Review: “Civil Law Test” (Heinrich) – Gorius

Only a few textbooks or case books for law studies are designed to cover all areas of private law relevant to the examination – “Civil Law Re-Exam” By Professor Dr. Christian Heinrich in its fifth edition (2024) is one of them. The book contains “exam classics based on identical exams”, as the subtitle tells us. There are 22 cases in total, which corresponds to the structure of the BGB: it goes from the general part of the BGB to the general and private law of obligations (including labor law), then via property law to family and inheritance law. Commercial law, company law and civil procedure law are integrated, because that is precisely the nature of the exams – they link the different sub-fields and build them together as if they were building blocks.

Integrated repetition for advanced exam candidates

These are the building blocks that the book aims to define. The introduction says about the structure of the exams: “The same problems are often combined differently in similar situations.” The original test types that can also be tested in the state exam are presented. Under no circumstances should it cover all the topics relevant to the exam, explains Heinrich. Rather, the work is suitable for repetition in the last weeks of exam preparation. “To focus attention on recurring exam structures, structuring rules, and differences of opinion with a high likelihood of being examined.”

clear structure

I can confirm this – I am currently at the end of my exam preparation. In this review, I intuitively picked one of the exams and chose number 8: “Employment Contract, Attorney’s Liability, Claim Procedure, Default Judgment, Counterclaim”. As you can see here, Heinrich has refrained from giving his cases the usual, sometimes bizarre, titles that universities and private practice often use. Instead, he has named them with the main topics involved, so that a quick glance at the table of contents shows the main points covered in the case in question. This is important because in the last few weeks of preparation, you want to focus particularly on your knowledge gaps in order to improve them.

The tests are also very clearly and aesthetically organized: the 22 problems always cover one page and are located on the right, then there is a detailed outline of the case solution with page numbers before you reach the formulated solution proposal. In the latest edition, modifications have been made in accordance with current case law and literature as well as the Ministry of Public Education.

Detailed solution suggestions

Each solution consists of 20 to 30 pages and is therefore more comprehensive than other typical solutions from review courses or (university) essays, because the work also aims to refresh the theoretical basics again. There are diagrams and texts in between, supported by brief note boxes on the sides, which explain the diagrams and important facts again. This makes the book both a case study and a textbook.

Hardly anyone can meet the requirements of solving a case perfectly and integrating in-depth theoretical knowledge into the exam to this extent. Therefore, it is important that the solutions shown here – and this is what I pointed out in the introduction – are not taken as an example of a realistic and successful exam. It is more about refreshing your knowledge of the subject in the right place and not only as a case practice, but also for educational purposes.

Improve reporting style

In case solutions, all the basic requirements are checked in small steps and nothing is skipped. You will find some definitions that are actually so basic that they are often left out in advanced case solutions and that is exactly why they are almost forgotten. This is a good way to get back to basics and report style. When preparing for exams, in which you write many tests, it can easily happen that at a certain stage you are no longer able to work technically with the precision and small steps that are sometimes required. The theoretical part at the beginning of the work in particular is in conflict with this: in the “Basics of Examination Technique” we summarize, for the purpose of short repetition, how to evaluate the facts, analyze the case question, draw up the solution scheme, present the key points and problems and how to use them in formulating the solution appropriately.

Motivational writing

Solving case number 8, which I chose, was not that easy for me. But what struck me as a positive thing was that the case solution did not comment on learning tips or anything like that, but remained completely realistic. Because even though the tips are like “Take a closer look at . Plus, at this point, you have already developed your own learning methods. The fact that Heinrich takes this into account makes him very likeable as an editor of the work.

Conclusion

Heinrich is remarkably good at assessing what advanced exam candidates need in order to effectively repeat their knowledge, to deepen it further at crucial points, and, above all, to connect this knowledge. Even if the book cannot cover all the problems (and it does not want to), after solving the cases in this book, you will enter the exam more relaxed and with a sense of basic security. This applies not only to exams dealing with classic problems, which are perhaps explicitly discussed in this book, but also to “exotic” cases, since the technology – and especially the reporting style – has also been improved by this book.

The work has one drawback: since it is so large (about 21 x 26 cm), it is also relatively heavy, and you have to think twice about whether you want to carry it to the library with Habersack or rather learn from it. office at home. It is fitting that Heinrich's works are now so popular that they should be available in every law library anyway.😊