Otto Friedrich von Gierke (11 January 1841 – October 10 1921) was a
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
historian. He was born in
Stettin (Szczecin)Szczecin - is the capital city of West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of the 2005 census the city had a total population of 420,638. In 2007 its population was 407,811.Szczecin is located on the...
,
PomeraniaThe Province of Pomerania was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 until 1946. Since then it has been part of Germany and Poland....
, and died in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
He specialised in the study of the German antecedents of German law. His view of the
RechtsstaatRechtsstaat is a concept in continental European legal thinking, originally borrowed from German jurisprudence, which can be translated as "state of law", "state of justice", or "state of rights"...
(state on a legal basis), and his emphasis on the federal nature of medieval states, became important and debated. He stood as an opponent of the trend of
civil law (legal system)Civil law is a legal system inspired by Roman law, the primary feature of which is that laws are written into a collection, codified, and not determined, as in common law, by judges. The principle of civil law is to provide all citizens with an accessible and written collection of the laws which...
interpretation and theorising.
Abroad he was a major influence on the British historian of law
F. W. MaitlandFrederic William Maitland was an English jurist and historian, generally regarded as the modern father of English legal history...
, who translated as
Political Theories of the Middle Ages some of Gierke's major works, and on
John Neville FiggisJohn Neville Figgis was a historian, political philosopher and monk. Educated at Brighton College, he was a student of Lord Acton at Cambridge, and editor of much of Acton's work....
.
- Das deutsche Genossenschaftsrecht, Berlin 4 volumes, 1868, 1873, 1881
- Deutsches Privatrecht, 3 volumes, Leipzig 1895
- Naturrrecht und Deutsches Recht, Frankfurt 1883
- Scruton, Roger
Roger Vernon Scruton is an English conservative philosopher, writer, activist and composer. He is currently a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.-Biography:...
,"Gierke and the corporate person" in The Philosopher on Dover Beach, Manchester, Carcanet Press, 1990.
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Otto Friedrich von Gierke (11 January 1841 – October 10 1921) was a
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
historian. He was born in
Stettin (Szczecin)Szczecin - is the capital city of West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of the 2005 census the city had a total population of 420,638. In 2007 its population was 407,811.Szczecin is located on the...
,
PomeraniaThe Province of Pomerania was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 until 1946. Since then it has been part of Germany and Poland....
, and died in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
He specialised in the study of the German antecedents of German law. His view of the
RechtsstaatRechtsstaat is a concept in continental European legal thinking, originally borrowed from German jurisprudence, which can be translated as "state of law", "state of justice", or "state of rights"...
(state on a legal basis), and his emphasis on the federal nature of medieval states, became important and debated. He stood as an opponent of the trend of
civil law (legal system)Civil law is a legal system inspired by Roman law, the primary feature of which is that laws are written into a collection, codified, and not determined, as in common law, by judges. The principle of civil law is to provide all citizens with an accessible and written collection of the laws which...
interpretation and theorising.
Abroad he was a major influence on the British historian of law
F. W. MaitlandFrederic William Maitland was an English jurist and historian, generally regarded as the modern father of English legal history...
, who translated as
Political Theories of the Middle Ages some of Gierke's major works, and on
John Neville FiggisJohn Neville Figgis was a historian, political philosopher and monk. Educated at Brighton College, he was a student of Lord Acton at Cambridge, and editor of much of Acton's work....
.
Works
- Das deutsche Genossenschaftsrecht, Berlin 4 volumes, 1868, 1873, 1881
- Deutsches Privatrecht, 3 volumes, Leipzig 1895
- Naturrrecht und Deutsches Recht, Frankfurt 1883
Secondary
- Scruton, Roger
Roger Vernon Scruton is an English conservative philosopher, writer, activist and composer. He is currently a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.-Biography:...
,"Gierke and the corporate person" in The Philosopher on Dover Beach, Manchester, Carcanet Press, 1990. ISBN 0-85635-857-6
External links