negligence

noun · Fahrlässigkeit

Fahrlässigkeit for the grade of fault, objectively measured, § 276 Abs. 2 BGB. But negligence also names a tort, and there the twin ends, German law has no Fahrlässigkeitsklage, the claim runs on § 823 BGB and its list of protected interests, with pure economic loss standing outside the door.

Which translation, when

Fahrlässigkeitthe fault standard, § 276 Abs. 2 BGB, wer die im Verkehr erforderliche Sorgfalt außer Acht lässt, an objective measure. Right wherever negligence grades fault, einfache or grobe Fahrlässigkeit.

unerlaubte Handlungthe cause of action, where negligence names the tort itself. The German route is § 823 BGB, built on enumerated protected interests, not on a general duty of care.

Why

Negligence does double duty in English, it grades fault and it names a tort, and German gives each job to a different institution. As a fault grade the match is close, § 276 Abs. 2 BGB defines Fahrlässigkeit objectively, the care the situation demands, and the grades carry weight in drafting because liability limits stop at them, § 309 Nr. 7 BGB polices exclusions in standard terms, injury to life, body and health and grob fault cannot be signed away there. As a cause of action the match breaks, English negligence rests on a general duty of care, German Deliktsrecht never adopted one, § 823 Abs. 1 BGB protects a list, life, body, health, freedom, property and other absolute rights, and Vermögen is not on it, pure economic loss needs another door, a protective statute via § 823 Abs. 2 BGB, § 826 BGB or contract. So a claim in negligence has no German twin called Fahrlässigkeitsklage, the pleading runs on § 823 BGB and must name the protected interest it invokes, and a translation that promises otherwise promises a claim German law will not recognise.

Typical mistakes

Klage aus Fahrlässigkeit is not a German cause of action, the claim rests on § 823 BGB or on contract, Fahrlässigkeit is the grade of fault inside those claims, not a claim of its own.
Vermögen is missing from the list, § 823 Abs. 1 BGB does not protect pure economic loss, the doors are § 823 Abs. 2 BGB with a protective statute, § 826 BGB and contract, and a translated negligence claim for money losses should not be assumed to cross intact.
Grobe Fahrlässigkeit is the load-bearing grade, exclusions in standard terms stop at it, § 309 Nr. 7 BGB, so a limitation clause that ignores the einfache-grobe line has ignored the wall it will be tested against.

What matters

Exclusion clauses put the grades to work: liability for negligence is excluded survives German standard terms only inside the walls of § 309 Nr. 7 BGB, gross fault and injury to life, body or health stay in, and even an individually negotiated deal cannot shed intent, § 276 Abs. 3 BGB. The German version must therefore say which Fahrlässigkeit it means, einfache oder grobe, the English word alone does not carry the line the German test is drawn along.

Authority

§ 276 Abs. 2 BGB
§ 276 Abs. 3 BGB
§ 823 Abs. 1 BGB
§ 823 Abs. 2 BGB
§ 826 BGB
§ 309 Nr. 7 BGB

What the machine misses

Negligence itself the engines translate well, Fahrlässigkeit is nearly always right, though looser prose sometimes slips to Nachlässigkeit, the everyday word for sloppiness. The failure sits one level up, a claim in negligence becomes eine Klage aus Fahrlässigkeit, a cause of action German law does not have, and the pleading-level decision, § 823 and its list of protected interests, is exactly what no word-for-word output can make.

Examples

simple negligence	einfache Fahrlässigkeit
gross negligence	grobe Fahrlässigkeit
a claim in negligence	ein Anspruch aus unerlaubter Handlung
negligence or wilful misconduct	Fahrlässigkeit oder Vorsatz