Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

SAVIGNY, FRIEDRICH KARL VON (1779–1861)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 243 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

SAVIGNY, See also:FRIEDRICH KARL VON (1779–1861) , See also:German jurist, was See also:born at See also:Frankfort-on-See also:Main on the 21st of See also:February 1779. He was descended from an See also:ancient See also:family, which figures in the See also:history of See also:Lorraine, and which derived its name from the See also:castle of Savigny near Charmes in the valley of the Moselle. See also:Left an See also:orphan at the See also:age of 13, he was brought up by his See also:guardian until, in 1795, he entered the university of See also:Marburg, where, though suffering at times severely from See also:ill-See also:health, he studied under Professors Anton See also:Bauer (1772–1843) and Philipp Friedrich See also:Weiss (1766–1808), the former one of the most conspicuous pioneers in the reform of the German criminal See also:law, the latter distinguished for his knowledge of See also:medieval See also:jurisprudence. After the See also:fashion of German. students, Savigny visited several See also:universities, notably See also:Jena, See also:Leipzig and See also:Halle; and returning to Marburg, took his See also:doctor's degree in 1800. At Marburg he lectured as Privatdozent on criminal law and the See also:Pandects. In 1803 he published his famous See also:treatise, Das Recht See also:des Besitzes (the rights of See also:possession). It was at once hailed by the See also:great jurist See also:Thibaut as a masterpiece; and the old uncritical study of See also:Roman law was at an end. It quickly obtained a See also:European reputation, and still remains a prominent landmark in the history of jurisprudence. In 1804 Savigny married Kunigunde See also:Brentano, the See also:sister of Bettina von See also:Arnim and Clemens Brentano the poet, and the same See also:year started on an extensive tour through See also:France and See also:south See also:Germany in See also:search of fresh See also:sources of Roman law. In this quest, particularly in See also:Paris, he was successful. In 18o8 he was appointed by the Bavarian See also:government See also:ordinary See also:professor of Roman law at See also:Landshut, where he remained a year and a See also:half. In 18ro he was called, chiefly at the instance of Wilhelm von See also:Humboldt, to fill the See also:chair of Roman law at the new university of See also:Berlin.

Here one of his services was to create, in connexion with the See also:

faculty of law, a " Spruch-Collegium," an extraordinary tribunal competent to deliver opinions on cases remitted to it by the ordinary courts; and he took an active See also:part in its labours. This was the busiest See also:time of his See also:life. He was engaged in lecturing, in the government of the university (of which he was the third See also:rector), and as See also:tutor to the See also:crown See also:prince in Roman, criminal and Prussian law. Not the least important consequence of his See also:residence in Berlin was his friendship with See also:Niebuhr and See also:Eichhorn. In 1814 appeared his pamphlet Vom Beruf unserer Zeit See also:fur Gesetzgebung and Rechtswissenschaft (new edition, 1892). It was a protest against the demand for codification, and was intended as a reply to Thibaut's pamphlet urging the See also:necessity of forming a See also:code for Germany which should be See also:independent of the See also:influence of See also:foreign legal systems. In this famous pamphlet Savigny did not oppose the introduction ofnew See also:laws, or even a new See also:system of laws, but only objected to the proposed codification on two grounds: (1) that the damage which had been caused by the neglect of former generations of jurists could not be quickly repaired, and that time was required to set the See also:house in See also:order; and (2) that there was great See also:risk of the so-called natural law, with its "See also:infinite arrogance " and its " shallow See also:philosophy " ruining such a See also:scheme. Indeed, the enduring value of this pamphlet is that it saved jurisprudence for all time from the hollow abstractions of such a See also:work as the Institutions See also:juris naturae et gentium of See also:Christian See also:Wolff (1679–1754), and conclusively proved that a See also:historical study of the See also:positive law was a See also:condition precedent to the right understanding of the See also:science of all law. In 1815 he founded, with Karl Friedrich Eichhorn, and Johann Friedrich See also:Ludwig See also:Goschen (1778–1837), the Zeitschrift fur geschichtliche Rechtswissenschaft, the See also:organ of the new historical school, of which he was the representative. In this periodical (vol. iii. p. 129 seq.) Savigny made known to the See also:world the See also:discovery at See also:Verona, by Niebuhr, of the lost See also:text of See also:Gaius, pronouncing it, on the See also:evidence of that portion of the MS. submitted to him, to be the work of Gaius himself and not, as Niebuhr suggested, of See also:Ulpian. The See also:record of the See also:remainder of Savigny's life consists of little else than a See also:list of the merited honours which he received at the hands of his See also:sovereign, and of the See also:works which he published with indefatigable activity.

