Matthias Fronius (28 February 1522 – 1588) was a
Lutheran cleric and ''Stadtrichter'' (English: city magistrate) in
Kronstadt,
Siebenbürgen, where he was born and died. He was the author of ''Statuta Jurivm Municipalium Saxonum inn Transylvania'', a 16th-century
codification of
Transylvanian law that incorporated
legal principles
A legal doctrine is a framework, set of rules, procedural steps, or test, often established through precedent in the common law, through which judgments can be determined in a given legal case. A doctrine comes about when a judge makes a ruling ...
established by both
Roman and
Anglo-Saxon law.
In his work, of which another version was published in German language (''Der Sachsen inn Siebenbürgen: Statuta Oder eigen Landtrecht'') in 1583, delineated
real estate entitlements for the
Transylvanian Saxons, whose autonomy within the
Kingdom of Hungary was guaranteed under the ''
Diploma Andreanum''.
Fronius studied
Theology at
University of Wittenberg under
Martin Luther and
Philipp Melanchthon
Philip Melanchthon. (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lu ...
, obtaining his degree in 1543.
Works by Matthias Fronius
*''Statuta Jurium Municipalium Saxonum inn Transylvania''. Opera Matthiae Fronii. 1583. Corona.
*''Der Sachsen inn Siebenbürgen: Statuta Oder eigen Landtrecht''. Durch Matthiam Fronium. 1583. Hermannstadt.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fronius, Matthias
Transylvanian Saxon people
16th-century German Lutheran clergy
Legal history of Romania