Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Academic freedom
(1,075 words)

In its original sense, academic freedom meant the rights of a university as a corporation and the privileges its members derived from them. It was based on an imperial privilege from 1158 (Authentica habita) that granted scholars free choice of legal venue at their place of study (libertas scholastica). Initially limited to students in Bologna, because these measures were adopted in papal and imperial university privileges, they came to exert lasting influence on the development of the status of all university members. In 1540, on the basis of ius commune and the customary law of…

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Asche, Matthias, “Academic freedom”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_SIM_016671>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20160321



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