August Heinrich von Seckendorff

Baron August Heinrich Eduard Friedrich von Seckendorff (from the Rinhofer main line) (born February 13, 1807 , † December 30, 1885 in Leipzig ) was a German lawyer.

Life

From Seckendorf studied in Bonn jurisprudence , received his doctorate there in 1826 and entered 1830 in the Prussian civil service. As a Rhenish lawyer, he worked as a judge at the Justice Office in Ehrenbreitstein and at the Court of Appeal in Cologne , the predecessor of the Cologne Higher Regional Court . He was then Public Prosecutor in Trier , later Chief Public Prosecutor in Cologne. In 1856 he was appointed a member of the Upper Tribunal in Berlin and in 1871 General Procurator at the Court of Appeal in Cologne. 1849-1851 he represented a Rhenish electoral district in the second chamber of the Prussian state parliament .

His most important trial was the Cologne Communist Trial in 1852. This trial was based on an idea by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia . In the case of the League of Communists, he himself specified the goal in a letter to Prime Minister Otto Theodor von Manteuffel dated November 11, 1850: the task must be to spy on “the fabric of the liberation conspiracy” by all means. The “Prussian audience” should be given the “longed-for spectacle of an uncovered and (above all) punished plot”. All of the defendants were accused of “having founded a plot in Cologne in the course of 1848, 1849, 1850 and 1851, the purpose of which was to overthrow the state constitution and to arm the citizens and residents against the royal power and against each other in order to stir up civil war. Crimes against Art. 87, 89 and 91 of the Rhenish and § 61 No. 2 and § 63 of the Criminal Code for the Prussian States. ”He applied for seven defendants between eight and three years of imprisonment, denial of civil rights and the payment of legal costs. Immediately after the end of the trial, the two state procurators von Seckendorff and Otto Saedt were personally awarded the red eagle order “third class with ribbon” and “fourth class” by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV . Karl August Varnhagen von Ense judged the process:

“Downcast news from Cologne! [...] A shameful, completely unjust judgment! The government has horribly prepared everything for it, spent a year and a half in pre-trial detention, appointed the jury, arranged a rogue, etc. - And such a - like Stieber walks around freely, can boast of demanding rewards while the best men languish in dungeons! [...] All those with legal knowledge here and in the Rhineland were convinced that the accused could not be convicted under the laws currently in force. "

With the establishment of the Supreme Court on 1 October 1879, he was a senior prosecutor appointed to head the Reich advocacy. In 1884 he represented the indictment against the anarchist August Reinsdorf .

He died in Leipzig on December 30, 1885.

His son was Rudolf von Seckendorff , who was President of the Imperial Court from 1905 to 1920.

Works

De capitis deminutione minima . DuMont-Schauberg, Cologne 1828 (Dissertation from ill.Ictorum Bonnensium ordine a. MDCCCXXVI. Una cum altera ejusdem argumenti praemio ornata) Digitized

literature

S [alo]. Werner: The anarchist trial Reinsdorf and comrades negotiated before. 2nd and 3rd criminal senate of the Imperial Court of Leipzig from 15 to 22 Decbr. 1884 . Publishing house of the Leipziger Rechts-Zeitung. Werner & Comp., Leipzig 1885.
Seckendorff, August Heinrich Eduard Friedrich, Freiherr von . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4. Completely redesigned. Ed. Vol. 14. Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1889, p. 796
Karl Bittel : The Communist Trial in Cologne 1852 in the mirror of the contemporary press. Edited and introduced . Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1955
Genealogical manual of the nobility , Adelslexikon Volume XIII, Volume 128 of the complete series, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 2002, ISSN 0435-2408

