Search

The Golden Bull of Emperor Charles IV (reigned 1346/1355-1378) of 1356 is one of the most prominent laws of the late medieval and early modern Holy Roman Empire. It is one of the fundamental laws (leges fundamentales) and, from the point of view of constitutional history, presenting a clear programme for the organisation of imperial rule involving the privileged electoral group. The Code pursues the creation of a firmly structured order, which can be based in part on custom. Ranking (casting of votes; seating order; different privileges) and equality of rank (ceremonial) among the electors are laid down as essential elements of an order of unity and peace in the empire. The consensus with the electors sought by the Emperor and apparently largely implemented offered the chance to also implement the agreed and imperially proclaimed rules in reality. In this respect, those important rulers besides the emperor who had to enforce the law in general in their territories were involved in the content and formal design of the Code as a prerequisite and unifying feature. At the heart of the Golden Bull were the rules for the election of kings, which basically stood the test of time until the end of the Old Empire. Clarity and the endeavour to reach agreement on the applicable rules were the goals of the Golden Bull. This meant that there was no longer any room for the election of opposing kings and double elections. In many cases, the legislator was able to refer to tradition and custom, which contributed to an evident legitimisation of the respective norms. Compliance with and enforcement of the legal norms enacted by the legislature were important to the legislature. A system of sanctions – from loss of rights to fines to the death penalty and the diminution of rights/honour of the descendants of executed conspirators/mayhem criminals – reinforced the relevant norms. In this respect, the legislator left no doubt about his determination. The electors, whom he had included in the legislation by consensus, were held in high esteem by him as emperor (of necessity due to the power-political relations in the empire) with regard to the welfare of the Holy Roman Empire.

The teacher of Canon Law Henning Goeden (um 1450–1521) at the universities of Erfurt and Wittenberg and the academic teaching of Canon Law at Wittenberg University. An essay on the occasion of his death 500 years ago. The essay deals with the professor of Canon Law Henning Goeden at the Central German universities Erfurt (founded 1392) and Wittenberg (founded 1502). It contains important facts of Goeden’s academic biography, of his scientific and practical work (consilia), his church offices and his relationship to the Lutheran reformation. The practice of teaching of Canon Law within the system of lections at the Wittenberg Law Faculty under the conditions of the reformation and the increasing influence of Protestant Ecclesiastical Law is considered too.

Vorbemerkung. - I. Rechtsbucher / Ubersicht. - II. Begriffsbestimmungen in der modernen Lehr- und Handbuchliteratur. - III. Selbstbezeichnungen in ausgewahlten Rechtsbuchern und anderen Rechtstexten. - IV. Ergebnis.

Appellationsprivilegien verklammerten die verschiedenen territorialstaatlichen Gerichtsverfassungen mit dem Reich und konnen damit als wichtige Bausteine der Gerichtsverfassung des Alten Reiches begriffen werden. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die Wirkungen der Appellationsprivilegien im Gerichtsverfassungsgefuge und ist damit im Spannungsfeld von Reichsgerichtsbarkeit und Territorialgerichtsbarkeit angesiedelt. Zunachst wird Klarheit uber die hier masgeblichen Begriffe – also Appellationsprivilegien, Gerichtsverfassung und Gestaltungsfaktor – hergestellt. Im zweiten Abschnitt werden anhand der in der Edition von Ulrich Eisenhardt und Elsbeth Markert wiedergegebenen Privilegientexte Gegenstande identifiziert, auf welche die Appellationsprivilegien eingewirkt haben. Im dritten Teil der Untersuchung wird versucht, die Rolle der Appellationsprivilegien als Gestaltungsfaktoren in der Gerichtsverfassung des Alten Reiches naher zu bestimmen. Der vierte und letzte Abschnitt geht speziell auf das kursachsische Appellationsprivileg von 1559 ein.

Vorbemerkung. - I. Ausbildung: 1. Jena, 2. Leipzig, 3. Wittenberg. - II. Praktische Tatigkeit im Kreisamt Tennstedt ud erster Einsatz in der Salinenverwaltung Wissenfels, S. 398. III. Ausbildung: Freiberg, S.400. - IV. Bergrecht und Salinenverwaltung in Kursachsen am Ende des 18 Jh., S. 401. - V. Praktische Tatigkeit in der Salinenverwaltung Weissenfels, S. 404. - VI. Friedrich vonHardenbergs juristiche Arbeitsweise und Rechtsverstandnis. Versuch einer ersten Annaherung, S. 405. - Schluss, S. 411

In the general context of 12th- and 13th-century migrations in Europe, several communities from the Low Countries settled in central Germany, in territories now divided between the Länder Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. Many of these settlements were concentrated in the region between Berlin and Wittenberg, still known today as the Fläming (from Flamen, German for Flemings, but also a generic name for populations from the Low Countries); the settlements also include areas around Burg and Magdeburg, a few localities around Leipzig and Naumburg, and the Goldene Aue, near the Kyffhäuser Hills. The law in those Flemish-Dutch settlements can to some extent be traced back through local customs and place-names, as well as through references in charters granting a distinctive legal status to the colonists. Characteristic features of the legal migration are the equal division of property after death and the terms Schulze and Schultheiß, which may in some cases go back to Netherlandish origins and influences.