Ludwig Friedrich Griesinger

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Ludwig Friedrich Griesinger (born June 2, 1767 in Stuttgart ; † February 22, 1845 there ) was a Württemberg lawyer , politician and publicist .

Life

Ludwig Friedrich Griesinger was the older brother of the diplomat and writer Georg August von Griesinger (1769–1845). At the age of 15 he lost his father Georg Christoph Griesinger (1734 / 35–1782), who had been a councilor and mayor in Stuttgart. Thereupon his energetic mother Louise Dorothea, geb. Bag von Leonberg the education of Ludwig Friedrich and his eight siblings. An older brother of Ludwig Friedrich was already studying at that time, so that he, as the oldest son who stayed at home, had to assist his mother in bringing up his younger siblings. His brother, who later became a Saxon legation councilor, wrote of him: “My brother Ludwig was an independent character from his youth, more firm than soft; he pursued his studies seriously, learned Latin well and knew his Horace (especially the Ars poetica ) by heart in old age ”.

At the age of 17 years Griesinger involved the University of Tübingen to law to study, and heard especially the professors Hofacker , Maier and Gmelin. The positive attracted him more than metaphysical speculation; He attached great importance to so-called “elegant jurisprudence ”. After completing his studies, he made a trip to London in 1797 as the companion of Privy Councilor Immanuel von Rieger and from there returned to his homeland via Berlin , Leipzig , Vienna and Italy . He later visited Italy again in the company of the bookseller Cotta .

Griesinger had mainly turned to civil law . He emerged as a writer early on and as such was not only distinguished by his acuteness, but also by his extensive knowledge of the relevant literature at home and abroad. Even his first work, the translation of a book by Rapolla that was rare in Germany and found in the public library of Stuttgart, showed in the annotations a rare well-read in civilist literature, especially of the 16th and 17th centuries. He also pursued learned hobbies with a great apparatus of learning. So he wrote a long book on the right to light ( servitus luminum ). This work, which is more of a literary curiosity, owed its creation to the author's second trip to Italy, where the construction of the apartments and the hot climate brought him to the at least new idea of ​​a shadow law.

Griesinger became a lawyer in Stuttgart and soon had a sizable practice. In the event of personal interest, he was also able to win lawsuits as a legal representative for dubious claims. This activity often led him to German civil law. Often, however, a decision could not be made here either from Roman law or from the remnants of Germanic law in force. This fact led him to lend a hand here himself, and this is how his main work, Commentary on the Duke of Württemberg Land Law (10 volumes, 1793–1808) was created. According to the preface, he also wrote this work for legal laypeople. In practice, the work proved to be useful, especially because of the complete literature that he tried to give for each paragraph. According to the title of the first volume, he only gave the book on commission; this is said to have given him a substantial sum. Of all legal matters, inheritance law is dealt with in the last two volumes. After completing this work, he obtained his doctorate from the law faculty in Tübingen in 1808 based on his previously published writings.

As a legal scholar, Griesinger only considered legal thinking to be the main thing, rejecting religious and moral factors. He showed a rigid, one-sided sense of the law in his class career. Individual apparently striking resolutions and writings can be explained from this. He represented the upper administrative district of Stuttgart in the Württemberg assembly of estates in 1815. Initially with the majority who spoke out against the constitution imposed by King Friedrich , he converted to the ruling party in the same year when he became convinced that it would be better for the country to adopt the new constitution than to stick to the old one . He remained firmly with the ruling party without completely submitting to it.

In the Landtag of 1819 Griesinger was not elected because he had made himself unpopular with the large crowd. However, his unselfishness had earned him the respect of the more sensible, and in 1820 he appeared again as a member of the Stuttgart Higher Office. At this first constitutional state parliament, he spoke for Friedrich List , the later famous economist , when the government wanted to initiate a criminal investigation against him because of an address he had distributed. As a member of the organizing commission set up by the chamber, he was against the government's view of abolishing the privileged places of jurisdiction. So he followed his own path and was guided in his judgment only by his strict legal sense. Since he never sacrificed even a fraction of his views in the interests of the whole, he could not freely join any party. Under these circumstances, some of his views became one-sided. It was consistent from him when he earlier fought against all the writing and its abuses, and therefore did not want an official state. But if he was against new organizations because they filled the state with a number of new officials and accordingly burdened the budget , or if in 1824 he declared himself against the district system because it made it easier to govern a lot, then this was mainly a doctrinal point of view, who lacked the practical statesmanlike view. Parliamentary activity, given his harsh legal thinking, did not appeal to him, and he gave it up entirely in 1827 in order to live only for himself and for science.

