Otto Gradenwitz

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Otto Gradenwitz (born May 16, 1860 in Breslau ; † July 7, 1935 in Berlin ) was a German legal historian and lexicographer .

Life

His father was a banker . Otto Gradenwitz showed great interest in mathematics at the Maria-Magdalenen-Gymnasium in Breslau . He was therefore repeatedly encouraged by his teacher to study mathematics. When he finally decided on jurisprudence , he explained this decision to his teacher as follows: "As a lawyer everyone can become something, as a mathematician you have to be talented."

Gradenwitz studied law in Breslau , Berlin , Heidelberg and Leipzig . He received his doctorate in Berlin in 1880. This was followed by military service in Strasbourg and in 1885 the habilitation in Berlin, to which Ernst Immanuel Bekker had encouraged him. The publication of his habilitation thesis entitled “ Interpolations in den Pandekten ” in 1887 laid the foundation for his high academic reputation, which complemented Otto Lenel's work in the field of the reconstruction of classical legal texts. At the same time, he developed a methodology for interpolation criticism, which he explained using examples. It also drew the benevolent interest of Theodor Mommsen . His work was favored by a tendency of his time to view traditional traditions with suspicion and to pursue enlightenment in the final analysis.

In 1890 Gradenwitz became an adjunct professor in Berlin. However, the management of a lexical task for Roman law entrusted to him was not very satisfactory for him. As a result, he saw his career opportunities diminished and therefore followed an appointment to Königsberg in 1895 , where he became a full professor in 1896 . The separation from his actual research in Berlin and the limitation of his teaching activities to civil law made Gradenwitz feel that the ten years in Konigsberg were banished. He explained his rejection of the legal and philological special professorship he was striving for because of his Jewish descent (although he had been baptized). He felt put back in his work because he was not German, but only “German national”, as he put it; nevertheless he was an admirer of Bismarck .

His call to the University of Strasbourg in 1907 was "the hour of redemption" for him. A year later he was appointed to the University of Heidelberg. In 1910 Gradenwitz was a founding member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences . From 1933 he was a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences .

Gradenwitz has worked in many fields of science and has been praised for its originality. His work on civil law (invalidity of mandatory legal transactions; contestation and right of recourse in the event of errors; dictionary of the civil code, etc.) stand alongside his legal and contemporary history. In 1929 a work appeared in which he treated the regula Benedicti according to the principles of the Pandekten criticism , and published on Bismarck's dismissal.

Gradenwitz made particular merits in papyrology ; He had received the impetus for legal work on papyrus documents from Mommsen. In 1918 Gradenwitz founded the legal historical Papyrus Institute in Heidelberg and in 1925 published the index to the Codex Theodosianus . He also created the Heidelberg contrarian index of the Greek papyrus documents. He received suggestions for his work on the Laterculi vocum latinarum from Hermann Diels .

In 1928 he retired . He continued his work as a papyrologist, traveled a lot and kept in touch with colleagues abroad. He lived in Berlin and Rome .

The Law Faculty of the University of Königsberg and the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Berlin made Gradenwitz an honorary doctorate in 1930.

Otto Gradenwitz died in Berlin in 1935 at the age of 75 and was buried in the Dahlem forest cemetery. The grave has not been preserved.

Major works

  • Introduction to papyrus studies , 1900
  • Index to Theodosianus , 1925
  • Otto Gradenwitz. In: Hans Planitz (ed.): The jurisprudence of the present in self-portrayals. Meiner, Leipzig 1929. Volume 3, pp. 41-88 (= upper pagination pp. 1-48).

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reinhard Zimmermann : Today's Law, Roman Law and Today's Roman Law . In: Reinhard Zimmermann u. a. (Ed.): Legal history and private law dogmatics. CF Müller, Heidelberg 1999, pp. 1-39 (17 f.).
  2. ↑ Max Kaser : Roman legal sources and applied legal method. In: Research on Roman Law , Vol. 36, Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Graz 1986, ISBN 3-205-05001-0 , p. 122 (The parallelism to the “ Biblical ” or “Homerkritik” is described).
  3. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende: Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , p. 580.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Gradenwitz, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German legal historian and lexicographer
DATE OF BIRTH May 16, 1860
PLACE OF BIRTH Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH July 7, 1935
Place of death Berlin