Codification of Civil Law in Austria

The codification of Austrian civil law is counted among the first such endeavours in European history. Therefore, the lessons of that codification, as well as its characteristics, are significant. This chapter presents not only the history of the ABGB from its adoption, through various reforms, but also the possible future direction of development of this code. Austrian civil law specifically sets forth general rules and principles instead of particularly detailed norms, granting the ABGB the ability to regulate a wide swathe of civil law relationships, including those between professionals and non-professionals in the economic sphere. The chapter documents the erosion of codified Austrian civil law through fragmentation (when various civil laws and related domains become regulated in separate acts of statutory law) and the need for reform of the ABGB.

Keywords: Austria, ABGB, civil code, civil law, codification