Johann Friedrich Joseph Sommer

Johann Friedrich Joseph Sommer

Johann Friedrich Joseph Sommer (born January 26, 1793 in Kirchhundem ; † November 13, 1856 in Arnsberg ) was a publicist and editor, politician and lawyer from the Sauerland . In legal terms, he was close to the historical school of Friedrich Carl von Savigny . Theologically he walked a fine line between ultramontanism and liberalism . Politically, it is most likely to be assigned to Prussian early liberalism .

Origin and family

His parents were the landowner, lawyer and master craftsman Johann Heinrich Sommer from Kirchhundem and Maria Franziska nee. Liese from Olpe . Other family members were “ trades ” (ie shareholders in mining companies) and experts in pre- and early industrial mining. The Sommers family seems to be a typical example for the Sauerland (but not for Prussia) of a poor separation of land ownership, business and educated middle class. All in all, Sommer came from a functional bourgeois elite in the Sauerland region of Cologne.

On September 30, 1824, Johann Friedrich Joseph Sommer married Klementine Schlinkert, daughter of the judicial officer Franz Bernhard Schlinkert from Geseke . The marriage produced five daughters and one son.

Sommer is also of historical interest, as not only his own political and scientific publications have come down to us, but also because there are published letters with his future wife and publications about his (anti-bourgeois) son, which his great-grandson Clemens Plassmann published. Together, these reports are informative sources for the emergence of the bourgeois image of women and families at the beginning of the 19th century.

Professional background

Sommer received his first lessons from an emigrated French clergyman in his parents' house. He then attended the Latin school in Olpe and graduated from high school at the age of 15. Afterwards, Sommer studied law and political science, forestry and history at the Hessian State University of Giessen . The choice of the place of study reflects the transition of the Duchy of Westphalia , i.e. the Sauerland in Electoral Cologne, to Hessen-Darmstadt shortly after the turn of the century . In 1811 he passed the faculty examination with "summa cum laude", in 1812 the practical examination at the Grand Ducal Hessian court and the Arnsberg government . In the same year he started as an accessist at the court and in 1813 became court court advocate (lawyer). Since attorneys were only required to be present at the court at the time, he helped in the following years in his father's office in Kirchhundem . After his death in 1818 he took it over himself.

Title page of the publication "From the German Constitution"

One year later, Sommer published the text “From the German Constitution in Germanic Prussia and in the Duchy of Westphalia” and received the title of Dr. from the legal faculty in Giessen. jur. In 1827 he was an alderman of the mayor's office in Bilstein . The now necessary presence in court made it necessary to move from Kirchhundem to Arnsberg on September 5, 1827 . In Arnsberg, Sommer was one of the first to settle “beyond the Ruhr”. This location turned out to be favorable, as the district court was built in 1840. The fact that Sommer turned down tempting career offers such as a professorship or an appointment to the higher tribunal in Berlin probably had something to do with his political views.

Sommer ran one of the largest legal practices in all of Westphalia. He specialized in representing the interests of rural circles and became known as a "peasant lawyer". A process in which he successfully represented the interests of six villages against the city of Soest caused a sensation. In addition, he made a name for himself in this area of ​​law as an author and as an expert, for example on the question of the replacement of feudal rights.

His three-volume work on the “Historical Development of Legal Relations in Germany” arose from his preoccupation with the difficult legal relationships in rural areas between 1823 and 1830 .

Journalistic and political activity in the pre-March period

Various influences shaped his political worldview. Central to this were the experiences of the change of rule, initially from Kurköln (1804) to Hessen-Darmstadt and finally the transition to Prussia (1816). His original image of Prussia was thoroughly positive. At first he still believed that the Duchy of Westphalia would get back its old self-government rights and, in particular, the announcement of the Prussian king to want to issue a constitution, made him hopeful. These hopes were quickly dashed. In addition, there were specific experiences of the local Catholic educated middle class elite. Under the electors they had a de facto monopoly over the posts in the judiciary and administration. Under Hesse and Prussia, the leaders and numerous officials came from the core areas of the monarchies. Apart from the judiciary and jurisprudence - where their knowledge of regional legal tradition was indispensable - the local elites saw themselves effectively excluded from civil service. Then there were the cultural differences between Protestants and Catholics. Against this background, in Arnsberg in particular, there were two separate traffic groups.

Among the Catholic educated citizens of the city, not least to differentiate themselves from the Protestants, some seemingly contradicting tendencies became noticeable in retrospect. On the one hand, they turned away from the Catholic Enlightenment of the 18th century and turned to the ultramontane movement, which was oriented towards the Pope . On the other hand, the de facto estate self-government in the old Duchy of Westphalia was stylized to a certain extent as a model for a non-absolutist, liberal society.

