1. Statutes: The symbol § (denoting ‘Paragraph’) is the equivalent of a section in an English statute. A sub-paragraph (Absatz) will be indicated by brackets. In some cases, a sub-paragraph is further divided and this will be indicated by ‘n.’ for ‘number’ (Nummer).

A full list of abbreviations of statutes can be found in the Table of abbreviations.

2. Cases: Cases in Germany do not normally have case names. They are instead cited by giving the court, the date of the decision, the court file number (optional), and one or several case reports. Law journals in Germany also function as case reports. Where, exceptionally, a case is known by a name, that name will be added in brackets.

In the footnotes of this book, German cases are cited by reference to the official case reports ‘BGHZ’ (where applicable) and to the ‘Neue Juristische Wochenschrift’ (NJW, perhaps the most widely read law journal in Germany). References to the ‘Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht’ (ZIP) or any other law journal are only given if a case has been reported neither in BGHZ nor in NJW. Further references are given in the table of cases.