defendant
noun · Beklagter
Beklagter in the civil action, Angeklagter only in the criminal dock. English uses defendant across the divide, German never does, and a machine that writes Angeklagter in a contract dispute has, in one word, accused the counterparty of a crime.
Which translation, when
Why
English carries one defendant across the whole courthouse, German splits the building at the front door. The civil party is der Beklagte, named as such in the Klageschrift, § 253 Abs. 2 Nr. 1 ZPO, and the word carries no moral load. The criminal side is graded with a precision the presumption of innocence explains, the Beschuldigte of the investigation becomes the Angeschuldigte when charges are filed and the Angeklagte only when the court opens the Hauptverfahren, § 157 StPO, each step a legal event, not a synonym. Interim and arbitral procedure add their own words, the respondent to an application is der Antragsgegner, the arbitration respondent der Schiedsbeklagte. So defendant translates by courtroom, and the machine’s Angeklagter in a civil pleading is not a stylistic slip, it moves the counterparty into the dock, a promotion its lawyers will not read as translation error alone.
Typical mistakes
- Angeklagter in civil papers is an accusation, not a translation, the civil party is der Beklagte, and the slip lands defamation-adjacent in a letter the other side’s lawyers will keep.
- The criminal ladder is graded, Beschuldigter, Angeschuldigter, Angeklagter, § 157 StPO, and flattening the steps misstates how far the case has actually come.
- Respondents have their own words, der Antragsgegner in interim proceedings, der Schiedsbeklagte in arbitration, and Beklagter there mislabels the procedure.
What matters
Translated statements of defence carry the risk in the caption: the defendant denies the claim must read der Beklagte, and the machine’s der Angeklagte bestreitet die Forderung turns a payment dispute into a criminal trial in the first line. The German reader corrects it silently and remembers who sent the document.
What the machine misses
Defendant swings between Beklagter and Angeklagter in machine output, and the second is not a synonym, it is a criminal accusation. German splits the courthouse down the middle and grades the criminal side step by step, so the translated statement of defence that names an Angeklagter has moved the dispute into the dock, a promotion the counterparty’s lawyers will read twice.
Examples
| the defendant | der Beklagte |
| the defendant in the criminal trial | der Angeklagte |
| the respondent | der Antragsgegner |
| claimant and defendant | Kläger und Beklagter |