Privatrechtsordnung

Privatrechtsordnung, or private-law order, refers to the system of rules that govern legal relationships between private individuals and private entities within a jurisdiction. It covers civil-law subjects such as contracts, delict (tort), property, family, and inheritance, as well as private international law and the rules for resolving disputes in civil courts. In a civil-law tradition, the private-law order is typically codified and designed to provide predictability and access to justice through clearly enacted norms.

In Germany, the Privatrechtsordnung is largely codified in the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB), the central civil code that consolidates core private-law areas into five books: general part, obligations, property and property rights, family, and inheritance. The BGB is complemented by the Einführungsgesetz zum Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuche (EGBGB), which contains transitional provisions and private international law, and by additional statutes addressing specific private-law topics such as tenancy, contract law, and corporate law. Civil procedure for private disputes is governed by the Zivilprozessordnung (ZPO). The private-law framework interacts with European Union law and constitutional principles, shaping harmonization and interpretation.

Outside Germany, similar codified systems exist in other German-speaking countries, notably Austria (Allgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch) and Switzerland (Schweizerisches Zivilgesetzbuch and the Swiss Code of Obligations). While each jurisdiction has its own textual details, the Privatrechtsordnung in these systems shares a common aim: to regulate private rights and obligations, facilitate private autonomy, and provide remedies for infringements under a coherent, publicly enacted legal structure.