Court organization of the Left Bank of the Rhine
The judicial organization of the Left Bank of the Rhine , annexed by France , followed the principles of revolutionary France .
prehistory
As elsewhere in the Holy Roman Empire , there was a large number of territories and an equally large variety of judicial organizations on the Left Bank of the Rhine .
The French revolutionary armies had already occupied the left bank of the Rhine in late autumn 1794. The annexation was prepared in the preliminary peace of Leoben (1797) and in the peace of Campo Formio (1797) and finally settled in the peace of Lunéville (1801).
Through the law on administration and judicial organization in the four departments on the left bank of the Rhine of December 4, 1795 ( 44 frimaire IV ), the French court constitution law Loi des 16 et 24 août 1790 sur l'organization judiciaire from 1790 also became binding for the left bank of the Rhine. This judicial constitutional law provided for the establishment of the French judicial structure in all departments. This did not have any practical effects at first, as the First Coalition War was still ongoing and French rule was not yet secured.
Reorganization 1797/1798
With the peace of Campo Formio the annexation of the Rhineland in October 1797 was promised by the German side. The details should be regulated by the Rastatt Congress (broken off in 1799). As early as 1797/1798 the administration of the area and the court organization were reorganized according to the French model. The board of directors commissioned the Alsatian Franz-Josef (François-Joseph) Rudler with this task and appointed him "General Government Commissioner of all conquered countries between the Meuse and Rhine and the Rhine and Moselle".
Essential aspects of the new judicial organization were the implementation of the separation of the judiciary from the administration , the free trial, the introduction of jury courts in the criminal justice system and the introduction of the French language as the court language . In contrast to France itself, the election of judges was not introduced (and was therefore not abolished again in 1802 - as in France).
The implementation of the above principles encountered many obstacles. The separation of jurisprudence from the administration forbade judges to undertake secondary activities , in particular those in administration. However, the pay of the justice of the peace was so low that it was difficult to find suitable candidates under these circumstances. The municipalities were burdened by the fact that the process was free of charge. These now had to finance the courts. In particular, the court language, French, posed a problem. At that time, French (like English today) was the lingua franca and was spoken by the leading classes. The common people, on the other hand, were clearly restricted in the effective enforcement of their rights in court because they did not understand this language.
The existing courts were abolished in early 1798 and the new courts were introduced. The legal basis was the decrees of Rudler of 4th Pluviôse to VI (January 24th 1798) and of 20th Pluviôse to VI (February 8th 1798). The principle behind the structure of the courts was that the court organization had to follow the administrative organization. At the lowest administrative level, the cantons , peace courts were established to administer civil justice . At the level of the départements , these tribunals of the first instance ( Tribunal civile ) were superordinate. With regard to appeals against decisions of the tribunal of first instance, the principle of horizontal appeal applied: the court of appeal was the tribunal of first instance of one of the other departments. In Trier the appeal court was created in 1799 as the highest authority on the left bank of the Rhine.
For criminal cases, breeding police courts were created at the level of the arrondissements . At the level of the départements , these tribunals of the first instance ( Tribunal correctionelle ) were superior.
The judicial reform of 1802
With a law passed by the consulate on June 30, 1802, the new French Constitution and French administrative legislation were introduced in the annexed areas. The consular decree of 14th Fructidor an X (September 1, 1802), the judicial reform provided for in this constitution (as already done with the law of 27th Ventose an VIII in France) was also implemented on the Left Bank of the Rhine.
At the level of the cantons, the peace courts remained. The tribunals of first instance at the arrondissement level now stood above them. The horizontal calling was abandoned. Instead, the Trier Court of Appeal was set up, which was the appeal body for all four departments. (This was founded in October 1799 as the Mainz Court of Appeal, but was relocated to Trier the following month. In 1802 it was converted into the Court of Appeal) The court of cassation in Paris stood above it . There were also commercial courts . Criminal courts were set up at the departmental level.
