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The German term Landrecht (territorial law) and its compounds (e.g.  Landrechtreformation) denoted legal sources of variegated content from the late Middle Ages onwards, and and continued to do so until even after 1800. The term dated back to the medieval legal system, which was composed of isolated legal fields (Rechtskreise, “legal circles”) applicable to groups of persons or lordships, such as feudal law for specific (generally noble) loan and authority conditions, Hofrecht (court law; Weistum) for legal relationships in manorialism, municipal law for legal…

1. Relevance in general constitutional historyThe concept of the constitution of territorial estates (German Landständische Verfassung) encompasses the coexistence of territorial estates ( Landstände) with the territorial ruler as fellow agents or, at least to a modest degree, fellow framers of territorial sovereignty, and thus applies to the context of the Holy Roman Empire. This general form of constitution, however, comprising a monarch and the estates of the realm (French états, Dutch  staaten, standen, Polish stanów, etc.), was a pan-European phenomenon.The colla…

An ordonnance (“ordinance”; from Latin  ordinatio, “ordering”) was a legislative act (Legislation) in the Kingdom of France, both of regional powers like the dukes of Burgundy or Guyene and of the French king. The ordonnances issued by the latter are important for the legal development of France.Up until the year 1629, these ordonnances were issued by royal sanction at the initiative and with the involvement of the estates of the realm ( états, parliaments), but afterward purely as royal legislative acts in accordance with the principle of absolutism. Since the la…

1. DefinitionA matrimonial regime is the system that governs the relations between spouses concerning property during and after the dissolution of marriage by virtue of customary law and, increasingly during the early modern period, by virtue of statute law, especially, however, in regard to contract law (marriage contracts, marriage gifts, marriage pacts, etc.; cf. Matrimonial law). Matrimonial regime differs from inheritance law in light of its effects: they arise already upon the contraction o…

From 1800, the monarchical principle represented a reaction to the doctrine of popular sovereignty. It stated that the authority of state did not lie, as that doctrine insisted and demanded in legal policy, in the hands of the people, but derived from the monarch (Monarchy). The status of the monarch was not derived from a constitutional provision, but purely from old-established legal titles like privilege and customary law, and it was acquired through inheritance within a dynasty (cf. Legitima…

Both commentary on and the interpretation of law have the power to alter its meaning consciously or unconsciously. The boundaries between both are also fluid: commentaries contain interpretations, and specific interpretations provide commentary on at least an individual case. To that extent, every prohibition of interpretation entails a prohibition of commentary and vice versa. Emphasis on the latter thus prohibits a specific form, namely, the comprehensive interpretation of a law. Early modern …

1. IntroductionThe term “will” (from OE willa, “mind”, “purpose”), denoting written instructions concerning the disposition of a person’s property after death, first became current in English in the 14th century, “testament” (from the Latin testamentum) having become established rather earlier. The synonymous native and Latin terms were combined in a legal doublet as “[last] will and testament.” German likewise adopted the Latin term (as  Testament), but not every disposition  mortis causa was a  Testament  in the German sense. Other dispositions include the  Erbvertrag  (…

1. Meaning and development The term “civil code” describes the comprehensive law codes that toward the end of the early modern period, as chronologically and geographically neighboring evidence from Switzerland shows, were called Zivilgesetzbuch (“civil code”; e.g. Solothurn 1841/1847), Codice Civile (e.g. Ticino 1837), and “Privatgesetzbuch” (“private code”; e.g. Zurich 1856), but usually “Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch” (“civil code”; e.g. Lucerne 1831/1839). They regulate the legal material known by the synonyms civil law and private la…

1. Europäische Erscheinungsformen 1.1. BegriffDer moderne Sammelbegriff S. umfasst unter dem Aspekt funktioneller Vergleichbarkeit die Gesamtheit ständischer Repräsentativorgane Europas (Repräsentation), unter deren vielfältigen Aufgaben die Unterstützung des Herrschers durch polit. Rat sowie militärische und finanzielle Hilfe (Leistung von consilium und auxilium) einen zentralen Platz einnahmen. Vergleichende Untersuchungen zu Repräsentativorganen in außereurop. Gesellschaften verweisen auf einen kausalen Zusammenhang zwischen der En…

