German Legal History
German Legal Science in the 19th Century
The nineteenth century was the golden age of German legal science. German jurists developed a systematic and conceptual approach to law that produced the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch and established German …
German Unification and the Legal System (1871)
The Constitutional Foundation of the German Empire The German Empire (Deutsches Kaiserreich) was proclaimed on January 18, 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, following the defeat of France in …
Legal History of the Holy Roman Empire
The Imperial Reform of 1495 The Holy Roman Empire’s legal order was transformed by the Imperial Reform (Reichsreform) of 1495, enacted at the Diet of Worms under Emperor Maximilian I. The reform …
Post-War Legal Reconstruction in Germany (1945–1960)
The period from 1945 to 1960 saw the comprehensive reconstruction of the German legal system after the collapse of the National Socialist regime. The Allies pursued the denazification of German law, …
The Creation of the Grundgesetz (1948–1949)
The Grundgesetz for the Federal Republic of Germany was created between 1948 and 1949 under the supervision of the Western Allied powers. It was drafted by the Parliamentary Council (Parlamentarischer …
The Historical School of Law and the Development of German Legal Science
The Codification Debate The Historical School of Law (Historische Rechtsschule) emerged from a pivotal debate about the direction of German legal development. In 1814, Anton Friedrich Justus Thibaut, …
The Weimar Constitution and the Nazi Legal Revolution
The Weimar Constitution of 1919 The Weimar Constitution (Weimarer Verfassung), adopted by the National Assembly at Weimar on August 11, 1919, and effective from August 14, was the most democratic …