The number of Griesinger's friends was not very large. Although he would have fit for an academic chair according to his orientation, he did not embark on a university career because he did not like the dependency as a civil servant. In his entire life he did not apply for any office because he preferred the independent position of lawyer, in which he also found leisure to study, to any compulsory service. As a specialist, however, he had a high degree of respect for the learned world. According to an anecdote , Minister Spittler once wanted to get him to a law professorship in Tübingen and, to his surprise, brought him a decree that had already been issued, but could not persuade him to renounce his independence despite several hours of persuasion, which is why the appointment before her Publication has been withdrawn. For his previous teachers in Tübingen and the university, however, he showed great devotion and piety. For the purpose of a permanent family foundation (for student sons and daughters entering into marriage), he made the University of Tübingen the universal heir of his considerable fortune, which he had earned through his work as a lawyer and writer. He also left his library, which mainly consisted of legal works, to the university.

In addition to his specialization, Griesinger was interested in the fine arts, especially music ; he was also a nature lover. In the last 30 years of his life he was ailing, as he often suffered from Podagra , and therefore spent a few months in Baden-Baden almost every summer. He remained unmarried and died on February 22, 1845 at the age of 77 in Stuttgart. In addition to the Tübingen University of Applied Sciences, which was designated as a universal heir, he also made considerable bequests in his will for relatives, for the Bürgerhospital and for the Katharinenspital in his home town.

Works

  • The legal scholar or the way civil law is properly learned and explained. A treatise in two books by Franz Rapolla, President of the Royal Chamber of Naples. Translated from Latin, accompanied by a preface and several comments , Stuttgart 1792
  • Theoretical proof that the right of accession can take place in the case of personal servitude of the custom. A new tenet for the theory and practice of civil law , Stuttgart 1792
  • On the binding nature of contracts according to general principles and especially according to Württemberg law , Tübingen 1793
  • Commentary on the ducal Württemberg land law , Frankfurt and Leipzig 1793–1808; In 1830 an alphabetical register was published
  • History and theory of suity , Stuttgart 1807
  • Three lectures by the representative of the Stuttgart District Office, Consul Dr. Griesinger, on the royal rescript of November 13th, held in the Estates Assembly (on the above constitutional question), Frankfurt and Leipzig 1815
  • De servitute luminum et ne luminibus officiatur, cum duplice appendice de servitute prospectus et fenestrae , Leipzig 1819
  • Comments against the lecture of the Minister of Justice Baron von Maucler in the Chamber of Deputies on February 23, 1821 , Stuttgart 1821
  • About the organization of justice in modern times, about investigation and negotiation maxims and about the advantages of the royal Prussian over the newest royal Württemberg judicial facility , Tübingen 1820
  • The reprint of books, viewed from the point of view of law, morality and politics , Stuttgart 1822 (actually a speech given in June 1822 in the Württemberg meeting of the estates, in which he defended the reprint of books)
  • About the legal value of feudal observances, about the legal rule: femina semel exclusa semper exclusa; about velvet leanings and about a strange 31-year-old, unfinished fief process , Stuttgart 1825

Even after the death of August Friedrich Wilhelm Danz, Griesinger continued his manual of today's German private law and wrote the ninth and tenth volumes (Stuttgart 1822–23).

literature

personal data
SURNAME Griesinger, Ludwig Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Wuerttemberg lawyer, politician and publicist
DATE OF BIRTH June 2, 1767
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuttgart
DATE OF DEATH February 22, 1845
Place of death Stuttgart