Burgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB) - A Commentary on Books 1 to 3 of the German Civil Code

The Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch in the version as from 2 January 2002 is the very backbone of German civil law. Its institutions and principles are essential for the understanding of the law of Europe's major legal systems. 

The article-by-article commentary covers in its first edition books 1 to 3 of the code, i.e. General Part, Law of Obligations, Law of Things, The commentary takes into account all the changes up to 1 January 2018 and provides a consolidated version of the BGB. 

The commentary of each article is headed by the current version of the article both in the German original and and English translation followed by a clearly and uniformly structured analysis of the provision. Focuses are laid on the understanding of the meaning of the provision in the context of the code and the proper use of the terminology both in German and English. As the Meaning of the BGB does not always follow from the wording of its provisions, especially if translated into another language, they need further explanation. Taking into account the origin of the BGB in the 19th century's Germany and the difficulties inherent in any legal translation, the proper use of terminology is the real challenge of the commentary. 

Having faced this challenge, the commentary meets the expectations both of German and foreign lawyers by providing the proper terminology and explanation in English to German lawyers and translators and offering a systematic overview on the BGB to lawyers not so familiar with the German civil law.