In 1815 appeared the first See also:

volume of his Geschichte des romischen Rechts See also:im Mittelalter, the last of which was not published until 183r. This work, to which his See also:early instructor Weiss had first prompted him, was originally intended to be a See also:literary history of Roman law from See also:Irnerius to the See also:present time. His See also:design was in some respect narrowed; in others it was widened. He saw See also:fit not to continue the narrative beyond the 16th See also:century, when the separation of nationalities disturbed the See also:foundations of the science of law. His treatment of the subject was not merely that of a bibliographer; it ° was philosophical. It raised the See also:veil which had hung over the history of Roman law, from the breaking up of the See also:empire until the beginning of the 12th century, and showed how, though considered dead, the Roman law yet lived on through these dark centuries, in See also:local customs, in towns, in ecdesiastical doctrines and school teachings, until it blossomed out once more in full splendour in See also:Bologna and other See also:Italian cities. This history was the See also:parent of many valuable works in which Savigny published the result of his investigations.' In 1817 he was appointed a member of the See also:commission for organizing the Prussian provincial estates, and also a member of the See also:department of See also:justice in the Staatsrath, and in 1819 he became a member of the supreme See also:court of See also:appeal for the See also:Rhine Provinces. In 182o he was made a member of the commission for revising the Prussian code. In 1822 a serious See also:nervous illness attacked him, and compelled him to seek See also:relief in travel. In 1835 he began his elaborate work on contemporary Roman law, System des heutigen romischen Rechts (8 vols., 1840–1849). His activity as professor ceased in See also:March 1842, when he was appointed " Grosskanzler " (High See also:Chancellor), the See also:title given by See also:Frederick II. in 1746 to the See also:official at the See also:head of the juridical system in See also:Prussia, as in this position he carried out several important law reforms in regard to bills of See also:exchange and See also:divorce. He held the See also:office until 1848, when he resigned, not altogether to the regret of his See also:friends, who had seen his energies withdrawn from jurisprudence without being able to flatter themselves that he was a great statesman.

In 185o, on the occasion of the See also:

jubilee of his obtaining his doctor's degree, appeared in five volumes his Vermischte Schriften, consisting of a collection of his See also:minor works published between 'Soo and 1844. This event gave rise to much See also:enthusiasm through-out Germany in See also:honour of " the great See also:master " and founder of See also:modern jurisprudence. In 1853 he published his treatise on Contracts (Das Obligationenrecht), a supplement to his work on modern Roman law, in which he clearly demonstrates the necessity for the historical treatment of law. Savigny died at Berlin on the 25th of See also:October 1861. His son, Karl Friedrich ' See von See also:Mohl's Staatswissenschaft, vol. iii. p. 55. For a some-what less favourable view, see See also:Gans's Vermischte Schriften. Savigny belongs to the so-called historical school of jurists, though he cannot claim to be regarded as its founder, an honour which belongs to Gustav See also:Hugo. In the history of jurisprudence Savigny's great works are the Recht des Besitzes and the Beruf unserer Zeit fur Gesetzgebung above referred to. The former marks an See also:epoch in jurisprudence. Professor See also:Jhering says: " With the Recht des Besitzes the juridical method of the See also:Romans was regained, and modern jurisprudence born." It marked a great advance both in results and method, and rendered obsolete a large literature. Savigny sought to prove that in Roman law possession had always reference to " usucapion " or to " interdicts"; that there is not a right to continuance in possession but only to See also:immunity from interference; possession being based on the consciousness of unlimited See also:power.

These and other propositions were maintained with great acuteness and unequalled ingenuity in interpreting and harmonizing the Roman jurists. The controversy which has been carried on in Germany by Jhering, See also:

Baron, Gans and Bruns shows that many of Savigny's condusions have not been accepted.' The Beruf unserer Zeit, in addition to the more specific See also:object the treatise had in view, which has been already treated, expresses the See also:idea, unfamiliar in 1814, that law is part and See also:parcel of See also:national life, and combats the notion, too much assumed by See also:French jurists, especially in the 18th century, and countenanced in practice by See also:Bentham, that law might be arbitrarily imposed on a See also:country irrespective of its See also:state of See also:civilization and past history. Of even greater value than his services in consolidating " the historical school of jurisprudence" is the emphatic recognition in his works of the fact that the practice and theory of jurisprudence cannot be divorced without injury to both. See See also:Biographies by Stinzing (1862) ; Rudorff (1867) ; Bethmann-Holweg (1867) ; and Landsberg (189o).

End of Article: SAVIGNY, FRIEDRICH KARL VON (1779–1861)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
SAVIGLIANO 		[next]
SAVILE, SIR G

Site © 2006 - Net Industries