Fritz Schwind

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Fritz Schwind (born June 1, 1913 in Innsbruck ; † April 17, 2013 in Vienna ) was an Austrian legal scholar , member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and professor emeritus at the University of Vienna .

Life

Fritz Schwind grew up in Vienna and in the Tyrolean community of Gnadenwald , where his family owned a summer residence. He attended elementary school in Gnadenwald, Innsbruck and Vienna. He passed his Matura at the Gymnasium Fichtnergasse in Vienna- Hietzing . His schoolmates included Stephan László , who later became bishop of the Eisenstadt diocese, and Alfons Maria Stickler, cardinal to the curia .

His father was the legal historian and rector of the University of Vienna in the academic year 1919/20, Ernst (Freiherr von) Schwind (1865–1932). Fritz Schwind was with the artist Christl von Schwind, geb. Gross (or Grohs, 1913–2002) married. He is a great-nephew of the painter Moritz von Schwind .

From 1931 to 1936 Fritz Schwind studied law at the Universities of Vienna and Munich . Heinrich von Srbik and Alfred Verdroß-Droßberg were among his teachers in Vienna . In Munich he was a student of Leopold Wenger , whom he followed back to Vienna. The doctorate took place on February 4, 1936. The experiences of the political conflicts that he had during his student days shaped his behavior and benefited him in the conflicts of 1968.

From April 1, 1936, Fritz Schwind worked at the Hietzing District Court and prepared for the office of judge. At the same time he continued to work with Leopold Wenger on his habilitation thesis. After Wenger's retirement in 1939, his habilitation encountered resistance and he received advice from Professor Ernst Schönbauer from Vienna to continue his work in the " Altreich ".

On the recommendation of Leopold Wenger, Fritz Schwind accepted an assistant position with Rolf Dietz at the University of Giessen . One of his colleagues at this university was Günther Beitzke . In Gießen the habilitation took place in 1939 with a thesis on the publication in the law of antiquity without further technical difficulties. At the age of 26 he was the youngest law lecturer in what was then Germany . In order to be able to take over his office, Schwind joined the NSDAP . In 1940 he passed the assessor exam .

In March 1941 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht . His military service in World War II took him to North Africa , where he developed jaundice. During this time and later in the convalescent company, he continued to work on family law.

After the war ended, he worked briefly in 1945 as sales director of a paint factory in Tyrol. In 1946 he began as a judge at the “Grauen Haus”, the regional court for criminal matters in Vienna. On January 1, 1948, he was accepted into the legislative department of the Federal Ministry of Justice .

From 1949 he was an associate professor for civil law and international private law at the University of Vienna from 1955 . During this time he remained connected to the Federal Ministry of Justice as a consultant and representative of Austria in international bodies. The Romance languages , he also remained faithful and was together with Heinrich Demelius involved in the appointment of other professors, such as when Walter Selb .

In 1966 he was visiting professor at Ain Shams University in Cairo .

He was elected Dean of the Faculty of Law in Vienna for the academic years 1956/57 and 1964/65; in the academic year 1967/68 he was rector of the University of Vienna. During his term of office one of the highlights of the student movement in 1968 fell , the " Uni-Ferkelei " within the framework of Viennese actionism .

Fritz Schwind was awarded an honorary doctorate by the universities of Freiburg im Breisgau , Innsbruck , Trieste , Budapest and Verona .

From 1969 to 1983 Fritz Schwind was President of the Austrian Lawyers' Association. He was a real member of the philosophical-historical class of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Fritz Schwind was an honorary member of the Institut de Droit international , a member of the Institut hellénique de droit étranger et international privé , and a titular member of the Académie internationale de droit comparé . He was a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague .

As a professor at the University of Vienna, he supervised the habilitations of Rudolf Strasser , Michael Schwimann, Hans Hoyer, Herbert Zemen and Gerte Reichelt. He retired in 1983.

In 1988 Fritz Schwind was awarded the City of Vienna Prize for the Humanities .

His statement in a guest commentary in an Austrian daily newspaper in 2002, “The Wehrmacht exhibition would be dispensable.” Fritz Schwind, who was almost 89 years old at the time, had heard the title of the exhibition “Crimes of the Wehrmacht. Dimensions of the War of Extermination 1941–1944. ”Came to the conclusion that the impression should be given that the members of the armed forces as a whole were burdened with crimes. This was contradicted by Richard Olechowski , the former director of the Institute for Educational Science at the University of Vienna, with the following words, pointing out that the exhibition paints a differentiated picture: “The basic message of the exhibition is that the Wehrmacht as such in the consciously planned and targeted war of extermination was involved. The phrase 'the Wehrmacht as such' must be clearly separated from the phrase 'all members of the Wehrmacht'. "

Services

At the beginning of his academic career, Fritz Schwind was a representative of ancient legal history . This research direction was founded by Leopold Wenger. She stayed after Wenger's retirement at the Vienna juridical faculty to fill one of the professorships prevail: Sibylle Bolla-Kotek , Walter Selb , Gerhard door and Peter Pieler who represent this subject. The connection to this area of ​​law remained during his professorship for civil law: Fritz Schwind was entitled to examine candidates from Roman law at the Vienna law faculty.

