. If the claim is to a forbearance, the prescription begins to run from the moment when the right is first contravened.

Section 199.

• If an obligee may not demand performance until he has given notice to the obligor, the prescription begins to run from the moment when notice can first be given. If the obligor does not have to perform until a given period has elapsed since the notice, the prescription does not begin to run until the expiration of this period.

Section 200.

• If the arising of a claim depends upon the obligee's making use of a right of avoidance, the prescription begins to run from the moment at which the avoidance is first permissible. This does not apply, however, if the avoidance affects a relation of family law.

Section 201.

• The prescription of the claims specified in 196, 197 begins to run from the close of the year in which the decisive point of time as provided for by 198 to 200 arrives. If the performance cannot be demanded until after the expiration of a period extending beyond this point of time, the prescription begins to run from the close of the year in which the period expires.

Section 202.

• [I] Prescription is suspended so long as the performance is stayed or the obligor is temporarily entitled on any other ground to refuse performance.
• [II] This provision does not apply to the pleas of right of lien, of unperformed contract, of absence of security, or of beneficium excussionts, nor to the pleas available to a surety as provided for by 770 and to an heir as provided for by 2014, 2015.

Section 203.

• [I] Prescription is suspended so long as the obligee is prevented from enforcing his right by the cessation of the administration of justice within the last six months of the period of prescription.
• [II] The same rule applies if such prevention is brought about in any other manner by vis major.

Section 204.

• The prescription of claims between spouses is suspended so long as the marriage continues. The same rule applies to claims between parents and children during the minority of the children, and to claims between guardian and ward during the continuance of the guardianship.

Section 205.

• The period during which prescription is suspended is not reckoned in the period of prescription.

Section 206.

• [I] If a person incapable of disposing or limited in disposing capacity has no statutory agent, a prescription running against him is not complete before the expiration of six months after the time at which the person becomes capable of disposing without limitation or the want of a statutory agent ceases. If the period of prescription is shorter than six months, the period fixed for the prescription is substituted for the six months.
• [II] These provisions do not apply where a person limited in disposing capacity is capable of suing and being sued.

Section 207.

• The prescription of a claim belonging to an estate or running against an estate is not complete before the expiration of six months after the time at which the inheritance is accepted by the heir, or bankruptcy proceedings are instituted against the estate, or from which a claim of an agent or against an agent may be enforced. If the period of prescription is shorter than six months, the period fixed for the Prescription 1 is substituted for the six months.

Section 208.

• Prescription is interrupted if the obligor acknowledges the claim towards the obligee by part payment, payment of interest, giving of security, or in any other manner.

Section 209.

• [I] Prescription is interrupted if the obligee brings an action for satisfaction, or for acknowledgment of the claim, for award of an order for execution, or for issue of a judicial decree for the enforcement of a foreign judgment.
• [II] The following are equivalent to bringing an action:--
• (1) The service of an order for payment in hortatory process;
• (2) The presentation of the claim in bankruptcy proceedings;
• (3) The pleading of a set-off to the claim in legal process;
• (4) The notice of intention to contest the process upon the result of which the claim depends;
• (5) The institution of proceedings in execution, and where the compulsory execution is in the hands of the Courts or other public authorities, the presentation of the application for compulsory execution.

Section 210.

• If the leave to institute legal proceedings depends upon a prior decision of a public authority, or if the designation of the competent Court is required to be made by a higher Court, the prescription is interrupted by the presentation of a petition to the public authority or the higher Court in the same manner as by bringing action, if the action is brought within three months after the answer to the petition is given. The provisions of 203, 206, 207 apply mutatis mutandis to such period.

Section 211.

• [I] Interruption by bringing action continues until the case is decided or otherwise disposed of without any right of appeal.
• [II] If the process is suspended in consequence of an agreement or because it is not prosecuted, the interruption ends with the last step in the process taken by the parties or the Court. The new prescription beginning after the termination of the interruption is interrupted by further prosecution of the process by one of the parties in the same manner as by bringing action.

Section 212.