These partly backward-looking and partly forward-looking aspects can be found to a large extent in summer. They shaped his social views as well as his legal, historical, political and ecclesiastical writings. This particularly applies to his dissertation mentioned above. As backward as the emphasis on the estates past was, it represents an original Westphalian contribution to the Prussian constitutional discussion of the time. Sommer maintained his plea for a constitution after the " Karlsbad Resolutions " and the " Demagogue persecution ". Sometimes under the pseudonym "Westphalus Eremita" he fought in the then most important newspapers in Westphalia for a liberal constitutional order. While his dissertation was even favorably commented on by Prussian statesmen, he was now on the side of a moderately liberal opposition, without being subjected to repression himself.

Article summer in the Rheinisch-Westfälischer Anzeiger (1819)

From today's perspective, Sommer's writings on church politics are just as contradictory. On the one hand, he firmly rejected approaches to the national church; on the other hand, he pleaded for a more liberal order of the church, for example through internal councils. Outwardly, especially vis-à-vis the Prussian state, he called for the churches to be completely free from state control.

In 1826, Sommer was elected as a member of the 4th state of the rural communities for the first Westphalian provincial parliament for the districts of Olpe, Siegen and Wittgenstein . Sommer took an active part in the discussions and especially opposed attempts by the Prussian government to revise laws from the reform period. So Sommer turned against the attempts of the aristocratic landowners to restrict the political say for smaller landowners. Sommer argued that whoever pays taxes must also have a say. In this context, there were content-related and personal conflicts with the Freiherr von und zum Stein . In addition, he was also a member of a committee that dealt with questions of Jewish emancipation. In this respect, too, Sommer was in opposition to von Stein. Sommer wrote with a view to Stein: " He would " probably "force the house of Israel to emigrate if he could. He tore most of the assembly down. In less than an hour the Jews had their previous civil rights, their ability to own land acquire, withdrawn . " Of course, these resolutions were not implemented by the Prussian government in Berlin.

The meeting of the estates remained inactive on the constitutional question, which was important for Sommer. Sommer wrote to the publicist Joseph Görres : " Inside us, pretty much everything stays the same, and a lead weight hangs on the existing one ." In the years that followed, Sommer largely held back from open opposition and was primarily involved in legal policy. Together with Benedikt Waldeck , among others , he organized a meeting of Westphalian lawyers in Soest in 1843 , which was met with suspicion by the authorities as an attempt to found a professional association.

Member of the Prussian National Assembly

Sing-Akademie zu Berlin (painting from 1843) - venue of the National Assembly in 1848

In 1848 he was elected a member of the Brilon district in the Prussian National Assembly in Berlin . In an announcement to his constituents, Sommer wrote in May 1848 that he would strive in Berlin for “law, for truth and for the common good”.

In letters to his wife and elsewhere, Sommer drew a vivid picture of the assembly and, in particular, of the formation of factions. First of all, the Constitutional Club was formed around the Westphalian Jodokus Temme , which, in a certain contradiction to its name, considered kingship to be extinct with the revolution. The monarchy was then only tolerated, but the decisive force was parliament. The form of government should determine the constitution adopted by the assembly on the basis of popular sovereignty. A resolute opponent of this view was Sommer, who, as in Vormärz, repeatedly advocated an agreement between the equal partners Parliament and King. Against the more constitutional club, a moderately liberal group formed to the right of it, the later fraction Centrum (not to be confused with the party of the empire). The program of this group was largely formulated by Sommer.

The different positions became clear again and again, especially in the constitutional debate. In particular, with Benedikt Waldeck, the main author of the draft constitution that became known as the Charte Waldeck , Sommer repeatedly had rhetorical arguments. Similar conflicts arose with Waldeck after the October riots in Berlin. While Waldeck pleaded for the burial of those killed at the state expense, Sommer refused to pay for “the excesses of those workers against the good citizens”.

This attitude was increasingly criticized in the Sauerland as being too conservative. With the relocation of the National Assembly and its dissolution in particular, the moderately liberal politicians completely lost support. In November 1848, citizens of Arnsberg demonstrated in front of Sommers' house and damaged it. The fact that the Sauerland was elected to the second chamber of the state parliament predominantly democrats like Johann Matthias Gierse speak in favor of the left swing .

Sommer's political activity was essentially over with the revolution. Like so many early liberals, he had undeniable merits in advocating a risk-based constitution in the pre-March period. However, their political positions no longer proved to be absolutely contemporary during the revolution.

