Rechtsprechen

Rechtsprechen is a German legal verb phrase that means to render a judicial decision or to declare a party’s right in a dispute. In usage, it often appears as das Gericht spricht dem Kläger Recht or der Richter spricht dem Angeklagten Recht. The nuance is that rechtsprechen can indicate recognizing or vindicating a plaintiff’s or defendant’s legal claim, or more broadly applying the law to conclude who has the right in a dispute. The more general term for the body of court-made law is Rechtsprechung (jurisprudence), while rechtsprechen refers to the act of issuing a ruling.

In civil and criminal procedure, judges decide cases by applying statutes and legal principles. Depending on jurisdiction, higher court decisions may establish binding jurisprudence for similar cases, while decisions of lower courts are typically persuasive. In German-speaking systems the principle of stare decisis is less formalized than in common-law systems, but the rulings of the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice) and other high courts guide subsequent rulings.

The expression also appears in phrases like j-m Recht sprechen, meaning to recognize someone's rights or to vindicate their claim, and is distinct from recht geben, which means to agree with or side with someone. Related terms include Urteil (judgment) and Rechtsprechung (case law).