Subsequently, his academic work focused on private international law and comparative law . The Zeitschrift für Rechtsvergleichung - ZfRV was founded by him in 1960.

His scientific work is documented in publications of a commission of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and in a number of articles in the journal for comparative law that he founded.

In addition to his work at the university, he was a sought-after expert on cross-border issues of civil law: The reason for this was the different rules for marriage, divorce and transfer of assets, which can mean that people are considered married for one country or things are considered sold for one country but not for another. Reasons for this can lie in the non-recognition of divorces in divorce-hostile legal systems or in different rules about a necessary transfer (entry in the register, etc.) of things after a purchase. The unsatisfactory results of various legal rules are the main focus of the activities of the Hague Conference for International Private Law and other international institutions and regulations, such as UNCITRAL , the UN Sales Convention or European law such as the EuGVVO .

Fritz Schwind is known as the doyen of Austrian international private law.

As a consultant to the Federal Ministry of Justice, he was a permanent Austrian delegate to the Hague Conference and other international bodies. Fritz Schwind was also significantly involved in the reform of Austrian family law. On the long-discussed question of whether and to what extent the divorce should be facilitated, he is quoted with the sentence "The divorce that life has consummated cannot be eliminated by the law refusing it" .

His credibility, tolerance and understanding for the youth, which were underlined by his personal demeanor, also received recognition from people who did not belong to his social class , the civil servants of the former Austria-Hungary .

His experience with political discussions from the 1930s during his student days about the takeover by the National Socialists in Munich and his level-headed demeanor contributed to the fact that there were no major riots at the University of Vienna during his rectorate in 1967/68.

Works

Fritz Schwind's catalog raisonné includes pages 337–340 in the commemorative publication for his 80th birthday. The following quotes cover Fritz Schwind's field of work.

