Research on Comparisons between Civil Initial Service Procedure of Germany and Japan

摘要

In Germany and Japan, civil initial service procedure is deployed in indictment accepting phase. Legal and effective initial service is an important standard to judge pending action opening and is an indispensable part to make civil action between two countries render into a judicable case of court from the accuser's prosecution. In specific design of procedure, requirement of "definition" of domicile of party concerned for accuser pleadings in two countries' laws reaches the standard of requirement of prosecution of "be able to accurately deliver to defendant" instead of staying in the standard of "sufficient to differentiate defendant from other people" adopted by parties involved in traditional procedure of delimitation. As to unfavorable results due to accuser failing to provide accurate address for service and leading to failure of initial service, two countries' laws both stipulate it borne by accuser. As an exception of refusing failed initial service, both two countries' laws have strict procedures for limitation of service by publication, both showing special attention to summoned person's procedural interest. Through exploration on three aspects of positioning of civil initial service procedure, stage of procedure unfolding and procedural result of failed service, we can see that two countries' civil initial service procedures show the feature of party-leading legal proceedings in civil law countries.