1. Historische Entwicklung 1.1. BegriffG. (Legislative) ist eine der drei klassischen Staats-Funktionen neben Verwaltung und Gerichtsbarkeit. Diese Trias liegt der Lehre von der Gewaltenteilung zugrunde und ist daher bereits älteren Ursprungs. Die G. als Gestaltung der gesamten Rechtsordnung unterschied sich schon seit dem MA von der Rechtsfindung im Einzelfall durch Urteile sowie von konkreten obrigkeitlichen (administrativen) Maßnahmen, wie etwa der Erhebung von Steuern. Allerdings wurden G. und Gerichtsbarkeit noch bis in die Frühe Nz. hinein gemeinsam als Rechtsfindu…

1. Historical development 1.1. DefinitionLegislation (legislature) is one of the three classical functions of the state in addition to government and jurisdiction. This trio is the basis of the doctrine of the separation of powers (Powers, separation of) and so is of even earlier date. Since the Middle Ages, legislation as the creation of an entire legal order has differed from the application of law in individual cases by means of judgment and specific (administrative) measures enacted by authoriti…

1. European assemblies 1.1. TerminologyThe modern collective term assembly of the estates covers all the estatist representative bodies of Europe that were functionally comparable (Representation); among their varied tasks, support of the ruler through political counsel and military and financial assistance (providing  consilium and  auxilium) had a central place. Comparative studies of representative bodies in non-European societies suggest a causal connection between the emergence of such assemblies and the specifically European development of feudalism [13].The …

1. Fürstliches Hofrecht 1.1. AllgemeinDer Fürsten-Hof war nicht nur der Ort der höchsten Gerichtsbarkeit im Herrschafts-Bereich des Fürsten, er konstituierte auch einen eigenen Rechtsraum. In ihm galten spezifische, vom Fürsten erlassene Regeln und Normen, die das Verhalten sowohl der Hofmitglieder als auch der Hofbesucher innerhalb der höfischen Sphäre regelten. Kam es zu Verstößen gegen diese Regelungen, besaß der Fürstenhof eine eigene Gerichtsbarkeit. Häufig oblag die Aufgabe der Rechtsprechung dem obersten Hofmar…

1. Court law 1.1. IntroductionA princely court was not just the site of the highest jurisdiction under the prince’s authority; it also constituted a legal space unto itself. Specific rules and norms issued by the prince were in force there that regulated the behavior of members of the court and visitors within the confines of the court. If these rules were violated, the prince’s court had its own jurisdiction. The task of administering justice at court often fell to the chief steward ( Hofmarschall). Members of court thus stood outside ordinary municipal jurisdiction. As a …

[English Version] I. Biblisch 1.  In Israel und Juda. Vom 10. bis ins 8.Jh. v.Chr. ist im Vergleich zu Ägypten und Mesopotamien nur mit einer rudimentären V. zu rechnen. Die Staatseinnahmen wurden im wesentlichen vom königlichen Krongut erwirtschaftet, das noch z.Z. Hiskias die Festungen verproviantierte (Königsstempel). Das Krongut unterstand dem Majordomo ('šr ‘l hbjt; 1Kön 4,6 u. ö.; epigraphisch: ReRö II, 113f.; in einem Privathaushalt: Gen 43,16 u. ö.). Die Beamtenbez. »Knecht« (‘bd, »Sklave«) des …

[German Version] I. Bible – II. History – III. Law – IV. Church Administration – V. Ethics I. Bible 1. In Israel and Judah . From the 10th into the 8th century bce, only a rudimentary administration can be assumed in Israel and Judah in comparison to Egypt and Mesopotamia. State income was basically produced by the royal demesne, which at the time of Hezekiah supplied provisions for fortresses (royal seal). The royal demesne was under the control of a major-domo or steward ( 'šr ʿl hbyt; 1 Kgs 4:6, passim; epigraphic evidence in ReRö II, 113f.; in a private household: Gen 43:16, passim). The desi…