• [I] Bringing action is deemed to be no interruption if the action is withdrawn or dismissed by a non-appellable decree not deciding the principal matter.
• [II] If the obligee brings action anew within six months, the prescription is deemed to have been interrupted by the bringing of the first action. The provisions of 203, 206, 207 apply mutatis mutandis to such period.

Section 213.

• Service of an order for payment in hortatory process is deemed to be no interruption, if the effects of commencement of action become extinguished.

Section 214.

• [I] Interruption by presentation in bankruptcy proceedings continues until the proceedings are ended.
• [II] If the presentation is withdrawn, it is deemed to have been no interruption.
• [III] If, on the termination of the proceedings, a sum is held back for a claim which is in dispute in consequence of a protest raised at the examination, the interruption continues even after the termination of the proceedings; the end of the interruption is determined according to the provisions of 211.

Section 215.

• [I] Interruption by pleading set-off in legal process or by notice of intention to contest continues until the process is decided or otherwise disposed of without any right of appeal; the provisions of 211, par. 2, apply.
• [II] The interruption is deemed not to have taken place if, within six months after the termination of the process, action be not brought for satisfaction or establishment of the claim. The provisions of 203, 206, 207 apply mutatis mutandis to such period.

Section 216.

• [I] Institution of proceedings in execution is deemed to be no interruption, if the proceedings are discontinued upon the application of the obligee, or on account of the non-fulfilment of the statutory conditions.
• [II] Presentation of application for compulsory execution is deemed to be no interruption, if the application is not allowed, or the application is withdrawn before the institution of proceedings in execution, or the proceedings already taken are discontinued as in par. 1.

Section 217.

• If prescription is interrupted the time elapsed before the interruption is not taken into consideration; a new prescription may not begin before the termination of the interruption.

Section 218.

• [I] A claim established by a non-appellable judgment is barred by prescription in thirty years, even if it is itself subject to a shorter period of prescription. The same rule applies to a claim arising from an executory compromise or an executory deed, and to a claim becoming executory through settlement in bankruptcy proceedings.
• [II] In so far as the settlement relates to periodical payments becoming due only in the future, the shorter period of prescription is sufficient.

Section 219.

• A non-appellable decision within the meaning of 211, par. 1, and 218, par. 1, includes also a non-appellable judgment issued under reservation.

Section 220.

• [I] If a claim is required to be enforced before a Court of arbitration or a special tribunal, before an administrative Court or an administrative authority, the provisions of 209 to 213, 215, 216, 218, 219, apply mutatis mutandis.
• [II] If the arbitrators are not nominated in the agreement as to arbitration, or if the nomination of an arbitrator is necessary for any other reason, or if the Court of arbitration cannot be invoked until after the fulfilment of some other condition, the prescription is already interrupted by the obligee taking the steps necessary on his part for the settlement of the matter.

Section 221.

• If a thing with regard to which a claim ad rem exists comes by succession in title into the possession of a third party, the time of prescription elapsed during the possession by the predecessor in title is reckoned in favour of the successor in title.

Section 222.

• [I] After the lapse of the period of prescription the obligor is entitled to refuse performance.
• [II] If any act of performance is done in satisfaction of a claim barred by prescription, the value of such performance may not be demanded back, even if the performance has been effected in ignorance of the prescription. The same rule applies to a contractual acknowledgment of liability and to the giving of security by the obligor.

Section 223.

• [I] The prescription of a claim for which there is a hypotheca or a right of pledge does not prevent the obligee from satisfying himself out of the object in custody.
• [II] If a right has been transferred to secure a claim, its re-transfer may not be demanded on the ground of the prescription of the claim.
• [III] These provisions do not apply to the case of prescription of claims for arrears of interest, or other periodical acts of performance.

Section 224.

• With the principal claim the claims for accessory acts of performance dependent upon it are also barred by prescription, even if the particular prescription applying to the accessory claim is not yet complete.

Section 225.

• Prescription may neither be excluded nor made more onerous by juristic act. Prescription may be facilitated, especially by shortening the period of prescription.