ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

German legal citation

When you want to write something, like a story or a report or a letter, sometimes you need to say where you got your information from. This is called a citation. In Germany, there is a special way to do this when you use legal information, like from a law or a court case.

First, you need to say the name of the law or the court case. This is like telling someone the title of a book or movie. Then, you need to say where you found it. This is like telling someone which library you got the book from.

In Germany, there are lots of different rules about how to say the name of the law or court case, and where to put the information about where you found it. The most important thing to remember is that you need to be very specific, to help other people find the same information that you did.

Sometimes, people use abbreviations to make things easier to write. For example, instead of writing out the whole name of a law, they might just write a few letters that stand for the name. But even when you use an abbreviation, you need to be sure that other people will understand what you mean.

So, to sum up: When you use legal information in Germany, you need to say the name of the law or court case, and where you found it. You also need to be very specific and use the right abbreviation if you need to. This helps other people check your work and find the same information that you did.