There is an Austrian interpreters’ association, Österreichischer Verband der Allgemein Beeideten und Gerichtlich Zertifizierten Dolmetscher, that issues a lot of printed materials on law. Here is a list.
They have Einführung in die Grundbegriffe des englischen Rechtssystems (an introduction to basic terminology of the English legal system), and similar documents for the USA, France, Spain, Italy, Japan and Turkey.

I am told the Spanish one is out of date. The English document just briefly describes the courts, with a note on the system of precedents.
Unforunately, the materials can’t be inspected before purchase.

What is quite interesting is Handbuch für Gerichtsdolmetscher: Einführung in die Terminologie des Prozeßrechts, Zivilrechts und Strafrechts in Österreich. The materials on the Austrian system in general are of interest. They are all sent as unbound packs of printed pages.

Here is a link to the Österreichischer Übersetzer- und Dolmetscherverband, Universitas. Continue reading →

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) Continue reading →

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) Continue reading →

It’s very hot at the moment. Here are three pictures of the Ehekarussell or Hans-Sachs-Brunnen in Nuremberg, by Jürgen Weber, showing different stages of marriage. Photos taken on July 9th.

Here are some more pictures and part of the text of Hans Sachs’ poem.

The poem is called ‘Das bittersüße eheliche Leben’ – Bittersweet Married Life (dated 1541). There’s a complete version here – scroll down (in German).

Gott sei gelobet und geehrt
der mir ein frumb Weib hat beschert
Mir der ich zwei und zweinzig Jahr
gehaust hab, Gott gab länger gar
Wiewohl sich in mein ehlig Leben
had Süß und Saures oft begeben

God be praised and honoured
who has given me a god-fearing wife
with whom I have lived for twenty-two years
God gave me (?) even longer
Although in my married life
both sweet and sour have often happened

‘My wife’ is heaven and hell, devil and angel, peace and strife.

It’s very hot at the moment. Here are three pictures of the Ehekarussell or Hans-Sachs-Brunnen in Nuremberg, by Jürgen Weber, showing different stages of marriage. Photos taken on July 9th.

Here are some more pictures and part of the text of Hans Sachs’ poem.

The poem is called ‘Das bittersüße eheliche Leben’ – Bittersweet Married Life (dated 1541). There’s a complete version here – scroll down (in German).

Gott sei gelobet und geehrt
der mir ein frumb Weib hat beschert
Mir der ich zwei und zweinzig Jahr
gehaust hab, Gott gab länger gar
Wiewohl sich in mein ehlig Leben
had Süß und Saures oft begeben

God be praised and honoured
who has given me a god-fearing wife
with whom I have lived for twenty-two years
God gave me (?) even longer
Although in my married life
both sweet and sour have often happened

‘My wife’ is heaven and hell, devil and angel, peace and strife.

Tag der offenen Tür bei der Justiz Nürnberg am 16. Juli 2003
Open day at the courts of justice in Nüremberg on 16 July 2003

Programme is on the courts’ website. All in German (the event as well as the description of it).

At higher levels on that site you can find a glossary of law terms, details of when you can visit the courtroom where the War Crimes Trials were held, details of past and current cases and more. I can’t get proper links – I have a feeling they use frames.

It is Woche der Justiz – Week of the Courts – in Bavaria next week (14 – 18 July 2003).

This is the third time it’s been held, I think. I went to the first. A talk by someone from the US Army on differences in U.S. and German criminal trials was good (it’s on this year’s programme too). Another talk, by a German lawyer, had been wrongly advertised in the paper and so we got the wrong one. As I recall it was about the law of succession. It was very elementary. The discussion period was monopolized by people apparently trying to get legal advice on current problems with other family members. It was interesting to sit in a van used for transporting prisoners. I got some free commentaries to statutes that were a couple of years old, that the library was throwing out.
(You can buy such Dubletten – double copies, actually usually old copies – from the Bundesgerichtshof – click on Bibliothek, Dublettenangebote, Aktuelle Angebote – haven’t compared their prices with e-bay).

The whole programme to print out is here.