Bernhard Windscheid (26 June 1817 – 26 October 1892) was a German
jurist
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...
and a member of the
pandectistic school of law thought.
He became famous with his essay on the concept of a legal action, which sparkled a debate with that is said to have initiated the studies of the processal law as we know it today. Windscheid's thesis established the modern German law concept of ''Anspruch'' (roughly, a legally enforceable claim), distinguishing it from the
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 (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I.
Roman law also den ...
concept of ''actio''.
His principal work was his ''Lehrbuch des Pandektenrechts'', and this was the main source of inspiration for the German Civil Code – the
BGB. Between 1873 and 1883, Windscheid was part of the commission in charge of the drafting of the German Civil Code.
Additionally, Windscheid worked as a teacher at several universities in Germany and Switzerland, including
Basel
Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
,
Greifswald
Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. In 2021 it surpa ...
,
München
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
,
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...
, and
Leipzig
Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
.
Family
Bernhard Windscheid married the artist Auguste Eleanore Charlotte "Lotte" Pochhammer (1830–1918) on 4 November 1858.
Four recorded children resulted from this marriage. The eldest,
Käthe Windscheid (1859–1943) achieved prominence as a women's rights activist and as a pioneer of women's education. (1862–1910) was also something of a pioneer in his chosen field: he was a
neurologist
Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the ...
. The younger two children, Charlotte and Margarete, were twins.
Published works
A full bibliography of Windscheid is provided by Felix Klein.
His major works include:
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** 3. ed., Düsseldorf 1870
Vol. IVol. II and Vol. III (in German).
** 5. ed., Stuttgart 1879
Vol. IVol. II an
Vol. III (in German).
** 6. ed., Frankfurt 1887
Vol. IVol. II an
Vol. III (in German).
** 9. ed., Leipzig, 1906, ed. by
Theodor Kipp, is the edition usually cited.
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References
Further reading
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External links
Leipzig University (German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Windscheid, Bernhard
1817 births
1892 deaths
Academic staff of the University of Greifswald
People from Düsseldorf
German legal scholars
Jurists from the Kingdom of Prussia