Austrian law resources

This is not an attempt to muscle in on Adrian’s territory (he’s in Vienna), just something that came up today. What resources are there for researching Austrian law?

I can recommend a few books, but not much online.

Quoting the ISBNs I have, but the books may be either out of print or in new editions:

The Duden paperback Wie sagt man in Österreich? 1980, 3 411 01794 5 (much less used, my copy, than Wie sagt man in der Schweiz?)

Staatsbürgerkunde und Recht. Arbeitsbuch für höhere und mittlere berufsbildende Schulen, Oberleitner and Hellner, 1994, 3 214 90536 8 – not a dictionary, but it has diagrams and a good index, and is logically set out, and has a few standard documents. I have found terms in it.

The rest are more likely in print:
Russwurm and Schoeller, Österreichisches Rechtswörterbuch, 2nd ed. 3 85131 067 5

Abkürzungs- und Zitierregeln der österreichisches Rechtssprache und europarechtlicher Rechtsquellen, 5th ed. 2001, 3 214 06205 0

Hausmaninger, The Austrian Legal System, 1998, 3 214 00239 2 (Manz – there is a Kluwer ISBN too)There is an Österreichisches Wörterbuch (3 215 12653 2), a one-volume general dictionary, which has very rarely helped me if at all, and there is the Doucet-Fleck Wörterbuch der Rechts- und Wirtschaftssprache, DE>FR, which has more Swiss and Austrian terms in it than any other bilingual dictionary I know, but it obviously helps if you know French. Here are the details quoted from the Aticom site (one of the German translators’ associations – some dictionary reviews on that site).

Doucet/Fleck
Wörterbuch der Rechts- und Wirtschaftssprache
Dictionnaire juridique et économique
Teil 2: de-fr
Verlag C.H. Beck/Vahlen, 80791 München,
6., neubearbeitete und erweiterte Auflage. 2001, rund 850 Seiten
In Leinen DEM 130,- / EUR 67,-, ISBN 3-406-48058-6

Online: http://www.ris.bka.gv.at/ (Bundeskanzleramt, with links to statutes – I quote some of their information in English):

bq. a) Federal law
This database covers Austrian federal law (some 98,5 %). Amendments are incorporated as soon as they are promulgated so that the database always contains the applicable version of a document (one document: 1 section or 1 article or 1 annex). In addition to the applicable version, many norms also offer the opportunity to access previous versions, making it possible for the user to reconstruct the development of the regulation.

bq. b) Federal Law Gazette
This databases contain all issues of the Federal Law Gazette published since 1983 in their original versions (HTML) and also in the PDF-version (which is operated by Wiener Zeitung since 1994). The databases are permanently updated.

bq. c) State law
As a result of the cooperation with the offices of the State (regional) governments, this database contains the law of the following Austrian States:
– Burgenland
– Carinthia
– Lower Austria
– Salzburg
– Styria
– Tyrol
– Upper Austria
– Vienna
– Vorarlberg

Cardiff University has some links, but many of them are dead.

There are more sites, but none looks very promising. I probably won’t find out any more till I have another Austrian term to research.

More suggestions welcomed!

13 thoughts on “Austrian law resources

  1. Many thanks to both of you for the tips. No encroachment, as the mysteries of Austrian law are ‘open to all’.

    For paperbound refs., there is the user-friendly der österreichische Hausjurist, Werner Olscher, Edition Ratgeber and the large-format manual Politische Bildung und Recht, Ausgabe B, öbv et hpt, almost-prescribed öst. Handels-akademie/ ‘International Business College’ reading. It’s published in association with Manzverlag that produces a long list of law titles. Like Jurbooks and Orakel (Skripten), it has a famous law & business bookshop in Vienna City Centre that stocks all Austrian law periodicals.

    The bookshop of the Juridikum law faculty of the Uni. stocks a narrow range – irkesomely mainly of the Faculty’s own lecturers.

    One-off law courses at local ‘Polycolleges’ – equivalent to an Adult Education Centre back in the UK – tend to be undersubscribed and predictably attract, say on the Aus. law of succession, neurotics with a family Will problem.

    One primary source that is the starting point – like the BGB in Germany – is the ABGB: allgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch, one publisher being Goldmann Gesetze and containing lots of other Gesetze, like matrimonial and consumer, but not company and tax. Often, just typing in the German name of the statute, say on Google, will pull it up.

  2. Die URL, ansonsten sehr zuverlässig, scheint heute (AUSGERECHNET!)nicht zu funktionieren. Gestern abend habe ich nach Austria gesucht und mehrere 100 Ergebnisse gefunden.

  3. Thanks, Adrian. I remember the Manz bookshop and nearly gave the Manz Verlag link. There’s also Schulthess Verlag in Switzerland. I will blog these at a later date. Thanks for the book references – there’s so little around you never know when one will help. You remind me I need the ABGB. I remember the HGD is more or less the same – I think it was introduced by Hitler.

  4. Vielen Dank, Herr Langenhan. Dann vermute ich, dass die Suche heute nicht in Ordnung war. Ich probiere es, wenn ich das nächste Mal was zu Österreich blogge – ich will etwas zur Übersetzung der Gerichtsnamen schreiben, heute oder morgen.

  5. Many thanks for that cornucopia. I have entered them at the end of the second entry on Austrian law resources (requires clicking on ‘Continue reading…’)

    The Amtsdeutsch might be particularly useful. I also have a huge Austrian-German glossary that is issued to translators at the European Court of Justice – not the fruit-and-vegetable list, but a lot of formal vocabulary. Unfortunately it doesn’t respond well to the scanner. I suppose it is only for internal use and it would be a breach of copyright to reveal it, but I wish I had it in a more easily usable form.

  6. You are probably right about the ABGB. Mind you, if one actually has to deal with a text frequently, the online version is not the best solution.

    Both Herr Langenhan and Herr Greil have pointed me to the Bundeskanzleramt site. That is usually the first one I go to, and I did quote it at some length myself. However, to see that, you need to click ‘Continue reading…’ This is in case you think I didn’t mention it.

  7. Hallo Klaus, wie gehts dir – ich glaube nicht, dass Rainer Langenhan ganz so abfällig über Aticom schreiben wollte, sondern das Link führte tatsächlich ins Leere und ist von mir später korrigiert worden. Ich werde dieses nächstens ändern – danke für den Hinweis. [Korrigiert MM, 13. August 2003)

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