Settling disputes out of court

Die Schlichtung and der Schlichter carry a picture that is easy to miss. Both are built on the adjective schlicht, plain or smooth, and the verb behind them, schlichten, first meant to make something level, to smooth it out. In the image of the word, a conciliator is somebody who planes down the rough edges of a quarrel rather than cutting through it. The old sense has not gone away: in a machine shop schlichten is still the light finishing cut that leaves a surface smooth. The picture also marks the line between the two main routes on this list. Der Schlichter proposes, and his Schlichterspruch is a recommendation the parties are free to reject; das Schiedsgericht decides, and its Schiedsspruch binds the parties like a final judgment.