[Rezension zu Stefan Licht: Der gewerbliche Arbeitsvertrag in der Rechtsdurchsetzung]

Hermann von Schullern zu Schrattenhofen’s 1899 review of Stefan Licht’s Der gewerbliche Arbeitsvertrag in der Rechtsdurchsetzung assesses its practical value as a guide to employment law:

Für den Praktiker bietet das vorliegende Büchlein eine in allem wesentlichen erschöpfende Zusammenstellung der Gesetze und Verordnungen, welche das Arbeitsverhältnis regeln; die beigefügte Sammlung von Entscheidungen deutscher und österreichischer Instanzen ist eine wertvolle Beigabe.

English translation: For the practitioner the present little book offers a compilation, exhaustive in all essentials, of the laws and ordinances which regulate the employment relationship; the appended collection of decisions of German and Austrian tribunals is a valuable addition.

Schullern’s criterion is usable comprehensiveness: legislation gains value through accompanying judicial decisions and procedural guidance. His account follows the book from industrial courts’ jurisdiction and procedure through German and Austrian decisions to statutory provisions, court regulations, and enforcement law. Practical assistance extends to initiating and pursuing proceedings:

Auch Formularien für Klagen, Berufungen, Executionsgesuche u. s. w. sind beigegeben.

English translation: Forms for suits, appeals, applications for execution, and so forth are also appended.

The review thus foregrounds the connection between legal rules and their enforcement, without developing an independent theory of the employment contract. Its sole suggested addition—statutory provisions concerning industrial inspectors in a second edition—qualifies an otherwise favorable judgment and identifies a further component of a comprehensive practitioner’s reference.