bail
noun · Haftverschonung
Haftverschonung for release from remand, die Kaution for the security deposit, and the two are not the same act, § 116 StPO suspends the arrest warrant against conditions of which a Sicherheitsleistung is only one, § 116a StPO. Auf Kaution freigelassen imports a money-centred bail system German remand law does not share.
Which translation, when
Why
English bail centres on money, German remand centres on necessity and proportionality, and the mistranslation imports the wrong centre of gravity. Untersuchungshaft requires a Haftgrund, flight, risk of flight or collusion under § 112 StPO, repeat-offence risk under § 112a StPO, and even then the Verhältnismäßigkeit check can forbid it. Release is die Haftverschonung, § 116 StPO, the Haftbefehl suspended against Auflagen, reporting to the police, residence conditions, surrender of the passport, or a Sicherheitsleistung, § 116a StPO, so security is one tool on a list, not the essence of the act. That is why auf Kaution is a false centre, most suspensions run on reporting and residence, not cash, and the money version overstates how financial the German system is. The vocabulary has no clean equivalent for bailed police-station release either, the German pre-charge liberty runs on the rule that a provisional detainee is brought before a judge by the day after the arrest, Art. 104 Abs. 3 GG, § 128 StPO, a different architecture. And bail as the everyday verb, to bail someone out, is colloquial auslösen or figurative, never the remand institution, so the register must be read before the word is chosen.
Typical mistakes
- Auf Kaution freigelassen makes money the point, the act is die Haftverschonung, § 116 StPO, and a Sicherheitsleistung is only one possible condition, § 116a StPO, often replaced by reporting and residence.
- Bail is not a right to buy freedom, remand itself needs a Haftgrund and passes a proportionality test, §§ 112, 112a StPO, so translating bail as a cash gate misdescribes where German law sets the threshold.
- To bail someone out in the everyday sense is auslösen or figurative, not the remand institution, so the colloquial verb and die Haftverschonung must not merge.
What matters
Extradition and remand notes turn on the centre of gravity: released on bail is unter Auflagen von der Untersuchungshaft verschont, § 116 StPO, the conditions typically reporting and residence, a Sicherheitsleistung only where ordered, § 116a StPO. Auf Kaution freigelassen tells the German reader a cash story the file may not contain, and overstates how financial the release really was.
What the machine misses
Bail arrives centred on Kaution in machine output, money made the essence, and German remand law suspends detention on conditions of which security is only one, reporting and residence doing most of the work. The system underneath differs at the root, Untersuchungshaft needs a ground and a proportionality check, so the translated cash-bail story misplaces both the mechanism and the threshold the German file actually applies.
Examples
| released on bail | unter Auflagen von der Haft verschont |
| bail conditions | die Auflagen |
| bail was set at | die Sicherheitsleistung wurde festgesetzt auf |
| to remand in custody | in Untersuchungshaft nehmen |
More notes on these sections
custody Sorgerecht