Rudolf Arnold Nieberding (4 May 1838 – 10 October 1912) 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

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. Nieberding was born in Konitz (modern Chojnice, Poland) to Karl Nieberding, a teacher and later director of the "Gymnasium Petrinum" in Recklinghausen. He passed his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

in Recklinghausen and studied law at the Universities of Breslau (modern Wrocław),

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

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. Nieberding finished his studies in 1863 and, after a short period at the regional administration of Breslau, started to work at the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n ministry of commerce in 1866. Between 1872 and 1889 he worked at the

Reich Chancellery The Reich Chancellery () was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany (then called ''Reichskanzler'') in the period of the German Reich from 1878 to 1945. The Chancellery's seat, selected and prepared since 1875, was the fo ...

in Berlin and became head of the first département at the Reich office of the Interior in 1889. In 1893 he was appointed Secretary of State of the Reichsjustizamt, and he remained in this position under the changing chancellorship of

Leo von Caprivi Georg Leo Graf von Caprivi de Caprara de Montecuccoli (English language, English: ''Count George Leo of Caprivi, Caprara, and Montecuccoli''; born Georg Leo von Caprivi; 24 February 1831 – 6 February 1899) was a German general and statesman. He ...

, Chlodwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst,

Bernhard von Bülow Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin, Prince of Bülow ( ; 3 May 1849 – 28 October 1929) was a German politician who served as the chancellor of the German Empire, imperial chancellor of the German Empire and minister-president of Prussia from 1900 to ...

and

Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg Theobald Theodor Friedrich Alfred von Bethmann Hollweg (29 November 1856 – 1 January 1921) was a German politician who was chancellor of the German Empire, imperial chancellor of the German Empire from 1909 to 1917. He oversaw the German entry ...

until 1909. Nieberding coordinated the elaboration of a new German civil code, the

Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch The ''Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch'' (, ), abbreviated BGB, is the civil code of Germany, codifying most generally-applicably private law. In development since 1881, it became effective on 1 January 1900, and was considered a massive and groundbr ...

(BGB), the associated Commercial law (Handelsgesetzbuch) and the codes of criminal law and criminal and

civil procedure Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and regulations along with some standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or ca ...

; thus he was responsible for the standardisation of German law after the

Unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was a process of building the first nation-state for Germans with federalism, federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without Habsburgs' multi-ethnic Austria or its German-speaking part). I ...

. In his opening speech to the parliamentary debate on the BGB in 1896 Nieberding described the legal situation in Germany as a "colorful muddle, .. for so long forgotten, citizens and families have determined their own legal relationships for themselves." In a Reichstag debate on 23 November 1907 he publicly stated that the lèse-majesté laws of Imperial Germany resulted in a "growth of a base and hostile climate of denunciation" in which "even members of the same family, indeed the best of friends, denounce each other for lèse-majesté the minute discord between them occurs", and these laws were "not entirely reconcilable with the general sense of justice." Nieberding retired in 1909 and died in Berlin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nieberding, Rudolf Arnold 1838 births 1912 deaths People from Chojnice People from the Province of Prussia Jurists from the Kingdom of Prussia German Lutherans German Empire politicians 19th-century German jurists 19th-century Lutherans University of Breslau alumni Heidelberg University alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni