Summary

An action is characterised by its non-mandatory nature: the court adjudicates the claim filed by the plaintiff, proceeding from the facts indicated by the plaintiff. Since the legal environment becomes increasingly complex, it is a problem in an action how to word the claim and submit the relevant facts properly in the proceeding and ensure that the action is not dismissed because the plaintiff is unable to explain himself or herself to the court (at the required time). For the court, in turn, procedural economy comes first: the court is focussed on identifying the matter in dispute (in German: Streitgegenstand) as early as possible in the proceedings because this facilitates the planning of the proceeding as well as achieving the purpose of the civil proceeding, which is to adjudicate the civil matter justly and within a reasonable period of time.

This article provides an overview of judicial practice concerning the cause and objective of an action and examines in closer detail what kind of situations are regarded as amendment of an action or what are not in our judicial practice. In addition, it investigates whether and how the supplementation of an action differs from the amendment of an action as defined in § 376 (1) of the Code of Civil Procedure. The article also examines the obligation of the court to clarify regarding the correct identification of the object and cause of an action.