Otto Lenel

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Otto Lenel

Otto Lenel (born December 13, 1849 in Mannheim ; † February 7, 1935 in Freiburg im Breisgau ) was a German legal historian specializing in Roman law . With regard to Romance studies, he founded a new era of research, interpolation research. He determined a large number of interpolations for original texts. Lenel received particular attention for his reconstructive work on Edictum perpetuum (1883) and Palingenesia Iuris Civilis (1889).

Life

Family grave in the Freiburg main cemetery

Otto Lenel was born to Moritz Lenel and Caroline, née Scheuer. He studied law at the Universities of Heidelberg , Leipzig and Berlin . He took part in the Franco-Prussian war as a war volunteer . In 1871 he passed the first state law examination in order to obtain a doctorate the following year. In 1874 he passed the second state examination in law. Two years later he completed his habilitation at the University of Leipzig. In 1882 he was offered a chair at Kiel University . In 1884 he became a professor at the Philipps University of Marburg . From 1885 he taught at the Kaiser-Wilhelms-Universität Strasbourg , in the academic year 1896/97 he was its rector . In 1907 he received a call from the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg .

Memorial plaque in front of Lenel's house in Freiburg im Breisgau

In 1933, the honorary citizen of the city of Freiburg was hit by the effects of National Socialist racial policy; his daughter was ousted from her job as a nurse. These severe blows of fate broke Lenel. In the last year and a half of his life, he could no longer devote himself to science. He died on February 7, 1935 and was buried in the family grave at the main cemetery in Freiburg im Breisgau .

According to his wishes, he was buried quietly and no obituary was published in Germany. The over 80 year old widow, Luise b. Eberstadt (born February 25, 1857 in Frankfurt) and their daughter Bertha Lenel (born March 7, 1882 in Freiburg) were abducted on October 22, 1940 as part of the Wagner-Bürckel campaign from Freiburg to the Camp de Gurs camp in France. The widow died in the camp († November 7, 1940). Bertha Lenel survived († August 13, 1973).

Otto Lenel was from January 19, 1867 to January 8, 1868 and then again from January 18, 1887 to May 19, 1920 member of the Allemannia Heidelberg fraternity . In 1903 he was accepted as a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . From 1909 he was an extraordinary member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences . In 1928 he was elected a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences . In 1932 he became a corresponding member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences .

Main work

As one of the great German legal historians, best known for his interpolation research on Roman legal history, he was honored on his 80th birthday in 1929 with a congratulatory address in which 20 countries from different continents and 100 universities were represented.

This was mainly due to his first major work, the Edictum Perpetuum . In it he researched the legal protection program of the same name practiced in Rome, which served as part of the official rules of the periodic announcement of changes in the handling of legal matters, in particular the legal training , the praetoric edict . For this purpose Lenel had collected numerous fragments from the edict's commentaries, which he had taken from the Justinian digests . Due to his extremely conscientious research and his critical scrutiny of the text, he was able to identify numerous interpolations that had previously been neglected. Inevitably, “hidden” classical legal texts emerged , texts on which the Digest were based.

With his work Palingenesia Iuris Civilis from 1889, Lenel pursued the goal of restoring all available legal writings, as far as the fragments had survived. The founder of the Historical School of Law , Friedrich Carl von Savigny , had already considered the reconstruction of a classic legal library . His students, in turn, had not taken up his request, so that Lenel found an unprocessed field. Lenel's pioneering work that followed prompted Fritz Pringsheim to call him the most important scholar in this field. Lenel did not found a law school, although many young scholars from Europe came to him to learn from him.

obituary

On February 7, 1985, on the 50th anniversary of Otto Lenel's death, a memorial plaque was placed at his last residence at Holbeinstrasse 5 in Freiburg. The fate of the Lenel family is also remembered as part of the Stolpersteine project .

Publications (selection)

  • On the origin and scope of exceptions , 1876.
  • Party intent and legal success , 1881.
  • The edictum perpetuum. An attempt to restore it, crowned with the prize advertised for the Savigny Foundation , Leipzig 1927; first in 1883 ( digitized version ; PDF; 54.6 MB).
  • Palingenesia juris civilis , 2 vols., 1887–1889.
  • The doctrine of the requirement (with regard to the draft of a civil code) , in: AcP 74 (1889), pp. 213-239.
  • Representation and power of attorney , 1896.
  • On the Imperial Constitution , 1920.

literature

  • Elmar Bund: Otto Lenel. In: Freiburg professors of the 19th and 20th centuries , ed. by Johannes Vincke (= contributions to the history of science and universities in Freiburg , 13), Albert, Freiburg im Breisgau 1957, p. 77 ff., in particular p. 99.
  • Elmar Bund :  Lenel, Otto. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 14, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-428-00195-8 , p. 204 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Horst Göppinger : Jurists of Jewish descent in the “Third Reich” , Beck, Munich 1990, 2nd edition, p. 225.
  • Kürschner's German Scholars Calendar , 1931, 1935.
  • Fritz Pringsheim : Roman law in Freiburg after 1900 . In: From the history of law and political science in Freiburg i. Br. , Ed. v. HJ Wolff (= Contributions to Freiburg Science and University History , 15), Albert, Freiburg im Breisgau 1957, p. 115 ff., In particular p. 126.
  • Paul Sauer, p. 258 f.
  • Sinzheimer, p. 97 ff., In particular p. 110.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rector's speech (HKM) .
  2. ^ Otto Lenel obituary at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (PDF file).
  3. ^ Members of the HAdW since it was founded in 1909. Otto Lenel. Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, accessed June 24, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 148.
  5. ^ Members of the SAW: Otto Lenel. Saxon Academy of Sciences, accessed on November 9, 2016 .
  6. ↑ 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, here p. 17 f.
  7. ↑ 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. 121 f.
  8. ↑ Otto Lenel , in: Hans Planitz (Hrsg.): The jurisprudence of the present in self-portrayals , Volume 1, Meiner, Leipzig 1924, p. 140 (on the reconstruction of the edict, "the most important codification of the Romans since the 12 tables") and p. 14.
  9. ^ Fritz Pringsheim : Roman law in Freiburg after 1900 , in: Hans Julius Wolff (Ed.): From the history of law and political science in Freiburg i. Br. , Albert, Freiburg im Breisgau 1957, p. 119, fn. 74.

Web links

Wikisource: Otto Lenel  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Lenel, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German legal historian
DATE OF BIRTH December 13, 1849
PLACE OF BIRTH Mannheim
DATE OF DEATH February 7, 1935
Place of death Freiburg in Breisgau