Zivilprozessordnung (ZPO) is the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n code of

civil procedure Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or case may be commenced; what kin ...

. It was drafted in 1895 by Franz Klein, and superseded the Josephinian Common Court Regulations (Allgemeine Gerichtsordnung (AGO)) of 1781.

Principles

The Austrian litigious proceedings (Streitiges Verfahren) are governed by the following principles: *

Orality Orality is thought and verbal expression in societies where the technologies of literacy (especially writing and print) are unfamiliar to most of the population. The study of orality is closely allied to the study of oral tradition. The term "oral ...

and publicity (Grundsatz der Mündlichkeit und der Öffentlichkeit): The proceedings are oral and public. *

Fair procedure Fair procedure is a common law doctrine that arises from a line of groundbreaking decisions of the Supreme Court of California dating back to the 1880s. Certain types of private actors (especially professional associations, unions, hospitals, and ...

(Grundsatz des beiderseitigen rechtlichen Gehörs): audiatur et altera pars. *

Adversarial system The adversarial system or adversary system is a legal system used in the common law countries where two advocates represent their parties' case or position before an impartial person or group of people, usually a judge or jury, who attempt to det ...

(Dispositionsgrundsatz): The parties determine the commencement and subject of action. * Ex officio proceedings (Grundsatz des Amtsbetriebs): The conduct of

legal proceeding Legal proceeding is an activity that seeks to invoke the power of a tribunal in order to enforce a law. Although the term may be defined more broadly or more narrowly as circumstances require, it has been noted that " e term ''legal proceedings'' i ...

s and the service of process rests with the court. * Cooperative principle (Kooperationsgrundsatz): The parties and the court cooperate by making factual claims, presenting evidence, and by exercising actions of procedural authority. * Immediacy principle (Unmittelbarkeitsgrundsatz): Only the judge before whom litigation takes place may take evidence and decide. * Free consideration of evidence (freie Beweiswürdigung): The judge decides freely on which facts he considers proven. * Procedural economy (Prozessökonomie): Principles governing a speedy and focused procedure. ** Freedom of assertion (Freiheit des Vorbringens): The parties are free to present facts and evidence and to file motions until the end of the oral proceedings. ** Duty to bring matters to court in good time (Prozessförderungspflicht): The parties are obliged to present their pleadings timely and completely, in order for the proceedings to proceed quickly. ** Interdiction of novation (Neuerungsverbot): The presentation of evidence and the making of factual claims are restricted to first instance proceedings.

References

Law of Austria Codes of civil procedure {{Europe-law-stub