Law

To balance the competing interests of creditors and debtors and to reduce potential hardship caused by the general statute of limitations for civil claims in German law (§§ 195, 199 German Civil Code), the courts have introduced a reasonableness test. The statute of limitations only begins if the creditor can reasonably be expected to sue the debtor to enforce his or her claim. In this thesis, the author examines and systemizes the intricate case law that has developed around this notion of reasonableness in the law of limitations.

This volume brings together contributions in honor of Wolfgang Ernst on the occasion of his 70th birthday. It addresses topics from all periods of European legal history and from numerous legal systems, with a particular focus on private law.

The recognition of rights of nature shapes environmental law debates worldwide. Its weaknesses emerge in balancing species and climate protection during renewable energy expansion. Collective actions by associations (Verbandsklagen) offer a more coherent alternative.

Vladyslav Rak analyzes the causes of the shift in the Federal Constitutional Court's understanding of the free democratic basic order in 2017. He attributes this shift to a changed semantic content of fundamental concepts of state theory that has emerged over the course of the past decades.