General German exchange regulations

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The General German Exchange Order (ADWO) was a standardization of the bill of exchange law in Germany and was in force from 1849 to 1933. First it was passed as a Reich law by the Frankfurt National Assembly in 1849 and remained its only law in the field of civil law. From 1869 the North German Confederation adopted it as a federal law, so that it became an imperial law in the German Empire . It regulated the provisions throughout Germany with a view to the bill of exchange , the rights of debtors and creditors.

Emergence

States of the German Confederation 1815–1848 and 1851–1866

In the 19th century, the bill of exchange was a multi-purpose borrower's note. It could also be used for international money transfers, for currency exchange and almost as a substitute currency. The versatility made it interesting for all branches of trade and commerce. In the German Confederation , however, there was no nationally recognized legislation, but 56 different bill of exchange laws.

In the 1840s, a law on exchange law in Germany provided the basis for standardization. In 1847, the German Customs Union, led by Prussia , convened a conference on the law of exchange at which almost all German governments were represented, even if the states did not belong to the Customs Union. The result of the conference was a joint draft for an ADWO; Since the conference (or the Zollverein) could not pass a bill of exchange law, the individual states should adopt the draft identically as their own law.

Before the states could do this, the March Revolution of 1848 broke out. In Frankfurt, the structures of a German Empire emerged for a short time . Its Frankfurt National Assembly passed imperial laws. The only civil law of this realm was the realm law concerning the introduction of a general exchange order for Germany of November 24th, 1848. As a result, the draft of the exchange law conference came into force without changes on May 1st, 1849 for all of Germany. The intention of the National Assembly was to pass a law (which is not very controversial in terms of content) "in order to mark the beginning of the emerging German imperial power and legal unity," said Kurt von Pannwitz.

validity

Ulrich Huber has examined whether the General German Exchange Order (Reich Law of November 24, 1848) has become applicable law. According to the Imperial Law, it was to apply from May 1, 1849. Implementing laws of the individual states could not deviate from it. 31 states put it into force as a state law by the deadline, some others afterwards. In Luxembourg and Limburg , the exchange regulations were neither introduced nor published. The individual states reacted to the Reich law in three different ways:

  • Some have passed an implementation law on state legislation and published the Reich law as a Reich law in their (state) law gazette.
  • Others have passed the Reich Law as a state law and then published it in their (state) law gazette, with an introductory law.
  • Still others, such as the Electorate of Hesse , published the Reichsgesetz as Reichsgesetz, but without observing state legislation.

In the latter case, the question arises as to whether the bill of exchange was valid in those countries, because for that the Reich Assembly would have to have had legislative power. The courts in Kurhessen and Schaumburg-Lippe later denied this. But then there are still left: Saxony-Altenburg, the rule Kniphausen , Anhalt-Bernburg, Anhalt-Köthen, both Schwarzburg, both Hohenzollern, Reuss Ä.L. (Greiz) and Hessen-Homburg.

Apparently nobody doubted that the change regulations were also valid there, in 1854 a Bavarian Bundestag envoy said the change regulations apply throughout Germany with the exception of Luxembourg, Limburg, Kurhessen and Schaumburg-Lippe.

Huber concludes his investigation into the Hessian ruling by stating that the Reich Assembly did not exceed its powers when it passed the bill of exchange law. On May 1, 1849, it came into force as imperial law in all individual states (with the exception of Austria). Von Pannwitz also judged that the "introduction as a Reich law in 1848 was covered by the constitutional situation at the time and was therefore legal".

On June 5, 1869, the North German Confederation passed the change regulations as a federal law. In 1933 the bill of exchange law, based on an international agreement and still in force today, came into force and replaced the ADWO. In Limburg, on the other hand, the Dutch commercial code had been in force since 1838, and the French code de commerce in Luxembourg . Since 1861 the ADWO was no longer valid in Hungary.

literature

  • Ulrich Huber: The Reich law on the introduction of a general exchange order for Germany of November 26, 1848 . In: JuristenZeitung , 33rd volume, No. 23/24 (December 8, 1978), pp. 785–791.
  • Kurt von Pannwitz: The emergence of the general German exchange order. A contribution to the history of the standardization of German civil law in the 19th century. Diss. Munich, Peter Lang, Berlin a. a., 1998.

See also

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Kurt von Pannwitz: The emergence of the general German exchange order. A contribution to the history of the standardization of German civil law in the 19th century. Peter Lang, Munich Diss., Berlin a. a., 1998, p. 211.
  2. ↑ Kurt von Pannwitz: The emergence of the general German exchange order. A contribution to the history of the standardization of German civil law in the 19th century. Peter Lang, Munich Diss., Berlin a. a., 1998, pp. 211-213.
  3. ↑ Kurt von Pannwitz: The emergence of the general German exchange order. A contribution to the history of the standardization of German civil law in the 19th century. Peter Lang, Munich Diss., Berlin a. a., 1998, p. 214.
  4. ↑ Ulrich Huber: The Reich Law on the Introduction of a General Exchange Order for Germany of November 26, 1848 . In: JuristenZeitung , 33rd volume, No. 23/24 (December 8, 1978), pp. 785–791, here pp. 785/786.
  5. ↑ Ulrich Huber: The Reich Law on the Introduction of a General Exchange Order for Germany of November 26, 1848 . In: JuristenZeitung , 33rd volume, no. 23/24 (December 8, 1978), pp. 785–791, here pp. 786/787.
  6. ↑ Ulrich Huber: The Reich Law on the Introduction of a General Exchange Order for Germany of November 26, 1848 . In: JuristenZeitung , 33rd volume, no. 23/24 (December 8, 1978), pp. 785–791, here p. 787.
  7. ↑ Ulrich Huber: The Reich Law on the Introduction of a General Exchange Order for Germany of November 26, 1848 . In: JuristenZeitung , 33rd year, No. 23/24 (December 8, 1978), pp. 785–791, here p. 791.
  8. ↑ Kurt von Pannwitz: The emergence of the general German exchange order. A contribution to the history of the standardization of German civil law in the 19th century. Peter Lang, Munich Diss., Berlin a. a., 1998, p. 214.
  9. ↑ Ulrich Huber: The Reich Law on the Introduction of a General Exchange Order for Germany of November 26, 1848 . In: JuristenZeitung , 33rd volume, no. 23/24 (December 8, 1978), pp. 785–791, here p. 787.
  10. ↑ Kurt von Pannwitz: The emergence of the general German exchange order. A contribution to the history of the standardization of German civil law in the 19th century. Peter Lang, Munich Diss., Berlin a. a., 1998, p. 210.
  11. ↑ Heinrich Brentano (ed.): The general German change order according to the standpoint of the current legislation and the more recent laws on commercial instructions. With notes and prejudices. 8th edition, J. Ludw. Schmid's Verlag, Nuremberg, 1873, p. IV.