The ''Landrecht'' (, "customary law of the region",Arnold, Benjamin (1991). ''Princes and territories in medieval Germany'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, p. 31. . plural: ''Landrechte'') was the law applying within an individual state in the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

and

Early Modern The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

times. The state laws that emerged in the territories of the empire from the 12th century onwards had been developed from the older tribal laws of the

Saxons The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

Swabians Swabians ( , singular ''Schwabe'') are a Germans, German ethnographic group native to the region of Swabia, which is mostly divided between the modern states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately de ...

Bavarians Bavarians are a Germans, German ethnographic group native to Bavaria, a state in Germany. The group's dialect or speech is known as Bavarian language, Bavarian, native to Altbayern ("Old Bavaria"), roughly the territory of the historic Electo ...

and

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a f ...

. Through privileges and

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

s passed by the territorial princes as well as the jurisprudence of the ''Landgerichte'' or state courts, these ancient rights were supplemented and developed. Later

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 ...

was also accepted and incorporated into the ''Landrechte''. The ''Landrecht'' was only applied to the burghers of a town in a secondary way, because they came primarily under

municipal law Municipal law is the national, domestic, or internal law of a sovereign state and is defined in opposition to international law. It encompasses the laws enacted by national, state, or local governments and is concerned with regulating the behavi ...

and the autonomous jurisdiction of their communities.

Ambit

The ''Landrechte'' contained regulations for all possible branches of law:

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...

private law Private law is that part of a legal system that governs interactions between individual persons. It is distinguished from public law, which deals with relationships between both natural and artificial persons (i.e., organizations) and the st ...

policing The police are a constituted body of people empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citizen ...

feudal law Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structuring societ ...

and

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

. However these areas were not necessarily comprehensively covered. Often they operated alongside Saxon Law (''Sachsenrecht''), Roman law and more recent, imperial, legal regulations.

Overview

The various ''Landrechte'' were written down at very different times. The Austrian ''Landrecht'' had already been developed by the

Babenberg The House of Babenberg was a noble dynasty of Austrian Dukes and Margraves. Descending from the Popponids and originally from Bamberg in the Duchy of Franconia (present-day Bavaria), the Babenbergs ruled the imperial Margraviate of Austria fr ...

period and was recorded around 1278 by King Rudolph I and in 1298 under

Albert I Albert I may refer to: People Born before 1300 * Albert I, Count of Vermandois (917–987) * Albert I, Count of Namur () * Albert I of Moha *Albert I of Brandenburg (), first margrave of Brandenburg * Albert I, Margrave of Meissen (1158–1195) *Al ...

. Based on the

customary law A legal custom is the established pattern of behavior within a particular social setting. A claim can be carried out in defense of "what has always been done and accepted by law". Customary law (also, consuetudinary or unofficial law) exists wher ...

(''Gewohnheitsrecht'') of the state of

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

, it was probably written down in the 2nd half of the 14th century and also applied to

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

. The Tyrolean ''Landrecht'' emerged in the late 13th century and, in 1328, Archbishop Frederick III consolidated it and made it the law of Salzburg by passing an ordinance (''Landesordnung''). In the Palatinate, the ''Landrecht'' was not recorded until the 16th century. The

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

n ''Landrecht'' developed primarily as a result of the aggregation of judgments by the regional court ( ''Landgericht''), which were compiled into the so-called '' Landtafeln''. The Bohemian development also influenced Moravian ''Landrecht'' and the law in parts of Silesia. The emergence of ''Landrechte'' in the Middle Ages was crucial in the formation of countries, because they were able to constitute themselves as a legal community of free inhabitants. Once they were formed as such, they remained mostly intact as independent legal and political units, even where several states were united under the rule of one dynasty, for example, in the case of the various territories under the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

. With the promulgation of the

German Civil Code German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, the ''Landrechte'' were superseded.

Literature

References

Sources

* Oberbayerisches Landrecht Kaiser Ludwigs des Bayern von 1346. Edition, Übersetzung und Kommentar von Hans Schlosser und Ingo Schwab. Köln u.a. 2000. * Codex Maximilianeus Bavaricus civilis oder neu verbessert und ergaenzt chur-bayrisches Land-Recht, welches alle zur bürgerlichen Rechts-Gelehrsamkeit gehoerige Materien in sich begreift : benebst dem am Ende beygefuegten Lehen-Recht. Munich, 1756 * Churfürstlicher Pfaltz Landrecht. Heydelberg, 1582. * Landrecht des Fürstenthumbs Württemberg gemein ..Tübingen, 1591. * Landrecht Der Fürstenthumben der Marggravschafften Baden vn Hachberg, Landgraveschafft Saussenberg, auch Herrschafften Röttlen vnnd Badenweyler, c. : Inn siben Teyl verfasset; Senft, Durlach, 162
Online

Secondary literature

* Heinrich Gottfried Wilhelm Daniels: Kurkölnisches Landrecht, hrsg. und bearb. von Christoph Becker. (= Rechtsgeschichtliche Schriften. 19). Cologne etc., 2005 * Karl August Eckhardt: Das Dithmarscher Landrecht von 1447. Nach d. Ausg. von Andreas Ludwig Jacob Michelsen. (=Germanenrechte. 16). Göttingen u. Marburg/L., 1960 * Helmut Günter (Hrsg.): Das bayerische Landrecht von 1616. (= Schriftenreihe zur bayerischen Landesgeschichte. 66) Munich, 1969. * Ernst Theodor Gaupp: Das schlesische Landrecht oder Eigentlich Landrecht des Fürstentums Breslau von 1356, an sich und in seinem Verhältnis zum Sachsenspiegel. Leipzig, 1828. * Maria Dirks: Das Landrecht des Kurfürstentums Trier. Seine Geschichte u. s. Stellung in der Rechtsgeschichte. Saarbrücken, 1965. * Wilhelm Hartnack (ed.): Das Wittgensteiner Landrecht nach dem Original-Codex von 1579. Laasphe, 1960 * Otto Dehler: Das hennebergische Landrecht in den Grundzügen dargestellt. iss.Würzburg, 1939. * Stieber, Miloslav: Das österreichische Landrecht und die böhmischen Einwirkungen auf die Reformen König Ottokars in Österreich. Innsbruck, 1905 * Wieslaw Litewski: Landrecht des Herzogtums Preußen von 1620. 5 Bde. Warsaw, 1982-1987. * Ferdinand Bischoff: Steiermärkisches Landrecht des Mittelalters. Graz, 1875. * W. Weltin, ''Das österreichische Landrecht des 13. Jahrhunderts'', in: Recht und Schrift im Mittelalter, 1977.

External links

Landrecht und Landesordnung der Kurpfalz (1700)

{{Authority control Law of the Holy Roman Empire