Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Incapacity, legal
(727 words)

1. Basic definition

In Germany, legal incapacity (Entmündigung) was a public legal act that completely or partially deprived a person of his or her legal capacity or prevented one from coming into his or her majority; it was abolished in Germany in 1992. In the early modern period, legal incapacity was very important in legal practice, but it was no longer viewed, as it had been during the Middle A…

Cite this page
Löhnig, Martin, “Incapacity, legal”, 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 05 December 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_018795>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20180915



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