Coding Behaviour

Project period: 2026-2029

In order to establish legal guardianship (in respect of adults) within the meaning of the German Civil Code (BGB), a specific diagnosis is required. This includes an adult being unable to manage his or her own affairs “due to illness or disability” (Section 1814 BGB). Such a diagnosis, in turn, means that particular behaviour must be identified, classified and assessed. In practice, classification systems that are widely used in medicine play a central role in this process. These include the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Both are coding systems, i.e., rule-based renderings of complex real-life situations positioned inside a structured framework.

The research project understands applied guardianship law to also be a manner of coding behaviour. This conclusion rests on the premise that law and medicine use similar structures to classify behaviour and thus make it assessable for each system. The aim is therefore to compare coding practices in guardianship law with those of medical coding. In particular, the aim is to describe and analyse – by means of an interdisciplinary approach – the goals pursued in coding systems, bearing in mind that coding can be a basis for decision-making, a technique, or a repository of knowledge; just as it can have descriptive, normative, or formative effects. In addition, the respective developments and the forces behind them are of interest. A diachronic analysis will help provide access to the deeper coding structures. Beyond promising insight and discovery as regards the two respective disciplines, the interdisciplinary comparison aims to deepen our understanding of how law and medicine shape our coexistence through their behavioural codes.