The Lübeck law (german: Lübisches (Stadt)Recht) was the family of codified municipal law developed at
Lübeck
Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...
, which became a
free imperial city
In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...
in 1226 and is located in present day
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...
. It was the second most prevalent form of municipal law in
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
and
early modern Germany next to the
Magdeburg Law.
Lübeck Law provided for municipal self-government and self-administration yet did not negate dependance upon a lord, be it a bishop, duke, king or, in Lübeck's case, an emperor. Instead, it allowed the cities a certain degree of autonomy and self-reliance in legislative, judicial and executive matters. While these authorities were vested in the city council (Rat), the members of which could be elected by
co-option
Co-option (also co-optation, sometimes spelt coöption or coöptation) has two common meanings.
It may refer to the process of adding members to an elite group at the discretion of members of the body, usually to manage opposition and so maintai ...
, the Lübeck Law represents a significant modernization of governance in that a class of
burghers, as opposed to
nobles, were responsible for the day to day affairs of governing.
The Lübeck Law is not analogous to Hanseatic law.
Hanseatic cities
The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label= Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German tow ...
adopted either Lübeck or
Magdeburg law.
History
Lübeck set about spreading its form of government to other cities around the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...
. Eventually about 100 adopted a government based on the law. It still serves as a foundation for
German town laws in many of those cities. Later in the 13th century, cities predominantly governed by the Lübeck Law formed into a powerful trade association, the
Hanseatic League, which amounted to a quasi-confederacy with headquarters at Lübeck. However, by the 15th century, major ''
kontor
A ''kontor'' () was a foreign trading post of the Hanseatic League.
In addition to the major ''kontore'' in London (the Steelyard), Bruges, Bergen (Bryggen), and Novgorod (Peterhof), some ports had a representative merchant and a warehouse.
E ...
e'' and smaller trading posts of the ''Hanse'', which was then at the high point of its influence, spread throughout northern
Central Europe
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...
and the British Isles, from
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
to
Veliky Novgorod
Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ...
and from
Trondheim
Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...
to
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
, dominating trade far beyond German-speaking regions and also far beyond the cities where Lübeck law was in force.
The earliest Latin manuscript transmitting the Lubeck law dates to 1226, the oldest
Middle Low German
Middle Low German or Middle Saxon (autonym: ''Sassisch'', i.e. " Saxon", Standard High German: ', Modern Dutch: ') is a developmental stage of Low German. It developed from the Old Saxon language in the Middle Ages and has been documented i ...
manuscript to 1270. The earliest reference to a Lübeck law manuscript is attributed to 1188. The Lübeck law is influenced by the merchants from
Westphalia
Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants.
The territory of the regio ...
who settled Lübeck as well as by the
Holstein
Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...
land law and the
Schleswig
The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ...
Law.
Lübeck law was prevalent throughout cities in Northern and Northeastern Germany (''Niederdeutschland'') until 1900, when the modern German civil code (''
Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch'') was implemented.
Main principle
The Lübeck law provided that a city should be governed by a ''Rat'' (Council), having 20 ''Ratsherrn'' (council members). They were not elected by the citizens, but they would appoint a new member on their own from the city's merchant
guilds. This was considered a key to representation of the guilds in the Rat of the city. The period of office was in principle 2 years, but the ''Rat'' could ask a ''Ratsherr'' to stay in office, which usually happened, so that the election was effectively for life.
The ''Rat'' elected up to four ''Bürgermeister'' (
burgomaster
Burgomaster (alternatively spelled burgermeister, literally "master of the town, master of the borough, master of the fortress, master of the citizens") is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chie ...
, mayor) from its members, who shared the power of government. The "first burgomaster", usually the eldest of them, acted as a ''
primus inter pares''. These rules were in force up to the middle of the 19th century. The burgomasters stayed in office as long as they could. There are several examples from the Middle Ages in which burgomasters of Hanseatic League cities were sentenced to death for unsuccessful politics.
This model of a city government provided that only the most experienced, influential and personally most successful merchants - and a few lawyers, called ''
Syndics'' - became members of the ''Rat''. It was also a rule that a father and his son, or brothers, could never be members of the ''Rat'' at the same time, so that influential families could not get too large a share of influence on the city's politics.
Cities with Lübeck law
See also
*
German town law
*
Kulm law
*
Magdeburg rights
Magdeburg rights (german: Magdeburger Recht; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within ...
Notes
Citations
References
*Dollinger, Phillipe. ''The German Hansa.'' Translated and Edited by D. S. Ault and S. H. Steinberg. Stanford University Press, 1970.
*Wilhelm Ebel: Lübisches Recht. 1. Band, Lübeck 1971
External links
Heutiges Lübisches Stadtrecht nach der Revision vom Jahre 1586
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lubeck Law
Legal history of the Holy Roman Empire
History of Lübeck
Hanseatic League
Urban planning in Germany