Martin Loeffler

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Martin Löffler (born January 25, 1905 in Cannstatt , † February 4, 1987 in Stuttgart ) was a German lawyer and press lawyer .

Studies and first years of employment

Löffler studied law in Tübingen , Munich , Berlin and Geneva . In addition, he devoted himself to political and historical studies; The later Federal President Theodor Heuss was one of his lecturers in Berlin . In 1927, he put his first legal state exam from, the 1928 promotion to Dr. jur. in Tübingen and in 1930 the second state examination followed. From 1927 until it was banned in 1933, he was a member of the German People's Party (Stresemann Party) .

After brief activities from 1928 in the public prosecutor's office and as a district judge, he worked as a lawyer in Stuttgart from 1932 (?). In 1933 he opened his own law firm on Königstraße directly opposite the main train station, which still exists today under the name "Löffler, Wenzel, Sedelmeier". After the Second World War , where he worked from 1940 to 1943 a. a. served as a tank officer in the Africa Corps and served as an army judge from 1944 onwards, he resumed his legal practice in Stuttgart. Unaffected by the Nazi regime, he was deputy defense attorney for the SA at the Nuremberg trial against the main war criminals .

As a result, he represented newspaper publishers in reimbursement and compensation proceedings, which is why he was increasingly called in as a consultant by the newly emerging press. Löffler found the press law in a largely disordered state. The "Reichspreß" law of 1874 still applied, which had not been formally repealed during the Nazi era. It was liberal, but outdated in many respects. In most federal states, this law was not replaced by their own state press laws until 1964 (the exceptions were Bavaria, 1949, and Hesse, 1958). Martin Löffler laid the scientific basis for this in 1955 with his commentary on press law. According to the political scientist Bodo Hombach (2016), the topos of the press as the " fourth power " in the state in German-speaking countries was coined by Löffler in 1959; the term itself is used as early as the 19th century.

Scientific work and social commitment

Löffler is the author of several monographs as well as of over 200 specialist publications on media law in Germany and abroad, including a documentation commissioned by UNESCO on "self-regulation of the press in a worldwide perspective". In 1969 UNESCO commissioned him to create a worldwide documentation on the professional rights of the mass media. Löffler was a presidential member of the German Society for the United Nations , a member of the German UNESCO Commission , and also chairman of the International Research Society for Communication Law. From 1961 to 1969 he was also a member of the Advisory Board of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation .

In addition to his numerous book publications in Germany, he was also u. a. Co-editor of Lord Dennings Report on the Profumo case from 1962/63. Löffler's main work, his commentary on press law , appeared for the first time in 1955, at that time with an explanation of the Reich Press Act of 1874 in addition to commenting on the press regulations of the federal states. Löffler also wrote the second edition (1968) alone. Löffler's partners Karl Egbert Wenzel and Klaus Sedelmeier worked on the third edition (1983). After his death, the comment was initially continued by these two and is now being edited by Klaus Sedelmeier and Emanuel H. Burkhardt , only the sixth edition from 2015 no longer appeared under his name.

In his later publications, Löffler pointed out the challenges of the right to publish through the emergence of electronic media. In 1983 he wrote in the foreword to his work "Pressrecht": "The current 3rd edition is marked by the transition from the Gutenberg era to the beginning electronic age, which will affect the entire press law. The future will be central to the press The problem is whether it can maintain its historically well-founded journalistic status even in a changed world. The unstoppable progressive development is blurring the previous line between the press and the electronic media , which was clearly drawn by the different forms of production . "

Important mandates

Löffler gained notoriety beyond the legal field through several mandates with political relevance. In the Spiegel affair (1962 to 1966) he won the so-called Spiegel judgment before the Federal Constitutional Court , in which it was determined that a free press not controlled by the state is one of the essential elements of a democratic state. This significantly influenced the understanding of the free press as the fourth power in the state, which describes its task guaranteed by the Basic Law as a counterweight to the three state powers of the legislative , executive and judicial branches . Another important mandate was the representation of the banker Hermann Josef Abs in his case against the Marxist historian Eberhard Czichon and his publisher Pahl-Rugenstein in the years 1970 to 1973. Abs and the Germans, which was highly regarded at home and abroad and also in the GDR Bank wanted to prevent a new edition of the book "The Banker and the Power. Hermann Josef Abs in German Politics" by Czichon and the spread of some incriminating claims about Abs. Löffler was able to prove in court that the book incorrectly presented essential facts in at least twenty points. The process ended in 1973 with a success for Abs across the board, which Löffler was able to explain in television appearances. Like the Profumo affair of 1962/63 and the Spiegel trial, this procedure was also characterized by the East-West confrontation and was heavily politicized. The media in the GDR initially reported on it in detail because Pahl-Rugenstein and his publishing house enjoyed the sympathy of the SED, while Abs and Deutsche Bank were considered symbols of capitalism. In view of the favorable course of the process for Abs, the state-controlled media of the GDR stopped reporting after a short time.

