Ernst Frankenstein

Ernst Frankenstein (born May 31, 1881 in Dortmund ; died October 28, 1959 in London ) was a German legal scholar and lawyer of Jewish descent. He made significant contributions to private international law . He was also a supporter of the Zionist movement .

Life

Frankenstein was born in 1881. He studied law. In 1933 he emigrated first to France, in 1936 to England, where he worked as a lawyer. He died in London in 1959.

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Scientific works

International private law (border law) (1926–1935)

From 1926 to 1935 Frankenstein published his work Internationales Privatrecht in four volumes . It was initially sharply criticized for its idiosyncratic, new way of reasoning. Instead of purely practical considerations, Frankenstein's work was based on Fritz Mauthner's linguistics and Wilhelm Wundt's ethnological psychology . The lex patriae for people and the lex rei sitae for things are the primary connecting factors . These can be replaced by secondary connection factors and pseudo connection factors. For him, the legal system of a state, as part of its cultural, political and linguistic tradition, is fundamentally only valid in relation to its own citizens; hereby he is close to Savigny's concept of the Volksgeist . For him, private international law is not a branch of international law.

Lectures in The Hague (1930)

In 1930 Frankenstein held a series of lectures at the Hague Academy for International Law on Tendances nouvelles du doirt international privé (New developments in international private law) and presented his concept of primary and secondary links. Tullio Ascarelli was among the audience .

Projet d'un code européen de droit international privé (1950)

From 1939 Frankenstein worked on a European code for international private law. It was the first project for a uniform European version of the conflict of laws after the Second World War. It is characterized by its clear structure and extensive scope. He gave up the emphasis on nationality and now focuses more on the domicile as a connecting factor.

Political works

In Justice for my People. The Jewish Case (1943) , Frankenstein advocated the establishment of a state of Israel and discussed proposed solutions to conflicts with Palestinians and Arabs. In 1946 he affirmed this “as a Jew and as a Zionist” (“as a Jew and as a Zionist”) in an open letter to Ernest Bevin . After the establishment of the Israeli state, he did not move to Israel. His daughter and son-in-law donated the Ernst Frankenstein grant, which enables an Israeli student to attend the Hague Academy for International Law every year .

Private life

Frankenstein was married to Ilse, nee Neustadt. Before emigrating, the couple last lived at Goebenstrasse 51 in Berlin-Dahlem.

Fonts (selection)

• International private law (border law), IV volumes (1926–1935) - reprinted 1974.
• Justice for my people. The Jewish Case (1943).
• Future of Man (1944). (Under the pseudonym Frank E. Warner).
• Palestine in the Light of International Law (1946).
• Projet d'un code européen de droit international privé (1950).

literature

• Horst Göppinger : Jurists of Jewish descent in the “Third Reich” . 2nd Edition. CH Beck, Munich 1990, ISBN 978-3-406-33902-8 , pp. 280 .
• Peter Landau : Jurists of Jewish origin in the German Empire and in the Weimar Republic . In: Helmut Heinrichs , Harald Franzki , Klaus Schmalz , Michael Stolleis (eds.): German lawyers of Jewish origin . CH Beck, Munich 1993, ISBN 3-406-36960-X , p. 210 .
• Knut Wolfgang Nörr : Between the millstones. A history of private law in the Weimar Republic . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 1988, ISBN 978-3-16-645324-8 , p. 104 .
• Kurt Siehr : German Jewish Scholars of Private International Law and Comparative Law — Especially Ernst Frankenstein and His Research . In: Jean-François Gerkens, Hansjörg Peter, Peter Trenk-Hinterberger , Roger Vigneron (eds.): Mélanges Fritz Sturm . Volume II. Editions Juridiques de l'Université de Liège, Liège 1999, ISBN 978-2-930290-00-3 , pp. 1671-1681 .
• Frank Woolridge , Jack Beatson , Reinhard Zimmermann : Appendix . In: Jeack Beatson , Reinhard Zimmermann (Ed.): Jurists Uprooted. German-speaking Émigré Lawyers in Twentieth-Century Britain . Oxford University Press , Oxford 2003, ISBN 0-19-927058-9 , pp. 779 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Ernst Frankenstein in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Frank Woolridge , Jack Beatson , Reinhard Zimmermann : Appendix . In: Jeack Beatson , Reinhard Zimmermann (Ed.): Jurists Uprooted. German-speaking Émigré Lawyers in Twentieth-Century Britain . Oxford University Press , Oxford 2003, ISBN 0-19-927058-9 , pp. 779 .
2. ^ ^{A b c} Kurt Siehr : German Jewish Scholars of Private International Law and Comparative Law — Especially Ernst Frankenstein and His Research . In: Jean-François Gerkens, Hansjörg Peter, Peter Trenk-Hinterberger, Roger Vigneron (eds.): Mélanges Fritz Sturm . Volume II. Editions Juridiques de l'Université de Liège, Liège 1999, ISBN 978-2-930290-00-3 , pp. 1671-1681 .
3. ↑ Anonymous: Tax profiles and confiscation of assets . In: Official Gazette of the Reich Finance Administration . tape 17 , 1935, pp. 19 .