Summer is buried in the Eichholzfriedhof in Arnsberg.

Publications

Sommer's journalistic work is extremely extensive and includes topics from numerous specialist areas. Sommer wrote about legal and historical issues as well as current political issues (e.g. constitutional issues and censorship) as well as canon law and organizational issues. To protect against political persecution after the Carlsbad resolutions , he used the pseudonym "Westphalus Eremita" (= Westphalian hermit), especially in current magazine articles. He wrote for some important papers of the Vormärz, for example in the "Westfälischer Anzeiger" (1816ff.), " Hermann. Zeitschrift für Westfalen " (1817ff.), In the "Hamburger Deutscher Beobachter" (1818f.), In the "Neuen Rheinischer Merkur" and others. In addition to his own contributions, Sommer published numerous reviews of writings by other authors, mainly with political or legal theoretical content. He wrote contributions to theological questions for the encyclopedia of Brockhaus .

Sommer was co-editor of the magazine "New Archives for Prussian Law and Procedures as well as for German Private Law" (1834-1854, 16 volumes) and editor of the magazine "Landwirthschaftliche Mittheilungen der Landeskultur-Gesellschaft für der Landeskultur-Gesellschaft für der Arnsberg" (1842-1852).

Other work

• In 1817, Sommer became an honorary member of the Literary Association for the County of Mark in Altena .
• In 1824 he was co-founder of the Association for Patriotic History and Antiquity in Westphalia .
• In the 1840s he was a member and temporarily on the board of the Landeskultur-Gesellschaft for the administrative district of Arnsberg.

Monographic publications (selection)

• From the German constitution in Germanic Prussia and in the Duchy of Westphalia: with documents . Münster, 1819. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
• The bridal letters of Westphalus Eremita . (Ed. Clemens Plassmann). Limburg: Steffen, 1950
• Representation of the legal relationships of the farms in the Duchy of Westphalia according to older and newer laws and rights. With side dishes . Hamm, 1823 ( digitized version )
• From the Church at this time. Considerations . Münster, 1819. (2nd edition, modified edition 1845)
• Handbook on the older and newer peasant legal relationships in the former Grand Ducal Bergisch, Royal Westphalian and French-Hanseatic Prussian provinces in Rhineland-Westphalia. First part, 1st and 2nd volume (no more published). Hamm, 1830 ( full text vol. 1 , full text vol. 2 ), ( digitized version )
• Law, Richtsteig, legal scholars and nobility of the Prussian Rhineland, in the present and future. Dortmund, 1817.
• Legal treatises. Vol. 1. Together with a treatise on the legal relationship between Rome and Germany & on Wessenberg & the papal breve . Giessen, 1818.

literature

• Johann Friedrich von Schulte :  Summer, Johann Friedrich Josef . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 34, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1892, p. 606 f.
• Johann Suibert Seibertz : Westphalian contributions to German history . Darmstadt, 1819.
• Wilhelm Liese : Westphalus Eremita . In: Journal for patriotic history and antiquity. Vol. 82, 1924, pp. 184-215.
• Patrick Sensburg : The great lawyers of the Sauerland . 22 biographies of outstanding legal scholars. 1st edition. FW Becker, Arnsberg 2002, ISBN 978-3-930264-45-2 (276 pages).
• Christina von Hodenberg: The party of the impartial. The liberalism of the Prussian judiciary 1815-1848 / 49. Göttingen, 1995. pp. 167f.
• Herbert Obenaus: Beginnings of parliamentarism in Prussia until 1848. Düsseldorf, 1984.
• Engelbert Plassmann: Basic ideas of state church law of the German canonists at the turn of the 18th to the 19th century . Herder, Freiburg, 1968. pp. 155ff. (Revised dissertation).
• Martin Vormberg: Johann Friedrich Joseph Sommer - Westphalus Eremita. Scientist, publicist, politician and peasant lawyer. In: Farmers in the mountainous region of South Westphalia. Documentation for the XXVII. Holthaus Museum Week. Vol. 1, Ardey-Verlag, Münster 2006, p. 238ff.

Web links

Commons : Johann Friedrich Joseph Sommer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

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1. ↑ Freiherr vom Stein to Wilhelm von Humboldt of August 24, 1819. In: Freiherr vom Stein. Vol. 6: Stone in Westphalia. Edit again by Alfred Hartlieb von Wallthor.
2. ^ Herbert Obenaus: Beginnings of parliamentarism in Prussia up to 1848. Düsseldorf, 1984. P. 219.
3. ↑ reports from Berlin repr. in Clemens Plassmann: Heinrich Sommer. 1841-1863. Krefeld, 1951. pp. 86-101.