Johann Samuel Friedrich von Böhmer

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Johann Samuel Friedrich von Böhmer

Johann Samuel Friedrich Böhmer , from 1770 von Böhmer , (born October 19, 1704 in Halle (Saale) , † May 20, 1772 in Frankfurt (Oder) ) was a Count of the Court of the Palatinate , German lawyer and university professor .

origin

Johann Samuel Friedrich Böhmer belongs to the Böhmer / von Boehmer family of lawyers , who in the 18th and 19th centuries belonged to the so-called Pretty Families in Kurhannover and in the early Kingdom of Hanover . He was the son of Justus Henning Böhmer and Eleonore Rosine Stützing (1679–1739) and thus the brother of the legal scholars Georg Ludwig Böhmer and Karl August von Böhmer and the physician Philipp Adolph Böhmer .

career

Johann Samuel Friedrich von Böhmer
Certificate of appointment as Count Palatinate (1739)

As early as 1719 , Johann Samuel Friedrich Böhmer, like his younger brother Georg Ludwig Böhmer later, enrolled to study law with his father Justus Henning Böhmer at the University of Halle , which was founded in 1694 and is now the Martin Luther University of Halle. After receiving his doctorate in both rights in 1725 , he made the then customary scholarly journey and was appointed full professor of rights and assessor at the Faculty of Law in Halle in 1726. In this capacity he managed the Dean's Office for three years. In 1733 he was appointed full professor of the Spruchkollegium. In 1739 or 1740 Friedrich Wilhelm I, King in Prussia , appointed him court counselor . In 1739 Günther XLIII awarded him . Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen on behalf of Emperor Karl VI. the privileges of a Count Palatinate (Comes Palatinus minor). In 1746, on the recommendation of the king, he was to be appointed as Reich Chamber Judge Assessor in Wetzlar , but out of concern for his old father, he declined this offer and initially stayed in Halle. There he and his younger brother Karl August von Böhmer took the time to collect the numerous reports and decisions of his father and to publish them while he was still alive. In 1749 Frederick II, King in Prussia , appointed him privy councilor . When Johann Lorenz Fleischer , director of the Brandenburg University of Frankfurt , died in May 1749 , Justus Henning Böhmer sent a letter of recommendation in favor of his son Johann Samuel Friedrich to the Prussian minister and grand chancellor Samuel von Cocceji , but only accepted after his father's death in August 1749 the son accepted the appointment as First Professor of Law and Full Professor of the Faculty of Law and Director of the University and moved to Frankfurt (Oder) at Easter 1750. The board of directors was created to improve the supervision of the professors whom the students had accused of "laziness and injustice" in a written submission. Böhmer was evidently considered to be particularly assertive, as his move from Halle to Frankfurt (Oder) was accompanied by King Friedrich II's fear that Halle could fall into “decadence” as a result.

Legal merit

Böhmer specialized early on in the field of criminal law , its current interpretation tradition and possible reform approaches. With his three main works, he puts the previous criminal law on a new, systematically structured basis, without completely rejecting the traditional. In the first of these works, the " Elementa jurisprudentiae criminalis ", Böhmer makes a contribution to the systematic of criminal law including the procedural rules. This textbook is considered to be the first textbook on criminal law of scientific importance and served other professors as the basis for their lectures well after his death. His second work, the "Observationes selectae ad Bened.Carpzovii practicam novam rerum criminalium" (1759), considerably weakened the influence of the criminal law dogmatist Benedikt Carpzov the Younger , who had been authoritative since the 17th century, and promoted the alignment of the criminal law theory that had been in effect until then to the demands of the Time. This work is considered a milestone in the development of German criminal law. Böhmer was essentially opposed to the educational demands for general mitigation of sentences, especially in the case of qualified theft, infanticide and arson. In his third major work, the “ Carolina ”, he insists on a harsh approach in cases of serious crime, but differentiates and defines the application of the penalty at the same time through new terms such as intent , participation , self-defense , legal error and individual arguments. For example, he accepts that torture , which was customary at the time, as a means of providing evidence for a crime punishable by the death penalty , could well be retained, but on the contrary, he puts the evidence on a new legal basis on the basis of mere circumstantial evidence. In doing so, he endeavored to avoid arbitrariness in practice by defining fixed principles. Shortly before his death, Böhmer wrote in his work “Meditationes in Constitutionem Criminalem Carolinam” (1770) a comprehensive commentary on the German penal code, the embarrassing court order of Emperor Charles V of 1532 (“Carolina”). Even today this commentary is considered to be the most thorough and scientifically exhaustive explanation of this law.

