Ask Claude about German law. Get the official wording.
Zitierfest connects Claude to over 440,000 provisions in the official wording: German federal law, state law of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia, bylaws of Munich and Regensburg, EU law and important international treaties, as well as over 84,000 decisions of the federal supreme courts. Claude looks the provision up before it answers. The texts are in German, exactly as published; the service does not translate them.
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Is my neighbour liable if his tree damages my car in a storm?
The relevant provision is § 823(1) BGB: vorsätzlich oder fahrlässig … das Eigentum … eines anderen widerrechtlich verletzt
(intentionally or negligently and unlawfully injures the property of another).
So the question is whether your neighbour breached his duty to maintain the tree safely. That depends on the condition of the tree and the circumstances of the case.
Version date: as stated by the official source
German law, in German
Without access to the statute, an AI answers from memory: wrong subsections, outdated versions, sections that never existed. With Zitierfest, Claude reads the provision in its official wording and cites it with its source and version date.
Statutes, abbreviations and section numbers are never translated. You can ask in English; Claude quotes the German original and can explain it in English. Any translation is Claude’s own and not authoritative. Only the German text published in the official gazettes is legally binding.
For anyone who needs to know what German law actually says
International law firms
Check German provisions in the original wording while you work in English. Claude quotes the German text with section, subsection and version date, and finds the relevant decision of the Federal Court of Justice or the Federal Labour Court with its paragraph number.
Researchers and students
Comparative law, theses, seminar papers: look up German statutes, EU law and decisions of the federal supreme courts as published, with the exact citation instead of a paraphrase.
Companies with German operations
Federal law, state law of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia, municipal bylaws of Munich and Regensburg and EU regulations in one place, each with the date of the version.
What Zitierfest does differently
- Official wording. Every answer is based on the official German text, with section, subsection and version date. Nothing is translated or summarised by the service.
- Up to date. The statutes are compared with the official publications every night. Amended provisions are usually available the next morning.
- More than federal law. State law of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia, municipal bylaws of Munich and Regensburg, EU regulations and directives, international treaties such as the ECHR and the UN Charter, and the professional rules for German lawyers.
- Case law included. Decisions of the federal supreme courts (BGH, BAG, BVerfG, BVerwG, BFH, BSG and BPatG) since 2010 in the official text, citable with docket number and paragraph number.
- Fees included. German statutory fee schedules (RVG, GKG, FamGKG, GNotKG, JVEG), up to a complete fee note.
- Nothing to install. No new app. You ask Claude as usual, in English or in German.
Checked, not promised
- statutes, regulations, bylaws and treaties
- 24,610
- sections and articles
- over 440,000
- decisions of the federal supreme courts
- over 84,000
- last updated
- 3 Oct 2026
In a sample of 268 provisions from federal, Bavarian and EU law, not a single word was missing compared with the official version.
Who is behind it
Zitierfest is run by Fabian Baur, a fully qualified German lawyer (Volljurist) from Regensburg. Errors in a statutory text, missing laws or suggestions? Write to me, in English or German.
Ready in three minutes
- 1
Add the address.
In Claude, go to Settings → Connectors, choose “Add custom connector” and paste this address:
https://mcp.zitierfest.de/mcp - 2
Sign in.
Enter your email address and confirm with the code from the email. No password. The sign-in window and the email are in German. - 3
Ask.
Click “Allow” once, then ask your questions in the chat as usual.
Works on the free Claude plan, too. Other AI assistants → setup guide
Try it
- “Show me § 573(2) BGB in the original German and explain it in English.”
- “Which setback distances does the Bavarian Building Code (BayBO) require? Quote the German text.”
- “What does Art. 17 GDPR say? Quote the German version.”
- “Which Federal Court of Justice decisions deal with rent reduction because of mould?”
Frequently asked questions
- Are the statutes translated?
- No. Zitierfest returns the official German wording only. Claude can explain or translate a provision for you, but that translation is Claude’s, not an official one. Only the German text is authoritative.
- What does it cost?
- Nothing at the moment. A free account includes up to 2,000 requests per day, including case law during the launch phase. An optional Pro account for heavy users is planned.
- What about the other German states?
- State law is currently included for Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin, Hamburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia. More states will follow step by step. Until then, Claude says explicitly when the law of a state is not included and does not fall back on another state.
- Is case law included?
- Yes. Zitierfest contains decisions of the federal supreme courts (BGH, BAG, BVerfG, BVerwG, BFH, BSG and BPatG) since 2010 in the official German text. Claude can search by keyword, find decisions on a specific provision and quote individual paragraph numbers. Decisions of lower courts and commentaries are not included. Coverage per court: case law.
- How binding are the international treaties?
- International treaties are usually binding only in other languages, such as English and French. Zitierfest shows the official German translation and points this out with every query. For court filings, the authentic language version prevails in case of doubt.
- Is this legal advice?
- No. Zitierfest provides statutory texts, decisions of the federal supreme courts and fee calculations. Commentaries, decisions of lower courts and the circumstances of your case are missing. For a specific case, consult a lawyer admitted in Germany.
- What happens to my queries?
- The service stores which provision or decision was retrieved and which search terms were used, not your chat. IP addresses are not stored. Deletion after 90 days. The server is located in Germany (Nuremberg). Claude only sends the specific query to Zitierfest; the rest of the chat stays with Anthropic. Details in the privacy notice.
More questions are answered in the FAQ (in German).