Juris

juris is the leading German legal database, operated by juris GmbH in Saarbrücken with the federal government as a shareholder. Since 1985, it has documented jurisprudence, laws, administrative regulations, and literature; German courts routinely use it. Approximately 240 employees continuously maintain its content.

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Lawyers use it to research judgments, complete with citations and citation chains, check legal standards during legislative changes, and evaluate commentaries and journals from jurisAllianz partners. Its strength lies in the depth of its documentation: decisions are editorially prepared, linked, and available going back decades.

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beck-online boasts a stronger publishing catalog for commentaries and literature; many law firms ultimately subscribe to both, which can get expensive. The juris interface is functional but won't win any design awards, and pricing is only available on a module-by-module basis upon request. Beginners can initially be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of search results.

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Ideal for law firms, legal departments, public administrations, and anyone who needs reliable, citable German jurisprudence. Those who only occasionally look up a law can get by with free sources like gesetze-im-internet.de.