List of dishes
Note: Since the official language was French, the official names of the courts were also in French. In the literature, however, the German terms are predominantly used. The list follows this and therefore writes, for example, Friedensgericht Aachen instead of Justice de paix d'Aix-la-Chapelle .
In higher and middle courts existed until 1802:
-
Court of Appeal Trier and Court of Appeal Mainz
- Tribunal of First Instance Aachen for the Département de la Roer
- Breeding Police Court Aachen for the Arrondissement d'Aix-la-Chapelle
- Breeding Police Court in Kleve for the Arrondissement de Clèves
- Breeding Police Court Cologne for the Arrondissement de Cologne
- Breeding Police Court Krefeld for the Arrondissement de Crévelt
- Tribunal of the first instance Trier for the Département de la Sarre
- Breeding Police Court Trier for the Arrondissement de Trèves
- Breeding Police Court Birkenfeld for the Arrondissement de Birkenfeld
- Breeding Police Court of Prüm for the Arrondissement de Prum
- Breeding Police Court Saarbrücken for the Arrondissement de Sarrebruck
- Tribunal of First Instance Koblenz for the Department de Rhin-et-Moselle
- Breeding Police Court Bonn for the Arrondissement de Bonn
- Breeding Police Court Koblenz for the Arrondissement de Coblence
- Simmern Breeding Police Court for the Arrondissement de Simmern
- Tribunal of first instance Mainz for the Département du Mont-Tonnerre
- Breeding Police Court of Mainz for the Arrondissement de Mayence
- Breeding Police Court of Kaiserslautern for the Arrondissement de Kayserslautern
- Breeding Police Court Speyer for the Arrondissement de Spire
- Zweibrücken Breeding Police Court for the Arrondissement de Deux Ponts
From 1802 the following existed at the higher and middle courts:
-
Court of Cassation, Paris
-
Appeal Court Trier
- Criminal Court Aachen for the Département de la Roer
- Tribunal of first instance Aachen for the Arrondissement d'Aix-la-Chapelle
- Tribunal of First Instance Kleve for the Arrondissement de Clèves
- Tribunal of First Instance Cologne for the Arrondissement de Cologne
- Tribunal of first instance Krefeld for the Arrondissement de Crévelt
- Criminal Court Trier for the Département de la Sarre
- Trier Tribunal of First Instance for the Arrondissement de Trèves
- Tribunal of first instance Kusel for the Arrondissement de Birkenfeld
- Tribunal of First Instance Prüm for the Arrondissement de Prum
- Saarbrücken Tribunal for the Arrondissement de Sarrebruck
- Criminal Court Koblenz for the Department de Rhin-et-Moselle
- Tribunal of first instance Bonn for the Arrondissement de Bonn
- Tribunal of first instance Koblenz for the Arrondissement de Coblence
- Tribunal of First Instance Simmern for the Arrondissement de Simmern
- Mainz Criminal Court for the Département du Mont-Tonnerre
- Tribunal of first instance Mainz for the Arrondissement de Mayence
- Tribunal of First Instance Kaiserslautern for the Arrondissement de Kayserslautern
- Tribunal of first instance Speyer for the Arrondissement de Spire
- Tribunal of First Instance Zweibrücken for the Arrondissement de Deux Ponts
-
Appeal Court Trier
These included the following peace courts at canton level:
literature
- Antonio Grilli: The French judicial organization on the left bank of the Rhine 1797–1803. (= Legal History Series. Volume 190). Peter Lang, Frankfurt / M., Berlin, Bern, New York, Paris, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-631-34089-3 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Werner Schubert: French law in Germany at the beginning of the 19th century, 1977, ISBN 3-412-04976-X , p. 23; The indication in the source contains an error: December 4, 1795 was the 13th Frimaire An IV . It is unclear which of the two days is the actual release date.
- ^ Resolution of the 9th Frimaire X, printed in the Bulletin LXXII of the collection