Bernhard Walther (lawyer)

Bernhard Walther (* 1516 in Leipzig , † December 5, 1584 in Graz ) was a legal scholar, professor and Austrian government chancellor . He is considered the "father of Austrian jurisprudence ".

Life

Walther came from a Swabian family on his father's side. He studied law first in Leipzig , then in Bologna , where he heard lectures from Andrea Alciato . In 1541 he obtained a doctorate in both rights in Pavia . Since the winter semester 1540/41 he was full professor of institutions at the University of Vienna . From 1546 to 1550 he held the office of imperial superintendent of the University of Vienna. In 1547 he became regimental councilor of the Lower Austrian government and in 1556 its chancellor. In 1564 he went with Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria to Styria , where he became the first chancellor of the Inner Austrian government . From 1576 he held the office of court chancellor Charles II until his death . Only his descendants carried the title "von Walthersweil".

plant

Walther's humanistic attitude is evident in his theoretical writings, especially in the "Miscellanea ad jus pertinentia" (Venice 1572; Graz 1574). here he deals with questions of textual criticism , etymology and older Roman law . His private and procedural law treatises ("aurei tractatus iuris Austriaci"), written between 1552 and 1558, are of great importance for recent Austrian legal history . The fifteen private law treatises deal primarily with agricultural law , feudal law and inheritance law , with surety law and the Crida Code . The two procedural treatises deal with the proceedings before the Lower Austrian and Inner Austrian governments. Walther contrasts land usage with common Roman law . The treatises thus belong to the category of literature on differences .

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Walther, Bernhard . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 53rd part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1886, p. 22 ( digital copy ).
• Ivo Pfaff , Bernhard Walther von Walthersweil as a Romanist of the 16th century, in meeting reports of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna, phil.-hist. Class 186/3 (1918) .
• Max Rintelen (Ed.), Bernhard Walther's treatises on private law from the 16th century, mainly on agricultural, feudal and inheritance law content (= sources for the history of reception 4, Leipzig 1937), introduction pp. 1 * -60 *.
• Max Rintelen , Bernhard Walther, Heimat und Ahnen, in: Festschrift for Adolf Zycha on his 70th birthday on October 17, 1941 (Weimar 1941) pp. 313–335.
• Max Rintelen , Rural Customs and Common Law in Private Law of the Old Austrian Lands, in: Festschrift Artur Steinwenter . On his 70th birthday (Graz-Cologne 1958) pp. 78–99, especially pp. 84–86 ( repertorium.at [accessed September 1, 2017]).
• Gunter Wesener , Influences and Validity of Roman Common Law in the Old Austrian Lands in Modern Times (16th to 18th Century) (= Research on the Modern History of Private Law 27, Vienna-Cologne 1989) p. 40 f.
• Gunter Wesener, Bernhard Walther 1516–1585, in: Wilhelm Brauneder (Ed.), Juristen in Österreich 1200-1980 (Vienna 1987) pp. 39–42, 369–371.
• Gunter Wesener, Humanist Jurisprudence in Austria, in: Festschrift for the 80th birthday of Hermann Baltl (Vienna 1998) pp. 369–387, especially 379–381.
• Wilhelm Brauneder , Walther zu Walthersweil, Bernhard, in: Concise Dictionary of German Legal History V (1998) 1130–1131.

Individual evidence

1. ^ So: Arnold Luschin von Ebengreuth