Nicolaus Beckmann (lawyer)

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Nicolaus Beckmann

Nicolaus Beckmann (* 1634 in Heide ; † April 7, 1689 in Graz ) was a German lawyer.

Live and act

It is not documented where Beckmann grew up and which schools he attended. Since he enrolled at the University of Frankfurt / Oder together with a son of the Heid senior pastor in May 1645 , there are many indications that he had not left his hometown by then. He studied law and in July 1655 moved to the University of Königsberg . In 1656 at the latest he went to Stockholm and taught the eldest son of the Swedish field marshal Gabriel Oxenstierna as a private tutor for six years .

From 1662 Beckmann and his pupil Oxenstierna heard from Hermann Conring at the University of Helmstedt . At the end of 1663 he moved to Marburg, and two years later to France. Probably due to plans to establish a university in Lund , he received his doctorate in both rights in August 1666 in Orléans . In his disputation he dealt with “De fidejusionne”. In the following month he published the Pandekten commentary "Medulla Justinianea", dedicated to the underage Charles XI. Then he went to Stockholm and spoke to Imperial Chancellor Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie . In December he was promised a professorship in Lund, where he moved in the spring of 1667 and was officially appointed in November.

For the second half of 1668 Beckmann was elected rector of the university. In his position as a teacher he was left behind against Samuel von Pufendorf , who had received a better-paid chair. Shortly after the university opened, there were disputes between Pro-Chancellor Bernhard Oelreich and Bishop Peder Winstrup from Lund. Beckmann took the side of the theologian. From 1669 a government commission examined these processes and possibilities to improve the economic basis of the school. Since Beckmann's chair was considered dispensable according to the results, he had to be content with a position as honorary professor from 1671.

In 1672 Pufendorf's groundbreaking work “De iure naturae et gentium” was published without any government censorship. At the same time Beckmann was planning a “Commentarius ad prima juris fundamentia” and had to have it censored by Pufendorf. When the examiner took action against the book on the grounds of Cartesian heresy , Beckmann took the side of the Orthodox theologians and was finally banned from criticism by the government. Beckmann then published in Germany in 1673 anonymous critical views of Josua Schwartz . He had added additional text, presumably from Winstrup, and his own sharp comments to his writing. The work was published under the title "Index quarundam novitatum, quas ... Samuel Puffendorff ... contra orthodoxa fundamenta ... edidit".

Pufendorf then publicly announced that the work came from Beckmann. This caused a dispute between the two in the form of entries and writings. Pufendorf had the backing of the government. Beckmann therefore fled to Copenhagen in November 1673 . In a letter he challenged his opponent to a duel and took such violent action against the government that the consortium of Lund University wrote him out for public cremation in 1674. She declared him dishonorable with a life ban from entering the country again. The government approved this decision, which was carried out in April 1675.

Beckmann moved to Vienna and converted to the Catholic faith there in 1673. With the recommendation of the emperor in 1675 he got a position as the office director of the Michelsberg monastery . There he wrote the "Doctrina juris" in 1676. It was an alphabetical, lexical description of Roman common law. New editions of this were published in Nuremberg in 1678 and 1681. In 1677 or 1678 he was appointed to the imperial council, in 1680 to the inner Austrian regimental council with official seat in Graz . On March 3, 1685, he was knighted. As a regimental councilor, he worked on important business matters. In 1681 and 1682 he was a member of the highest plague commission in Graz. In 1682, as Commissarius in causa magiae in Leibnitz, he led trials against witches and wizards.

Beckmann's last work was published in Graz in 1688. It was the "Idea juris statutarii et consuetudinarii Stiriaci et Austriaci cum jure Romano collati". This is to be assigned to the literature on differentiating . It is the most important source published as a book in the form of a legal lexicon for the law of Inner Austria in the 17th century. The author presented the differences between Styrian and Austrian law and Roman law. He made several proposals for legal reform. The regional courts were to be replaced by imperial courts. Forced labor houses should be created in Vienna and Graz in particular. As in France and Holland, the compulsory guild should be removed. It campaigned for expropriations that would provide funds for the Turkish War in the general interest. He also opposed the death penalty for violating hunting laws.

Beckmann also worked out a noteworthy codification plan . In the foreword of the “Reformata Doctrina juris”, he suggested that Emperor Leopold I completely revise the entire law course and replace it with a “novum excultum corpus juris Leopoldinum”. In the “Idea juris” he made this suggestion again. It is unlikely that he worked out the well thought-out and balanced proposals based on a direct model.

Gerhard Buchda was of the opinion that Beckmann created the "Libellus Consuetudinum Principatus Bambergensis" in 1681 under the pseudonym Iustus Veracius . However, this must be viewed as quite questionable.

Beckmann died wealthy and childless. When he died he had goods in Graz and St. Peter .

family

Around the turn of the year 1666/67 Beckmann married Hedwig Klinck, the daughter of Wibeke Klinck († June 28, 1685 in Lund ) from Eckernförde. She worked as the maid of Hedwig Eleonora of Sweden . She died after March 1686. The couple had an unknown number of children who died before their father.

Beckmann married Catharina Victoria Hercules, nee Wottgo, in his second marriage. She was a widow of the landscape secretary Anton Hercules. The marriage remained childless.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Wesener 1991, p. 48.
  2. ↑ Wesener 1991, p. 48 f.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Wesener 1991, p. 49.
personal data
SURNAME Beckmann, Nicolaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH 1634
PLACE OF BIRTH pagan
DATE OF DEATH April 7, 1689
Place of death Graz