Geschichten im Recht

The narrative turn has not yet considerably influenced German legal scholarship. This thesis comprehensively examines the possibilities of ‘Law as Narrative’ as part of the ‘Law as Literature’-movement, which originated in the US, for understanding the German legal system.

It gives a structured overview of the varieties of ‘Law as Narrative’approaches to analysis and compares these to the concepts of narratology. After illustrating the relevant differences between Common Law and Civil Law, the thesis applies the idea of ‘Law as Narrative’ to German and European Law. Analyzing legal texts such as preambles, judicial opinions or legal provisions the survey identifies narrative structures in law and investigates how the German legal system can benefit from a conscious handling of the narrative aspects of law. In addition, it explores the options to enhance, amongst others, pluralism and empathy in law by adding individual and collective narratives to the legal system; and finally, it proposes changes to the current parameters of the legal framework.