Jus Privatum

The German Civil Code (BGB) contains only three general provisions governing the civil brokerage contract (§§ 652-654 BGB), yet these do little to define its contours. This falls short of reflecting the considerable practical importance of brokerage services, particularly in real estate transactions. The result has been undesirable developments in practice. Recent piecemeal legislative interventions, such as the "client pays" principle (Bestellerprinzip), were intended, among other things, to make housing more affordable, but have had only limited success and have created doctrinal inconsistencies. When speaking of the broker or the brokerage contract, one overlooks the fact that civil brokers and commercial brokers perform entirely different functions. Yet even the activities of civil brokers are far from homogeneous: online marketplaces, real estate brokers, and insurance brokers differ significantly from one another. Frank Spohnheimer investigates the causes of dysfunctions in brokerage practice and rethinks brokerage law on the basis of existing legal rules. Where necessary and appropriate, he interprets brokerage contracts as atypical agency contracts (Geschäftsbesorgungsverträge), which entail a duty of subordination to the principal's interests. On this basis, the study develops a general law of brokerage-related agency contracts and delineates the duties of subordination applicable to the practically most important types of brokers: real estate brokers, insurance brokers, and consumer credit brokers. In doing so, it also provides new impetus for the revival of the commercial broker, a figure that many have already written off as obsolete.