Umgehungsgeschäfte

In the German legal system both the interpretation of statutes according to their purpose as determined by the legislature ( teleologische Interpretation) and their expansion by judge-made law ( richterliche Rechtsfortbildung) are recognised as general concepts to combat the abuse of the law. A seperate doctrine on how to cope with circumvention strategies, as suggested by certain legal authors, is therefore not necessary. Moreover, there is no need to create special legal provisions which prohibit transactions that are concluded merely to circumvent existing statutes. But courts can prevent circumvention by taking recourse to the interpretation of the relevant statute ( teleologische Interpretation) or its expansion by judge-made law ( richterliche Rechtsfortbildung). Susanne Sieker describes four main circumvention strategies. She shows how these general methods, based on a previous qualification of the relevant facts, are to be applied in order to combat strategies of circumvention effectively.