If the perpetrator lacks the insight to recognize that they are doing wrong when committing the act, they are not guilty if they could not avoid this error: This is the text of paragraph 17 of the German Criminal Code. This is a provision that is also of interest to specialist lawyers, as according to a decision by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) on March 20, 2025 (III ZR 261/23), they can protect their clients from prosecution with their (incorrect) legal advice.

In the case in question, a client was conducting real estate transactions that violated the criminal provisions of the German Banking Act. He then hired a specialist lawyer for banking and capital market law, who advised him on a procedure that he considered permissible. The Federal Court of Justice confirmed that the client was entitled to rely on the accuracy of his lawyer's information and acquitted the client, whereby this quote from the reasons for decision is worth reading: “The fact that the work had been carried out with the necessary thoroughness and taking into account the applicable legal situation was obvious to the defendant because of the considerable amount of time billed, where the review of the previous agreements alone took almost 22 hours.” In other words, if the bill is high, this speaks for the correctness of the result. A lawyer-friendly decision.