1896de Book2 Chapter07 Title08

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 II. Law of Obligations.

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Chapter VII. Particular Kinds of Obligations.

Title VIII. Brokerage.

Section 652.

• [I] A person who promises a broker's fee for information of the opportunity of making a contract or for the procurement of a contract, is bound to pay the fee only if the contract is concluded in consequence of the information, or in consequence of the procurement by the broker. If the contract is concluded subject to a condition precedent, the broker's fee may not be demanded until the condition is fulfilled.
• [II] The broker is entitled to be reimbursed for outlay incurred only if this has been agreed upon. This applies even if a contract is not concluded.

Section 653.

• [I] A broker's fee is deemed to have been tacitly agreed upon if the business entrusted to the broker is, under the circumstances, only to be expected for remuneration.
• [II] If the amount of the remuneration is not specified, and if there is a tariff, the tariff fee, or in the absence of a tariff, the usual fee, is deemed to have been agreed upon.

Section 654.

• The claim for the broker's fee and for reimbursement of outlay is barred if the broker, contrary to the terms of the contract, has acted also for the other party.

Section 655.

• If, for information of the opportunity to enter into a contract for service or for the procurement of such a contract, a disproportionately high fee has been agreed upon, it may be reduced. employer, unlike a purchaser (462), cannot immediately demand cancellation or reduction, but can, in the first instance, only demand removal of the defect under 463 et seq. to a reasonable amount by judicial decree obtained by the debtor. After payment of the fee, the right to claim reduction is barred.

Section 656.

• [I] No obligation is created by the promise of a fee for information of an opportunity to enter into a marriage, or for the procurement of the conclusion of a marriage. What has been paid on account of the promise may not be demanded back by reason of no obligation having existed.
• [II] These provisions apply also to an agreement whereby the other party, for the purpose of fulfilment of the promise, enters into an obligation towards the broker, e.g., an acknowledgment of debt.