A short-circuit recognition method is disclosed, especially an early short-circuit recognition method, for an electric network. In at least one embodiment, in order to improve the switching times of protective devices, the current and the first and second temporal derivation thereof are continuously and consecutively determined at the same time and in the same temporal distance and are processed as respective digital sequences of numbers. Every sequence of numbers is associated with a defined threshold value, the numbers of the three sequences of numbers being compared with the respective threshold value associated therewith. Every number that exceeds the threshold value associated therewith is associated with a weighting variable and the weighting variables that pertain to the same time are added up to a first weighting sum. The first weighting sums are added to a second weighting sum for a defined number of directly subsequent times and the second weighting sum is compared with an additional defined threshold value. When the second weighting sum exceeds the defined threshold value, a short circuit is recognized.