appeal

noun · Berufung

Berufung against the judgment, Revision on the law alone, Beschwerde against a Beschluss, the German ladder splits what English climbs with one word. Appell is a speech, not a remedy, and das Urteil appellieren is a verb German procedure does not own.

Which translation, when

Berufungthe first rung, §§ 511 ff. ZPO, a second look at the case with facts reviewed only within limits, § 529 ZPO, and new material admitted only through § 531 Abs. 2 ZPO. One month to file, § 517 ZPO.

Revisionthe second rung, law alone, § 545 ZPO, no new facts, § 559 ZPO, and only with admission, § 543 ZPO. The rung for the BGH.

Beschwerdethe rung for Beschlüsse rather than judgments, §§ 567 ff. ZPO, with its own family of sofortige and Rechtsbeschwerde.

Why

English climbs the appellate ladder with one word, German names every rung and polices the doors. The Berufung, §§ 511 ff. ZPO, is not the fresh second trial the English reader may picture, since 2002 the court is bound to the first-instance findings unless concrete doubts appear, § 529 ZPO, and new attack or defence material enters only through the gate of § 531 Abs. 2 ZPO, with one month to file, § 517 ZPO. The Revision is narrower still, law alone, § 545 ZPO, no new facts at all, § 559 ZPO, and it exists only if admitted, § 543 ZPO, with the Nichtzulassungsbeschwerde, § 544 ZPO, as the knock on a closed door. Beschlüsse travel by Beschwerde, §§ 567 ff. ZPO, not by Berufung. And the verbs are fixed, Rechtsmittel werden eingelegt, so appealing a judgment is Berufung einlegen, while appellieren belongs to speeches and consciences, not to any German code.

Typical mistakes

Das Urteil appellieren exists in no German code, the verb is einlegen, Berufung einlegen, Revision einlegen, and appellieren in a procedural text reads as translated rhetoric.
The second appeal is not a rerun, the Revision hears law only, § 545 ZPO, takes no new facts, § 559 ZPO, and needs admission, § 543 ZPO, so promising the client a route to the BGH as of right imports English structure.
Even the Berufung is a controlled second look, § 529 ZPO binds the court to the findings below and § 531 Abs. 2 ZPO filters the new material, the fresh second chance of English instinct oversells it.

What matters

Advice letters after a first-instance loss climb the ladder: the client asks about the appeal, the German answer names the rung, Berufung within one month, § 517 ZPO, facts only within § 529 ZPO, then perhaps a Revision, law alone and only if admitted, § 543 ZPO. The letter that promises a full rehearing has translated the word and imported the wrong system.

Authority

§§ 511, 517, 529, 531 ZPO
§§ 542, 543, 544, 545, 559 ZPO
§ 567 ZPO

What the machine misses

Appeal flattens the German ladder in machine output, everything becomes Berufung, and looser prose slides to Appell, a speech to conscience rather than a remedy, or coins das Urteil appellieren, a verb no German code contains. Which rung was meant, facts within limits, law alone, or the Beschwerde against a Beschluss, is the first question German procedure asks and the last thing word-level output can answer.

See what the machine does with this clause →

Examples

to appeal the judgment	Berufung gegen das Urteil einlegen
the appeal was dismissed	die Berufung wurde zurückgewiesen
on appeal	in der Berufungsinstanz
leave to appeal	die Zulassung der Revision

More notes on these sections

remedy Rechtsbehelf

court order Beschluss