Coat of arms of Johann Samuel Friedrich von Böhmer

In addition, in this age of Enlightenment , Böhmer campaigned for criminal law to be detached from the prevailing “ theocratic legal and state conception, the territorial system and imperial immediacy ” and that it should “come from man and serve his earthly life ”. In doing so, he continued what his father had already begun to implement with his reform proposals on natural law and a collegial system.

Certificate of the elevation to the Prussian nobility (1770, file copy)

For his many services in the field of law and administration, Böhmer was raised to the Prussian hereditary nobility on March 8, 1770, two years before his death, by King Friedrich II .

family

Johann Samuel Friedrich von Böhmer was married to Catharina Charlotte Stahl (1717–1784), daughter of the court councilor and royal personal physician Georg Ernst Stahl and his third wife Regina Elisabeth Wesener. He had ten children with her, including Legation Councilor Georg Friedrich von Böhmer , who was appointed Legation Secretary at the court of Emperor Joseph II in Vienna by Frederick the Great , and Prussia at the “ Perpetual Reichstag ” in Regensburg and at the courts of several principalities of the Holy Roman Reichs German nation represented, as well as the government and senior consortium director Christian Wilhelm von Böhmer (1745-1803). Böhmer is also the progenitor of the branch of the family, from which all current noble namesake descend.

Works (selection)

  • Elementa jurisprudentiae criminalis , Hall 1733.
  • Observationes selectae ad Bened. Carpzovii Practicam novam rerum criminalium Imperialem Saxonicam , Frankfurt / Oder 1759.
  • Meditationes in Constitutionem Criminalen Carolinam , Magdeburg 1770.

Literature and Sources

Web links

Commons : Johann Samuel Friedrich von Böhmer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The spelling “Boehmer” only became established posthumously. In contrast, the spelling "Böhmerus" etc. was predominant in Latin texts throughout his life, both in his own writings (for example in his dissertation, his lecture announcements and major works such as the Elementa ) and in the writings of third parties who named him (for example in von dissertations supervised by him). The spelling “Böhmer” was also used in German texts such as the ADB and NDB reference works and in parts of secondary literature after his death.
  2. ↑ Klaus Mlynek : Pretty families. In: Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein (eds.) U. a .: City Lexicon Hanover . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-89993-662-9 , p. 310.
  3. ^ A b contemporary curriculum vitae as digitized version in: Böhmer, Johann Samuel Friedrich. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Supplement 4, Leipzig 1754, column 21 f.)
  4. ↑ Johann David Erdmann Preuß: Document book on the life story of Frederick the Great , Part I, 1832, Berlin, p. 177, No. 457.
  5. ↑ a b Jürgen Arndt (arrangement): Hofpfalzgrafen-Register, Volume 2 . Ed .: Herold, Association for Heraldry, Genealogy and Related Sciences in Berlin , Neustadt an der Aisch u. Göttingen, Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Verlage Degener & Co., 1971, without ISBN.
  6. ↑ a b J.S .: Biogram of Johann Samuel Friedrich Böhmer , in: Catalog of Professors , published by University of Halle, undated, accessed on November 26, 2017.
  7. ^ Friedrich Wilhelm I. on May 25, 1739 to the University of Halle: Notification that you are professed. Juris Böhmer, most graciously appointed to Hoff-Rath and accepted . In: University Archives Halle-Wittenberg: Rep. 3, No. 241: Appointment and salary of professors in the Faculty of Law (Vol. 2), 1730–1754.
  8. ↑ Günther XLIII. Prince von Schwarzburg-Sondershausen: Appointment of Johann Samuel Friedrich Böhmer as Count of the Court Palatinate on April 21, 1739, Rudolstadt State Archives, Secret Consilium Sondershausen No. 1302.
  9. ↑ Johann David Erdmann Preuß: Document book on the life story of Frederick the Great , Part I, 1832, Berlin, p. 177, No. 457.
personal data
SURNAME Böhmer, Johann Samuel Friedrich von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Boehmer, Johann Samuel Friedrich von; Böhmer, Friedrich von; Böhmer, Johann Samuel Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German legal scholar
DATE OF BIRTH October 19, 1704
PLACE OF BIRTH Halle (Saale)
DATE OF DEATH May 20, 1772
Place of death Frankfurt (Oder)