Search

1. Definition Ius eminens (literally, “eminent right”) is a legal construction that in the early modern period essentially functioned as the equivalent to the modern concept of expropriation. It designated the right of a ruler (Territorial sovereignty [Holy Roman Empire]) to dispose of the lives and especially the property of subjects in cases of “emergency,” when the public interest of common good (Latin  utilitas publica) required. Ius eminens thus served primarily to legitimate the expropriation of private property by a territorial ruler for public purposes [4. 166 f.…

1. DefinitionSince the 19th century, the legal system (Law) has typically been described as twofold, with the body of legal norms divided into “public” and “private law” such that all norms belong to one or the other sphere. In modern legal systems, public law comprises the sub-categories of constitutional law and administrative law, the former generally being further subdivided into government law (including governmental organization) and basic rights.These three key elements of public law in the modern sense developed from very disparate roots. Government…

In German-speaking territory, the word for local authorities and officials,  Behörden, appears in its modern sense toward the end of the 17th century. It reflected the growing institutionalization of government business, for which the state constructed an administrative apparatus constantly growing in size and complexity in the early modern period. With the rise of this apparatus, authority and the administration of government were separated from the person of the prince; the administrative apparatus grad…

The word “ban” (German Bann) has a wide range of meanings in both ecclesiastical and secular usage; here we exclude the ecclesiastical sense of Anathema. Essentially the word means a “command” or “order” in general. A ban was a command reinforced by a sanction: if it was not obeyed, the ban penalty (frequently called simply a ban) would be imposed.  1. Middle Ages The ban as an authoritative command first appears in early medieval sources as a royal ban, and that was the focus of earlier studies [4. 121]. The structure and substance of feudal authority below the level of the ki…

1. MittelalterDas Inspektionsverfahren der V. wurde von der spätantiken Bischofskirche entwickelt und von der ma. Kurie institutionell ausgestaltet. V. gehörten zu den vornehmsten Pflichten eines Bischofs (Bischofsamt), der durch den Besuch der Gemeinden in seinem Sprengel die Seelsorge fördern, die Rechtgläubigkeit sichern, den Pfarrklerus (Pfarramt) kontrollieren und den kirchl. Besitz wahren sollte. Sie konnten die Form regelmäßiger Diözesanbereisungen annehmen, als Mittelpunkt-V. den Ortsklerus zu Synoden am Sitz de…

1. Middle AgesThe inspection procedure known as the visitation was devised by the episcopal church in late antiquity, and developed as an institution by the medieval Curia. Visitations were one of the chief duties of a bishop (Episcopate), as he visited congregations in his diocese to promote pastoral care, ensure doctrinal orthodoxy, monitor the parish clergy (Pastorate), and watch over church property. They took place either as regular diocesan tours or as gatherings in which local clergy…

1. Allgemein 1.1. DefinitionIm modernen Sprachgebrauch bezeichnet G. die Tätigkeit und Funktion der Gerichte. Darin erschöpfte sich aber die Bedeutung in der Frühen Nz. nicht: Das Wort stand für den juristischen Fachbegriff der iurisdictio (»G.«). Mit diesem wurde nicht nur eine bestimmte hoheitliche Funktion, sondern vorrangig ein Herrschaftsrecht bezeichnet, dem bei der juristischen Begründung der Landeshoheit (Landesherrschaft) insbes. im 16. Jh. zentrale Bedeutung zukam. Die iurisdictio, wie sie damals verstanden wurde, war demgemäß wesentlich mehr als b…

1. General 1.1. DefinitionIn modern parlance, jurisdiction describes the activity and function of courts of law. That does not, however, exhaust the meaning of the term in the early modern period: the word iurisdictio was a juristic technical term. It designated not only a specific governmental function, but also primarily a sovereign right that was of key importance to the legal justification for territorial sovereignty, especially in the 16th century.  Iurisdictio as it was understood at the time was accordingly far more than simply “judicial authority”; it wa…