Georg Friedrich Puchta

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Georg Friedrich Puchta
Signature Georg Friedrich Puchta.PNG

Georg Friedrich Puchta (born August 31, 1798 in Cadolzburg near Nuremberg , † January 8, 1846 in Berlin ) was a German lawyer.

short version

Puchta was one of the most important exponents of pandect science . In historiography, he was long considered the founder of the term jurisprudence . However, it was not about unworldly logicisms. Puchta's private law was to be further developed through a scientific penetration of ancient law and a careful adaptation to the "practical needs" of the community of values ​​("Volksgeist"). The scientific consolidation of the contexts of values ​​should, especially in Puchta's "Pandekten", provide the judge with a rationalized, application-safe private law in a highly condensed form. Legislation should intervene to clarify if the ancient law was unclear or otherwise in need of change. Before the nation state (1871), it was a matter of separating national private law from territorial influences and leaving it to legal specialists as a supra-political "science". After 1848 , the philosophical and confessional influences of this program were hardly noticed. After 1871 the national scientific discourse was replaced by an openly politically active and codified private law.

Live and act

Puchta's parents were Wolfgang Heinrich Puchta and Johanna Philippina Heim. He was the firstborn of seven children, two of whom died young. His brother Christian Heinrich Puchta studied philology and theology at the University of Erlangen and was most recently pastor in Augsburg .

Puchta attended the Aegidiengymnasium in Nuremberg from 1811 to 1816 , which has maintained the classical humanistic tradition since its foundation. Puchta received a basic education in philosophy from the Rector Hegel there .

Puchta began studying law in 1816 at the University of Erlangen , and his father also introduced him to legal practice. At that time the well-known professor Christian Friedrich von Glück was teaching in Erlangen . Puchta expressed his special admiration for him with the words: "Every university is of course plagued with a stake in the flesh, but the local faculty has nothing but stakes when luck dies". During his studies in 1817 he was a founding member of the Erlangen fraternity .

After completing his studies, Puchta received his doctorate in Erlangen in 1820 with the dissertation "De itinere, actu et via" and also completed his habilitation in the same year at the University of Erlangen.

In 1821 Puchta undertook a long trip to Germany to the then important universities of Jena , Berlin , Göttingen , Bonn and Heidelberg , where he made contact with the teachers there. The impressions of this trip moved Puchta to join the historical law school around Friedrich Carl von Savigny , who was teaching at the University of Berlin at the time. From 1823 Puchta had a lively correspondence with him, from which 86 letters came.

Based on this conviction, Puchta published his first major work in 1822: Outline for lectures on legal encyclopedia and methodology .

In 1823 Puchta became an associate professor in Erlangen , where he dealt with Romance subjects as well as encyclopedia , canon law and German law. In 1828 the first volume of his central work, The Customs Law, was published .

With the help of his friendship with Friedrich Carl von Savigny , he moved to the University of Munich in 1828 , where he received a full professorship. During this time he met Professor Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling , whom he had already known from his time in Erlangen, and was enthusiastic about his lecture on the subject of " Lectures on the Philosophy of Mythology and Revelation ".

In 1835 Puchta became a full professor in Marburg for Roman law and canon law with the help of Friedrich Carl von Savigny , where he remained until 1837. In 1837 Puchta's second volume of his work was published with the title " The Customs Law " (two parts 1828–1837), which he had already begun in 1828 Erlangen .

With the support of Friedrich Carl von Savigny , Puchta became a full professor in Leipzig from 1837 to 1842 , where in 1838 he published his important " Pandekten Textbook ". In addition, the first two volumes of his main work " Cursus der Institutions " were published in 1841/1842 .

Again with the help and work of Friedrich Carl von Savigny , Puchta was appointed to the University of Berlin in 1842, where he soon became Savigny's successor at his chair after he had been appointed Minister for Legislation. Decisive for the choice on Puchta was his well-known conservative attitude, even if he was not particularly impressive as a lecturer.

From 1844 Puchta worked on the Secret High Tribunal with the title of Secret High Tribunal Councilor. Not least because of this he became a member of the State Council and the Legislative Commission in 1845. He died on January 8, 1846, at the age of 47.

Works and literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Alessandro Hirata, The completion of the usus modernus pandectarum: Christian Friedrich von Glück (1755-1831) . Savigny Journal 123 (2006), 333 fn. 12.
  2. ↑ Ernst Höhne: The Bubenreuther. History of a German fraternity. II., Erlangen 1936, p. 13.

Secondary literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Puchta, Georg Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH August 31, 1798
PLACE OF BIRTH Cadolzburg near Nuremberg
DATE OF DEATH January 8, 1846
Place of death Berlin