pleading
noun · Schriftsatz
Schriftsatz for the written pleading exchanged between the parties, the Klageschrift opening the case, § 253 ZPO, but the German pleading standard differs, the Substantiierungslast demands specific factual assertions, § 138 ZPO, not the outline of English notice pleading. Pleading rendered without the substantiation duty understates what a German Schriftsatz must actually contain.
Which translation, when
Why
Pleadings are the formal written statements by which parties set out their cases, and German has the documents but a different standard for filling them. The opening pleading is die Klageschrift, § 253 ZPO, with its required contents, the answer die Klageerwiderung, and the general word for any such filing is der Schriftsatz. What differs is how much they must say, German procedure imposes a Substantiierungslast, the duty to assert the concrete facts on which a claim or defence rests, § 138 ZPO requiring complete and truthful factual statements, so a bare or formulaic pleading that might pass as English notice pleading can fail as unsubstantiated in German litigation. The pleadings also define the dispute more tightly, since there is no discovery to fill gaps later, the facts must largely be pleaded up front. So pleading translated only as a document misses the standard, and the reflex Plädoyer is a different thing again, the closing oral argument, not the written pleading, so pleading rendered as Plädoyer moves a written filing into the courtroom speech. Pleading is reconstructed as the specific written Schriftsatz with its substantiation duty, never as the advocate’s address.
Typical mistakes
- The German pleading carries a Substantiierungslast, § 138 ZPO wants the concrete facts asserted, so a pleading rendered as a bare outline understates what a Schriftsatz must contain, and an unsubstantiated one can fail.
- Plädoyer is the closing oral argument, not the written pleading, so rendering pleading as Plädoyer moves a filed document into a courtroom speech.
- The opening pleading is die Klageschrift with statutory contents, § 253 ZPO, so a statement of claim must meet the form the provision sets, not merely announce a claim.
What matters
Litigation drafting meets a higher bar: a German Klageschrift must assert the concrete supporting facts under the Substantiierungslast, § 253 ZPO, § 138 ZPO, since no later discovery will fill the gaps. The pleading modelled on an English outline has risked failing as unsubstantiated in a system that expects the facts up front.
What the machine misses
Pleading comes back as Plädoyer or a flat Schriftsatz in machine output, and both miss something, Plädoyer is the closing speech and not a written filing, and even the right Schriftsatz hides the German standard, the Substantiierungslast that demands the concrete facts be pleaded, § 138 ZPO. So a translated pleading can look like an English outline when a German Schriftsatz must assert its supporting facts up front, since no discovery will supply them later, and the filing understates what it has to prove.
Examples
| statement of claim | die Klageschrift |
| defence | die Klageerwiderung |
| to file a pleading | einen Schriftsatz einreichen |
| the pleadings | die Schriftsätze |
More notes on these sections
defendant Beklagter
discovery Urkundenvorlegung