Sachsenspiegel
Encyclopedia
The Sachsenspiegel is the most important law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

 book and legal code
Legal code
A legal code is a body of law written by a governmental body, such as a U.S. state, a Canadian Province or German Bundesland or a municipality...

 of the German Middle Ages
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

. Written ca. 1220 as a record of existing law, it was used in parts of Germany until as late as 1900, and is important not only for its lasting effect on German law, but also as an early example of written German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

prose, being the first large legal document to be written in German, instead of Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

. A Latin edition is known to have existed, but only fragmented chapters remain.

History

The Sachsenspiegel was one of the first prose works in Low German (Middle Saxon) language. The original title is Sassen Speyghel, Sachsenspiegel being a later German translation. It is believed to have been compiled and translated from Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 by the Saxon
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...

 administrator Eike von Repgow
Eike von Repgow
Eike von Repgow from Repgow, now Reppichau in Saxony-Anhalt), was a medieval German administrator who compiled the Sachsenspiegel in the Thirteenth Century.-The Sachsenspiegel:...

 at the behest of his liege lord Graf Hoyer von Falkenstein in the years 1220 to 1235. Where the original was compiled is unclear. It was thought to have been written at Burg Falkenstein, but Peter Landau, an expert in medieval canon law recently suggested that it may have been written at the monastery of Altzelle (now Altzella).

The Sachsenspiegel served as a model for law books in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 (Middle High German
Middle High German
Middle High German , abbreviated MHG , is the term used for the period in the history of the German language between 1050 and 1350. It is preceded by Old High German and followed by Early New High German...

) like the Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...

er Sachsenspiegel
, the Deutschenspiegel, and the Schwabenspiegel. Its influence extended into Eastern Europe, the Netherlands, and the Baltic States.

In Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

, the Sachsenspiegel was used until the introduction of the Allgemeines Landrecht für die preußischen Staaten in 1794. In Saxony it was used until the introduction of the Saxon Civil Code in 1865. In Anhalt
Anhalt
Anhalt was a sovereign county in Germany, located between the Harz Mountains and the river Elbe in Middle Germany. It now forms part of the state of Saxony-Anhalt.- Dukes of Anhalt :...

 and Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....

 the Sachsenspiegel was not replaced until the introduction of the German civil code, the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch
Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch
The Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch is the civil code of Germany. In development since 1881, it became effective on January 1, 1900, and was considered a massive and groundbreaking project....

in 1900. Its precedents continued to be cited as recently as 1932 by the "Reichsgericht" (Supreme Court of the Reich) (RGZ 137, 373).

The influence of the Sachsenspiegel, or at least parallels with it, can still be found in modern German law, for instance in inheritance law and the law governing disputes between neighbors:

Branches of Law

The Sachsenspiegel contains two branches of law: common law and the feudal law.

Common Law

The common law (Landrecht in German) is the law of free people including farmers (known as "legal persons"). It contains important regulations concerning property rights, inheritances, matrimonies, the distribution of goods and the regulation of various legal disputes (e.g. between neighbors).
It also regulates the criminal law and the constitution of the courts. In terms of modern legal systems it can be thought of as including criminal and civil law.

Feudal Law

The feudal law (Lehnrecht in German) determines the relationship between the different estates, for example the election of emperor
Emperor
An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...

s and kings
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...

, feudal rights, etc. Though it has no modern equivalent, it can be compared to what one would call today constitutional law.

Extant copies


Four (of the original seven) illuminated manuscript
Illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...

s copies are still extant. They are named after their present locations: Heidelberg, Oldenburg, Dresden, and Wolfenbüttel, and date from about 1300 to 1370.

Proverbs

Some German proverb
Proverb
A proverb is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim...

s date from the Sachsenspiegel:
  • "Wer zuerst kommt, mahlt zuerst" (First come, first served, literally: "Who comes first, grinds first"), which is a rule for the order for grinding corn by a miller
    Miller
    A miller usually refers to a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a cereal crop to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents in other languages around the world...

    .
  • "Wo der Esel sich wälzt, da muss er Haare lassen.", lit: "Where the donkey rolls, there he sheds." This is a rule for the jurisdiction of courts.

See also

  • Germanic tribal laws
  • Pleading in English Act 1362
    Pleading in English Act 1362
    The Pleading in English Act 1362 , often rendered Statute of Pleading, was an Act of the Parliament of England. The Act complained that because the French language was much unknown in England, the people therefore had no knowledge of what is being said for them or against them in the courts, which...

    , English law mandating use of English instead of French in oral argument in court
  • Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts
    Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts
    The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts is an extensive piece of reform legislation signed into law by Francis I of France on August 10, 1539 in the city of Villers-Cotterêts....

    , 1539, French legislation mandating use of French in law, in place of Latin
  • Proceedings in Courts of Justice Act 1730
    Proceedings in Courts of Justice Act 1730
    The Proceedings in Courts of Justice Act 1730 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which made English the obligatory language for use in the courts of England and in the court of exchequer in Scotland...

    , British law mandating use of English instead of Latin in court writing

External links

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