  • On the question of publication in Roman law with outlooks into ancient Greek and Ptolemaic areas of law. Munich contributions to papyrus research and ancient legal history. Volume 31. Munich 1940 (habilitation thesis). 2nd edition Munich 1973. ISBN 3-406-00631-0 .
  • Studies on marriage law. In: Legal papers. 68th year. Vienna 1946. Issue 14, June 1946, pages 285-293 and Issue 15, July 1946, pages 320-326.
  • Roman law. Part 1: history. Legal process. System of private law. Vienna 1950. Unchanged reprint Vienna-New York 1971.
  • Commentary on Austrian marriage law. Vienna 1951. 2nd edition Vienna 1980. Manzsche Handkommentare on Austrian law. Volume 1. ISBN 3-214-04011-1 .
  • Intellectual and historical foundations of international private law. Vienna 1959. Gazette of the philosophical-historical class of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. No. 6th year 1959.
  • Space and Time in Private International Law. In: Ernst von Caemmerer , Arthur Nikisch, Konrad Zweigert : From German to European law. Festschrift for Hans Dölle . Volume II - International Law. Tübingen 1963. Pages 105-117.
  • Private international law in the legal system. Inaugural speech on October 19, 1967. Vienna 1967.
  • The application of foreign law in IPR. Lecture at the IX. International Congress of the Latin Notary's Office on September 10, 1967 in Salzburg. no place in 1967.
  • Draft law on private international law. Journal for Comparative Law - ZfRV. ISSN  0514-275X . Year 1971, pages 161–248.
  • Civil law I. In: Erich Benedikt : Rechtskunde. Report on the “Legal Studies” workshop for teachers at general secondary schools in Graz from August 28 to September 8, 1972. Contributions to teacher training. Volume 13. Published by the Federal Ministry for Education, Art and Sport, Pedagogical Department for General Education for Higher Education. Vienna 1975, ISBN 3-215-01986-8 , pages 137–157.
  • Handbook of Austrian international private law. Vienna-New York 1975. ISBN 3-211-81307-1 .
  • Problems of European Community Law. Publications of the Commission for European Law , International and Foreign Private Law. Volume 1. Austrian Academy of Sciences. Session reports of the philosophical-historical class. Volume 302. Vienna 1976. ISBN 3-7001-0154-6 .
  • International private law. The IPR Act of June 15, 1978 including other relevant legal provisions and intergovernmental agreements with detailed explanations. (together with Alfred Duchek). Manzsche legal editions, special edition Volume 53. Vienna 1979. ISBN 3-214-03041-8 .
  • Studies in Islamic Law . With the contributions: Noel J. Coulson: The Islamic legal System. - The Family in Islamic law. Abdelwadoud Yehia: New Aspects in Islamic Law . Publications of the Commission for European Law, International and Foreign Private Law. Volume 2. Austrian Academy of Sciences. Session reports of the philosophical-historical class. Volume 408. Vienna 1983. ISBN 3-7001-0549-5 .
  • Legislation and Practice in the USSR . selected questions. Publications of the Commission for European Law, International and Foreign Private Law. Volume 4. Austrian Academy of Sciences. Session reports of the philosophical-historical class. Volume 449. Vienna 1985. ISBN 3-7001-0696-3 .
  • Current questions on European law from the point of view of domestic and foreign scholars. Publications of the Commission for European Law, International and Foreign Private Law. Austrian Academy of Sciences. Volume 5. Meeting reports of the philosophical-historical class. Volume 464. Vienna 1986. ISBN 3-7001-0750-1 .
  • European law, international private law, comparative law. Austrian Academy of Sciences. Publications of the Commission for European Law, International and Foreign Private Law. Volume 6. Austrian Academy of Sciences. Session reports of the philosophical-historical class. Volume 500. Vienna 1988. ISBN 3-7001-1302-1 .
  • Austria's position today in European law, IPR and comparative law. Publications of the Commission for European Law, International and Foreign Private Law. Volume 8. Austrian Academy of Sciences. Session reports of the philosophical-historical class. Volume 526. Vienna 1989. ISBN 3-7001-1577-6 .
  • International private law. Teaching and manual for theory and practice. Vienna 1990. ISBN 3-214-06089-9 .
  • Austria's way into the EC : Contributions to European legal development. Publications of the Commission for European Law, International and Foreign Private Law. Austrian Academy of Sciences. Volume 11. Meeting reports of the philosophical-historical class. Volume 577. Vienna 1991. ISBN 3-7001-1883-X .
  • Legal studies for tomorrow's Europe. Publications of the Commission for European Law, International and Foreign Private Law. Volume 12. Austrian Academy of Sciences. Session reports of the philosophical-historical class. Volume 576. Vienna 1991. ISBN 3-7001-1872-4 .
  • The family law. In: Armin Ehrenzweig: System of Austrian general private law. Volume 3 of the 3rd edition Vienna 1984. ISBN 3-214-04654-3 .
  • State of law or rule of law. Österreichische Juristen-Zeitung - ÖJZ. Year 2001. Pages 741–745.
  • Ignaz Seidl-Hohenveldern . Almanac of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. 151 Volume. Vienna 2001. ISSN  0378-8644 . Pages 539-540.
  • Poems. From the estate of Christl von Schwind. Vienna 2003. ISBN 3-85437-102-0 .
  • Günther Beitzke. Almanac of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. 154th Volume. Vienna 2004. ISSN  0378-8644 . Pages 517-521.
  • Personal memories of Leopold Wenger. and in memory of Leopold Wenger. In: Gerhard Thür: Memorial of the 50th year of death of Leopold Wenger. Publications of the Commission for Ancient Legal History. Volume 12. Austrian Academy of Sciences. Session reports of the philosophical-historical class. Volume 741. Vienna 2006. ISBN 3-7001-3688-9 . Pages 5-8 and 45-53.

literature

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ "Die Presse" May 2, 2002.
  2. ↑ Guest commentary in the "Presse" on May 17, 2002.
  3. ↑ Helmut Ofner in: Zeitschrift für Rechtsvergleichung , Editorial Issue 1/2008. Page 1.
  4. ↑ Christian Broda in the Festschrift for his 65th birthday, page VII, from Schwind's article on marriage law in: Juristische Blätter, year 1946. Page 320.
  5. ↑ for example Justice Minister Christian Broda, whose reforms as Justice Minister of the SPÖ 1970–1983 were controversial, in the foreword to the festschrift for the 65th birthday, page VIII. See the information in the autobiography "Ancestors and Memories ..." in the references.
personal data
SURNAME Schwind, Fritz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schwind, Fritz von (maiden name); Schwind, Friedrich August Anton Wilhelm Ludwig Maria von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian legal scholar
DATE OF BIRTH June 1, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH innsbruck
DATE OF DEATH 17th April 2013
Place of death Vienna