A discovery-like process is absent from the German Rules of Civil Procedure (ZPO). It reflects a long-lasting tradition, that each party has to rely primarily on its own capacity to accurately form its pleadings and then fulfill the burden of proof. In order to mitigate the difficulty of introducing detailed pleadings, the secondary burden of allegations was established through consistent law practice. This burden compels the opposing party to contribute its own knowledge and eventually complement the pleadings of the other side. The current thesis analyzes the secondary burden of proof and systematically integrates it into the German Rules of Civil Procedure.

Dimitrios Papanikolaou studierte Rechtwissenschaften an der Nationalen und Kapodistrischen Universität in Athen, Griechenland. An der juristischen Fakultät der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin schloss er im Jahr 2009 ein Magisterstudium sowie im Jahr 2017 seine Promotion ab, beides unter der Betreuung von Prof. Dr. Christoph G. Paulus. Seit Frühjahr 2017 ist er als Rechtsanwalt in Athen, Griechenland tätig.

Leseprobe