consideration
noun · Gegenleistung
No German seat for the doctrine. A contract under German law binds without it, so the word usually needs no rendering at all.
Which translation, when
Why
German contract law knows no doctrine of consideration. Agreement alone binds, § 311 BGB, and a gratuitous promise can be enforceable if the form is kept. The English word therefore has no technical German twin, and forcing one into the text creates a concept German law never asked for.
Typical mistakes
- Betrachtung and Rücksicht are dictionary reflexes, both wrong in a contract.
What matters
A recitals block reciting good and valuable consideration: the German version can drop the phrase entirely, German law binds without it.
What the machine misses
Machine output renders consideration as Gegenleistung as a matter of course, and the calque plants an English validity requirement in a text that never asked for one: German contract law binds by agreement alone, without consideration, so the German reader starts hunting for a counter-performance the deal does not need, and a boilerplate recital turns into an apparent exchange term.
Examples
| for good and valuable consideration | rein formelhafte Wendung, im deutschen Text entbehrlich |