Contract Drafting Reference

Germany Contract Handbook

Chaindoc Docs Handbook · 19 Entries

Drafting reference for contracts under German civil law. Built around the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB) form-requirements regime (§§ 125-129), the AGB content-control framework (§§ 305-310), and the country's specific commercial, employment, and consumer-protection statutes. Every entry ships as both a prose page (for humans) and a JSON data file (for AI agents).

Disclaimer

Handbook content is informational, not legal advice. Last verified 2026-05-10. Always consult licensed counsel for binding decisions.

Foundation

Cross-handbook reference resources. Read these first when drafting any specific contract type — they cover the rules that apply across all categories.

›Form requirements — Schriftform vs Textform vs Elektronische Form vs Beurkundung; § 125-129 BGB; substitution rules; consequences of non-compliance
›AGB rules — § 305-310 BGB; Klauselverbote with and without Wertungsmöglichkeit; B2B vs B2C application
›Standard clauses — Gerichtsstand, Rechtswahl, Salvatorische Klausel, Force Majeure, Vertragsstrafe, Streitbeilegung, GDPR confidentiality

Contract types

Business-to-business

Employment

Consumer (B2C-mandatory documents)

Documents that any consumer-facing online business in Germany must publish:

Open dataset

The full Germany handbook is published as machine-readable JSON, validated against the shared schema.

›Aggregated bundle — data/handbook/de.json — single fetch with every record
›Per-record JSON files — data/handbook/de/ — one file per entry
›Schema — data/handbook/schema.json

For AI agents, the API documentation describes the bundle URL pattern, schema fields, and example agent workflow.

License

Content licensed under CC-BY 4.0. Attribution: "Source: Chaindoc Labs — labs.chaindoc.io/handbook/de/".

Maintained by the Chaindoc team.

Chaindoc Docs · Germany Contract Handbook