Written pleadings in German civil trials

Like laws, written pleadings of civil litigation parties, such as statements of claim and statements of defence, are multi-addressed. That is, they are addressed to lawyers and laypeople alike. Compared to the first group of addressees, however, the second group has much more difficulty understanding these texts as they are generally drafted by the parties’ lawyers. What are the text features that impair comprehensibility? What opportunities do we have for optimising the texts if the functionality of written pleadings for lawyers must be preserved? After all, conventions also play a role in ensuring functionality. In this chapter, these questions will be investigated starting from the relevant legal provisions and the discussion related to specialist texts in general and legal texts in particular, with reference to the concept of Verständlichkeit ‘comprehensibility’ and the related concepts of Klarheit ‘clarity’ and Bestimmtheit ‘specificity’ ensuring legal certainty.