Fritz Schulz (16 June 1879 – 12 November 1957) was a German

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

and legal historian. He was one of the 20th centuries' most important scholars in the field of

Roman Law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the ''Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...

. The

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

forced him to leave Germany and to emigrate to England due to his political stance and his

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

origins.

Life

Schulz was born in Bunzlau,

Lower Silesia Lower Silesia ( pl, Dolny Śląsk; cz, Dolní Slezsko; german: Niederschlesien; szl, Dolny Ślōnsk; hsb, Delnja Šleska; dsb, Dolna Šlazyńska; Silesian German: ''Niederschläsing''; la, Silesia Inferior) is the northwestern part of the ...

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

(now Boleslawiec,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

). Schulz' father was a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

. His mother came from a Jewish family. She converted to Christianity when Fritz was a small boy. Schulz grew up in his native town in Lower Silesia and studied law in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and Breslau (now

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

) from 1899 to 1902, when he passed the First State Examination in Law. He received the grade of ''

Doctor iuris Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

'' from the University of Breslau in 1905. In the same year, Schulz obtained the

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...

Breisgau The Breisgau () is an area in southwest Germany between the Rhine River and the foothills of the Black Forest. Part of the state of Baden-Württemberg, it centers on the city of Freiburg im Breisgau. The district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, ...

. In 1910, Schulz was appointed to a full professorship in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

(

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

). From Innsbruck, Schulz moved on to posts in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

(1912),

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

(1916) and

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

(1923). During his time in Göttingen, Schulz actively supported the

Deutsche Demokratische Partei The German Democratic Party (, or DDP) was a center-left liberal party in the Weimar Republic. Along with the German People's Party (, or DVP), it represented political liberalism in Germany between 1918 and 1933. It was formed in 1918 from the ...

, a left-of-center liberal party, which was among the staunchest supporters of the fragile democratic system in Germany. In 1931, Schulz accepted a call to the University of Berlin. At the time, a professorship in Berlin was considered the most prestigious post a legal scholar could achieve in his career. However, Schulz's brilliant academic career was brutally interrupted when it had just reached its peak. In 1934, Schulz was forcibly transferred to the University of Frankfurt am Main and then forced to retirement in 1935. In spite of this, Schulz stayed in Germany. Only in 1939 he emigrated, first to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and then to

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

(England). In Oxford, Schulz managed to survive due to financial support from various sources including

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

and the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

. Schulz did not return to stay in Germany after the war. In 1947, he became a

British subject The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...

. Schulz did, however, give a series of guest lectures at German universities after the war. In 1949 received an honorary doctorate from the University of Frankfurt am Main. He was honoured with a

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

at the occasion of his 70th birthday. Schulz also became Honorary Professor at the University of Bonn (1951) and member of the

Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei The Accademia dei Lincei (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed", but anglicised as the Lincean Academy) is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rom ...

in Rome (1952). He died in Oxford.

Werner Flume Werner Flume (12 September 1908 – 28 January 2009) was a German jurist and professor of Roman law, private law, tax law and a legal historian. He has significantly influenced the modern development of German private law and has been ...

, one of Germany's most influential jurists in the second half of the 20th century, is a pupil of Fritz Schulz.

Scholarly achievements

Schulz is best known today for his vivid and very readable works on Roman law and Roman legal science. Even though he followed the prevalent scientific trend of his day and tended to assume a large number of interpolations in the Roman texts, his contributions are still valuable and are cited frequently. His book "System der Rechte auf den Eingriffserwerb", published in 1909, is still seen as an important contribution to the

German Law The law of Germany (german: das Recht Deutschlands), that being the modern German legal system (german: Deutsches Rechtssystem), is a system of civil law which is founded on the principles laid out by the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of G ...

of Unjustified Enrichment today.

Works

*''Sabinus-Fragmente in Ulpians Sabinus-Commentar'' (Halle: ''M. Niemeyer'', 1906) *''System der Rechte auf den Eingriffserwerb'' in: ''Archiv für die civilistische Praxis'', vol. 105 (1909) *''Einführung in das Studium der Digesten'' (Tübingen: ''Verlag von J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck)'', 1916) *''Die epitome Ulpiani des Codex vaticanus reginæ 1128'', edited by F. Schulz (Bonn: ''A. Marcus und E. Weber'', 1926) *''Prinzipien des Römischen Rechts, Vorlesungen gehalten an der Universität Berlin von Fritz Schulz'' (München – Leipzig: ''Verlag Duncker & Humblot'', 1934) *''History of Roman Legal Science'' (Oxford: ''Clarendon Press'', 1946) *''Classical Roman Law'' (Oxford: ''Clarendon Press'', 1951, 1954 printing)''Classical Roman Law'', reprint of the edition Oxford 1951, enlarged by a preface to reprint 1992, and a source index by W. Ernst (Aalen: ''Scientia Verlag Aalen'', 1992) *''Geschichte der römischen Rechtswissenschaft'' (Weimar: ''H. Böhlaus Nachfolger'', 1961) *''Thomae Diplovatatii Liber de claris iuris consultis. Pars posterior'', curantibus F. Schulz, H. Kantorowicz, G. Rabotti (Bononiae: ''Institutum Gratianum'', c1968)

Footnotes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schulz, Fritz 1879 births 1957 deaths 20th-century German historians German jurists Humboldt University of Berlin faculty Academics of the University of Innsbruck University of Bonn faculty Legal historians People from Bolesławiec People from the Province of Lower Silesia German male non-fiction writers Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom 20th-century British historians British legal professionals British male writers British legal writers