Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch
Civil law ("Bürgerliches Recht") determines the relationships among persons and/or legal entities, i.e. those who do not fall into a special category (like merchants or employees). The most important reference of this area is the Civil Law Book ("Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch", BGB), which consists of 5 major parts: the common/general part, the law of obligations, property law, family law and law of succession.