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Facsimile Karl Bittel p. 17, text p. 18.
^ "Assassinations or conspiracies against the life and person of the members belonging to the sovereign's family; Likewise, such assassinations or conspiracies, the purpose of which is either to overturn or change the previous state constitution or Thorn series, or to incite the citizens and residents of the state to arm themselves against the sovereign power, are punishable by the death penalty and the confiscation of property. " ( Rhenish penal code according to the official German translation ordered by the French governorate . CM Schüller, Crefeld 1836, p. 19)
↑ "A conspiracy exists as soon as the decision to act has been agreed by two or more people, if the actual assassination attempt has not yet come about." (Ibid., P. 20.)
↑ "An assassination attempt or a conspiracy, the purpose of which is either to cause a civil war by arming the citizens or inhabitants of the state against one another, or by inciting them to provoke, or also to bring devastation, bloodshed and pillage into one or more communities, should be punished with the death penalty and the property confiscated. "(ibid.)
^ "Treason and treason. A company that aims to forcibly change the succession to the throne or the state constitution. ”( Penal code for the Prussian states. Along with its introduction. From April 14, 1851. Decker, Berlin 1851, p. 20.)
↑ "If two or more people have agreed to carry out a highly treasonable undertaking without the beginning of the act specified in § 62 having come about, they should be punished for five-year to lifelong imprisonment." (Ibid., P. 21)
↑ "§ 62 As an enterprise through which the crime of high treason is completed, such an act is to be assumed, through which the criminal project is to be carried out immediately." (Ibid., P. 21)
↑ Karl Bittel, p. 48.
^ Karl Bittel, p. 298.
↑ Justiz Ministerial-Blatt for Prussian legislation and administration of justice . Decker, Berlin 1853. Volume 15, No. 5 from January 28, 1853, pp. 46 and 47.
↑ From the estate of Varnhagen von Ense. Diaries from KA Varnhagen von Ense . Vol. 9. Hoffmann & Campe, Hamburg 1868, p. 411. Online

personal data
SURNAME	Seckendorff, August Heinrich von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Seckendorff, August Heinrich Eduard Friedrich von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH	February 13, 1807
DATE OF DEATH	December 30, 1885
Place of death	Leipzig

[1] Facsimile Karl Bittel p. 17, text p. 18.

[2] "Assassinations or conspiracies against the life and person of the members belonging to the sovereign's family; Likewise, such assassinations or conspiracies, the purpose of which is either to overturn or change the previous state constitution or Thorn series, or to incite the citizens and residents of the state to arm themselves against the sovereign power, are punishable by the death penalty and the confiscation of property. " ( Rhenish penal code according to the official German translation ordered by the French governorate . CM Schüller, Crefeld 1836, p. 19)

[3] "A conspiracy exists as soon as the decision to act has been agreed by two or more people, if the actual assassination attempt has not yet come about." (Ibid., P. 20.)

[4] "An assassination attempt or a conspiracy, the purpose of which is either to cause a civil war by arming the citizens or inhabitants of the state against one another, or by inciting them to provoke, or also to bring devastation, bloodshed and pillage into one or more communities, should be punished with the death penalty and the property confiscated. "(ibid.)

[5] "Treason and treason. A company that aims to forcibly change the succession to the throne or the state constitution. ”( Penal code for the Prussian states. Along with its introduction. From April 14, 1851. Decker, Berlin 1851, p. 20.)

[6] "If two or more people have agreed to carry out a highly treasonable undertaking without the beginning of the act specified in § 62 having come about, they should be punished for five-year to lifelong imprisonment." (Ibid., P. 21)

[7] "§ 62 As an enterprise through which the crime of high treason is completed, such an act is to be assumed, through which the criminal project is to be carried out immediately." (Ibid., P. 21)

[8] Karl Bittel, p. 48.

[9] Karl Bittel, p. 298.

[10] Justiz Ministerial-Blatt for Prussian legislation and administration of justice . Decker, Berlin 1853. Volume 15, No. 5 from January 28, 1853, pp. 46 and 47.

[11] From the estate of Varnhagen von Ense. Diaries from KA Varnhagen von Ense . Vol. 9. Hoffmann & Campe, Hamburg 1868, p. 411. Online