Felix Herzfelder

Felix Salomon Herzfelder (born October 15, 1863 in Speyer ; † October 5, 1944 in Haifa ) was a German lawyer and legal specialist author. For many years he was the editor of Staudinger's BGB commentary in the area of ​​inheritance law.

Life

Felix Salomon Herzfelder was born on October 15, 1863 in Speyer, then part of Bavaria, as the son of a doctor. After graduating from high school, he first studied law in Berlin and later in Munich , where he wrote about violence and law in 1890 : an investigation into the concept of the relationship of violence; at the same time a contribution to general legal and political theory to the Dr. jur. PhD. Herzfelder was admitted to the bar in Munich as early as 1889. He quickly developed a good reputation, which was also reflected in his appointment to the Secret Council of Justice in 1922 . In addition, Herzfelder was temporarily chairman of the Munich Lawyers 'Association and was a member of the board of the German Lawyers' Association . Herzfelder ran a law firm in Munich, at times with his son Franz . With the 5th ordinance on the Reich Citizenship Act of September 27, 1938, Herzfelder's admission to the bar was withdrawn with effect from November 30, 1938. In 1939 the now 75-year-old Herzfelder emigrated to Turkey with his wife. After her death in 1941, Herzfelder went to Palestine, where he died in Haifa in 1944 shortly before his 81st birthday.

Scientific work

The Munich Senate President Julius von Staudinger was able to win Herzfelder as co-editor of his BGB Commentary at the end of the 19th century, which was first published in six volumes by J. Schweitzer Verlag between 1898 and 1903 . Within this comment, Herzfelder worked as the sole author on the area of ​​inheritance law. Herzfelder was also responsible for a further eight editions until 1928, when he was no longer considered by the publisher in the 10th edition because of his Jewish origins.

Legal dispute with J. Schweitzer Verlag

At the end of 1933, Herzfelder, who had only recently turned 70, received a message from J. Schweitzer Verlag that they were no longer interested in continuing to work at Staudinger . This was justified by the publisher's owner Arthur Sellier in a personal letter to Herzfelder. It emerges from this that the exclusion of non-Aryan authors was pursued with ever greater emphasis and that, despite existing contracts, it is no longer possible to publish non-Aryan authors in view of the current legal opinions. After a failed out-of-court settlement about Herzfelder's fee claims, he sued the Munich District Court I in the summer of 1934 for compliance with the contractual agreements that the publisher had made with him for the new, 10th edition. This contract, dated July 12, 1929 and signed by Herzfelder on February 20, 1933, stipulated a fee of RM 300 per sixteen-page printed sheet, which Herzfelder or his heirs were entitled to proportionately even if the completion of the manuscript was prevented. Herzfelder was represented by Max Friedlaender . The Munich District Court I also granted the fee claims in a judgment of October 24, 1934. After both sides had lodged an appeal, the Munich Higher Regional Court confirmed the judgment of the Munich Regional Court on February 4, 1935, and a previously proposed settlement failed at the publisher. However, the Munich Higher Regional Court had affirmed the fee claims as a result of a so-called inheritance clause, but at the same time described the publication of the commentary on inheritance law under Herzfeld's name as impossible. The so-called Charell judgment of the Reich Court of June 27, 1936 confirmed this legal opinion. Now the race question had finally had an impact on the highest court rulings in Germany. With delivery of the new, 10th edition of the volume on inheritance law in April 1937, now being edited by Gustav Boehmer , Herzfelder claimed new fees of 1,855 RM in accordance with the contract. After the publisher refused to pay, he sued again. Again Herzfelder achieved a complete success, with the judgment of July 21, 1937, the Munich district court found him completely right. The publisher then appealed again and, according to Friedlaender's memories, made the specialist press mobile. In this, Herzfelder was indirectly referred to as Shylock and the judges of the now responsible Higher Regional Court in Munich were warned against wrong decisions. The publishing house was represented by the young lawyer Fritz Ostler , who, in view of the smear campaign, was asked by Senate Chairman Hans Ehard whether Ostler was of the opinion that Herzfelder, because he was Jewish, had to lose the trial. In the proceedings, the publisher argued that the legal opinion of the 1935 judgment was no longer tenable after the Nuremberg Laws were passed . The 5th civil senate of the Munich Higher Regional Court rejected this appeal, with a detailed justification that was quite memorable for the time. Among other things, he stated that a change in the legislation could not remove the legal force of a judgment, and accordingly it was not determined that a German was no longer bound by a contract with a Jew. In addition, it reaffirmed the inheritance clause that had been made. After the judgment became final, Herzfelder received a total of RM 2,709.59 in fee claims.

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• Tillmann Krach Herzfelder ./. Schweitzer Verlag, Munich Higher Regional Court 5 U 791/37
• Reinhard Weber: The fate of the Jewish lawyers in Bavaria after 1933. Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2006. p. 235