Samuel of Cocceji

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Samuel von Cocceji, copper engraving by Johann Jacob Haid
Samuel of Cocceji
Cocceji bust by Schadow

Samuel Freiherr von Cocceji ( pronunciation: kok'tse: ji , born October 20, 1679 in Heidelberg , † October 4, 1755 in Berlin ) was a German lawyer and Grand Chancellor . He became known for the reform of the Prussian judiciary .

Life

Samuel von Cocceji studied law with his father Heinrich von Cocceji , received his doctorate in 1699 and, after a three-year educational trip through Italy, France, England and Holland, was professor at the University of Viadrina from 1702 . From 1711 to 1713 he worked as a subdelegate at the Reich Chamber of Commerce in Wetzlar and in 1723 became President of the Chamber of Commerce in Berlin. Other offices were: 1727 Minister of State and War, 1731 President of Appeal, 1738 to 1739 and 1741 to 1746 Prussian Minister of Justice and from 1747 Grand Chancellor . He was entrusted by Frederick II with the reorganization of the Prussian legal relations in conquered Silesia and then reformed the legal system in all of Prussia.


He created a uniform judicial system, which was divided into three instances and ensured the independence of the judges - who were previously heavily dependent on the nobility and lawyers - by setting fixed uniform salaries . With the tribunal he introduced a supreme binding jurisdiction in 1748, to which all other courts in the country were subordinate, which earned him strong resistance from the estates. Frederick William I had gone too far with his ideas, which is why he recalled him in 1739, but Frederick II took a liking to his ideas and raised him to the Prussian baron status in 1749 ( Cocq 's paternal predicate was dropped ).

family

Samuel von Cocceji married Johanna Charlotte von Beschefer, daughter of the Prussian Lieutenant General Jakob von Bechefer . Together they had three daughters and three sons, including Carl Friedrich Ernst (1725–1780), general in the service of the last King of Poland, Stanislaus II August . Johann Heinrich Friedrich became a Prussian colonel and royal adjutant general. Karl Ludwig became the regional president of Glogau . The eldest daughter Sophia Susanna Charlotte (1720 / 22–1794) married General Dubislav Friedrich von Platen and the youngest Amalie Charlotte Henriette (1729–1757) married Baron Mathieu II von Vernezobre-Laurieux (1721–1782). Luise, the middle one remained unmarried and was lady of honor with the Prussian Queen Elisabeth Christine .

With the death of Samuel's youngest son, Karl Ludwig von Cocceji, the barons of Cocceji became extinct from the male line. Karl Ludwig died childless on July 12, 1808. From 1749 to 1788 he was married to the ballet dancer Barbara Campanini (called La Barberina).

Honors

The rear Pomeranian town of Coccejendorf (a settlement of Palatinate citizens from 1749 on the former site of Schwenzenhagen , now Radosław in Polish) was named after Samuel von Cocceji . He was also awarded the Order of the Black Eagle by King Friedrich II of Prussia on March 7, 1747 .

Works

Project des Corporis Juris Fridericiani , 1752

literature

Web links

Commons : Samuel von Cocceji  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. New genealogical-historical News , Volume 59, S.305f memorial
  2. Count Lehndorff: At the court of Queen Luise . Stapp, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-87776-020-8 , pp. 303 .
  3. List of knights of the royal Prussian high order of the Black Eagle. No. 55, Decker, Berlin 1851, p. 7.