enforcement
noun · Zwangsvollstreckung
Zwangsvollstreckung for enforcing a civil judgment, Vollstreckbarerklärung for making a foreign one enforceable, and Durchsetzung for the general act of enforcing a right. The system needs a Titel, a Klausel and Zustellung before anything moves, § 750 ZPO, so to enforce is never a single step in German procedure.
Which translation, when
Why
Enforcement is a whole chapter in German, not a verb. Civil execution is die Zwangsvollstreckung, §§ 704 ff. ZPO, and it will not start without three things, ein Titel, the enforceable instrument, eine Vollstreckungsklausel, the court’s executory formula, and Zustellung, service on the debtor, § 750 Abs. 1 ZPO, so to enforce always unpacks into that sequence. The tools differ by asset, movables through the Gerichtsvollzieher, § 808 ZPO, receivables and bank accounts by a Pfändungs- und Überweisungsbeschluss, § 829 ZPO, immovables by mortgage, forced administration or forced sale under the ZVG. Cross-border, the word splits again, the old Vollstreckbarerklärung, the exequatur, still governs titles from outside the EU, while within it the Brussels Ia Regulation makes a member-state judgment directly enforceable without that step, so translating enforcement as if exequatur were always required overstates the hurdle for EU titles. Regulatory enforcement is a different animal, the authority’s action against breaches, and there enforcement is behördliche Durchsetzung or Vollzug, not Zwangsvollstreckung, so the civil term must not colonise the administrative one.
Typical mistakes
- Zwangsvollstreckung needs its trinity, § 750 Abs. 1 ZPO wants Titel, Klausel und Zustellung before anything is seized, so translating to enforce as a one-step act hides the sequence German procedure requires.
- Enforcement of an EU judgment is not the old exequatur, Brussels Ia makes it directly enforceable, so Vollstreckbarerklärung for a member-state title overstates the step, that word belongs to titles from outside the EU.
- Regulatory enforcement is behördliche Durchsetzung or Vollzug, not Zwangsvollstreckung, so the civil-execution word must not be used for an authority acting against breaches.
What matters
Judgment-enforcement letters unpack the single English verb: to enforce the judgment is die Zwangsvollstreckung betreiben, and it presupposes Titel, Klausel und Zustellung, § 750 ZPO, then a Pfändungs- und Überweisungsbeschluss for the bank account, § 829 ZPO. For an EU judgment no Vollstreckbarerklärung is needed, Brussels Ia carries it, and the letter demanding exequatur has invented a hurdle the Regulation removed.
What the machine misses
Enforcement collapses into one word in machine output where German keeps three, Zwangsvollstreckung for civil execution, Vollstreckbarerklärung for the foreign-title step, Durchsetzung for enforcing a right in general. The procedural trinity vanishes with the collapse, no Titel, Klausel or Zustellung in sight, § 750 ZPO, and the translated instruction to enforce reads as a single act where German law runs a sequenced, document-driven chapter.
Examples
| enforcement of the judgment | die Zwangsvollstreckung aus dem Urteil |
| enforceable title | der Vollstreckungstitel |
| attachment of earnings | die Lohnpfändung |
| to enforce a claim | einen Anspruch durchsetzen |
More notes on these sections
title Eigentum
execution Unterzeichnung
settlement Vergleich