Honors

In the literature, Löffler is recognized as the " Nestor of the press law", who has done basic scientific work. The founding of the study group for press law and freedom of the press eV in 1956 illustrates his commitment to press freedom. This group is still active under the leadership of Emanuel H. Burkhard (as of 2019), its seat is the law firm founded by Löffler in Stuttgart in 1933.

Martin Löffler was awarded the title honorary professor in 1974 for his scientific achievements . In the same year he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit in Stuttgart together with the publisher Georg von Holtzbrinck , with whom he was well known. On his 75th birthday he was honored with a commemorative publication ( press law and freedom of the press , Munich 1980). In February 1985, he was finally honored with the Federal Cross of Merit by Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker . At the award ceremony on May 8, 1985, Prime Minister Lothar Späth praised Löffler as "a particularly successful advocate of press law and freedom of the press" and "outstanding scientist with great merits for the free and democratic constitutional state".

Works (selection)

  • Press law . Munich, 1st edition 1955 ("Commentary on press law) to 3rd edition 1980.
  • Manual of press law . Munich, 1st edition 1978 to 2nd edition 1986 (together with Reinhart Ricker).
  • The constitutional mandate of the press: model case Spiegel . Karlsruhe 1963.
  • USA, Versailles Treaty and League of Nations . Tübingen 1928 (dissertation).

literature

  • Gerhard Köbler: Juristenlexikon . P. 61.
  • Friedrich Kübler : On the 80th birthday of Professor Dr. Martin Loeffler . In: Journal for Copyright and Media Law, Film and Law . tape 29 , no. 3 , 1985, pp. 152 .
  • Reinhart Ricker: Martin Löffler . In: A portrait of lawyers . Munich 1988, ISBN 3-406-33196-3 , pp. 531-537 (photography on p. 728).
  • Reinhart Ricker: Martin Löffler † . In: NJW , 1987, p. 1003.
  • Karl Egbert Wenzel: Obituary Martin Löffler . In: ZUM , 1987, p. 178.
  • Martin Löffler , Internationales Biographisches Archiv 10/1987 of February 23, 1987, in the Munzinger Archive ( beginning of article freely accessible).
  • Martin Loeffler . In: Der Spiegel . No. 7 , 1987, pp. 212 ( online ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martin Löffler , Internationales Biographisches Archiv 10/1987 of February 23, 1987, in the Munzinger Archive ( beginning of the article freely accessible).
  2. ↑ Reinhart Ricker: Martin Löffler . In: A portrait of lawyers . Munich 1988, p. 532 (who mentions 1932 as the beginning of his legal practice).
  3. ↑ Martin Löffler , Internationales Biographisches Archiv 10/1987 of February 23, 1987, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible) (legal practice only started from 1933).
  4. ↑ https://www.bapp-bonn.de/lehrveranstaltungen/universitaet-bonn
  5. ↑ Martin Löffler, press law. 3rd edition, 1983, p. VII.
  6. ↑ Reinhart Ricker: Martin Löffler . In: A portrait of lawyers . Munich 1988, p. 533.
  7. ↑ Reinhart Ricker: Martin Löffler † . In: NJW , 1987, p. 1003.
  8. ↑ Dietmar Willoweit (Ed.): Law and legal literature in the 20th century . Munich 2007, p. 36.
  9. ↑ Reinhart Ricker: Martin Löffler . In: A portrait of lawyers . Munich 1988, p. 536.
personal data
SURNAME Löffler, Martin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH January 25, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Cannstatt
DATE OF DEATH 4th February 1987
Place of death Stuttgart