LIECHTENSTEIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Moritz Blasy, Nicolai Binkert, Simon Ott and Kathrin Binder, Schurti Partners Attorneys at Law Ltd
7. Trials and Hearings 7.1 Trial Proceedings
uses the latter to discuss case management matters with the parties. All subsequent hearings normally focus on the taking of evidence – ie, the examination of witnesses and experts. 7.3 Jury Trials in Civil Cases Liechtenstein civil procedure law is not familiar with jury trials. 7.4 Rules That Govern Admission of Evidence The burden of proof lies with each party to provide evidence supporting and establishing the necessary facts for its case. However, the court may also take evidence ex officio. Conversely, if the court consid- ers certain facts to be sufficiently established, it may refrain from taking further evidence even if a party requests that further evidence be taken. The same holds true if the court considers presented evidence to be irrelevant. No evidence is required for facts presupposed by law to be true. However, evidence to the contrary is admissible unless precluded by law. Parties may offer evidence in the form of witnesses, documents, judicial inspections of places or items, expert testimonies or statements and the testimony of the parties. Producing Evidence Due to the principle of immediacy, evidence generally has to be taken by the deciding judge. However, if evi- dence on disputed facts has already been produced in another judicial proceeding, the minutes or a written expert opinion therefrom can be used as evidence and the court can refrain from re-taking this evidence if the parties were involved in the other judicial proceeding, and no party expressly requests the evidence to be re-taken or the respective evidence is no longer avail- able, or the party which was not involved in the other legal proceeding expressly agrees to the introduction of such evidence. Furthermore, the Liechtenstein Civil Procedure Code allows evidence to be taken abroad by means of legal assistance. New evidence to support a position may be intro- duced by a party until the closure of the last oral hear- ing. However, the introduction of new evidence may
Liechtenstein civil procedure is governed by the prin- ciples of immediacy and orality. This means that the parties should make their pleadings by way of oral submissions and the judge is required to personally establish the relevant facts and take the relevant evi- dence at oral hearings. In practice, parties make most of their factual pleadings (and legal arguments) by way of written submissions, and oral hearings primarily serve for the taking of evidence by the court. Impor- tantly, no judgment on the merits can be handed down without there having been at least one oral hearing. The procedure for taking evidence is usually initiated by way of a special hearing in which the court deals with the parties’ submissions concerning the evidence to be taken, sets the procedure for the taking of evi- dence, and issues an order setting out the evidence to be taken ( Beweisbeschlusstagsatzung ). In more com- plex cases, the judge also uses this hearing to discuss case management matters with the parties. After that, there will be one or as many more oral hearings as necessary in order to take the evidence and for the parties to plead their case. Although the judge must, in principle, obtain an immediate impression of any presented evidence, the Liechtenstein Civil Procedure Code also permits the taking of evidence by means of legal assistance in other jurisdictions (eg, if a witness resides abroad and refuses to appear before court in Liechtenstein). Also, a judge is entitled to rely on evidence taken in previous court proceedings under certain specific cir- cumstances. Once the court considers the facts to be sufficiently established, it will terminate the oral hearings. In most cases, the judgment then follows in writing. 7.2 Case Management Hearings The first hearing (primarily dealing with formal objec- tions – eg, for lack of jurisdiction or res judicata, and applications for security of costs and fees) and the hearing dealing with the parties’ submissions con- cerning the evidence to be taken, are often shorter hearings and of a procedural nature. The judge often
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