[SilasX]

Yes. AIUI, German law seems to draw heavily from the school of thought that "obviously you're not supposed to do that, jerk, now pay up". American law prefers to say, "oh, crud, you caught us. Add it to the ever-lengthening terms of service (that no one reads) so we can prove you agreed you wouldn't do it."

[m_mueller]

It goes both ways though. You can use the intent of a law as a defense in court. It gives more power to judges to interpret things, which can be seen as a disadvantage. Overall I'd still rather have that - in the American legal system I feel like the law being a sword of damocles over my head, constantly waiting for me to inadvertently walk into a trap, while with a European civil law system I get the feeling that the system works for me as long as I don't have bad intents (i.e. as long as my inner moral matches that of the culture I'm in).