Wisby Law of the Sea

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“Datt highest unde öldeste water right” printed in 1537 by Jürgen Richolff the Elder . J. in Lübeck

The law of the sea from Wisby is a compilation of the law of the sea from the early 16th century that was widespread in the North and Baltic Sea region. The earliest surviving prints are in the Middle Dutch (1532, Amsterdam) and Middle Low German (1537, Lübeck) language. They go directly back to the Gotland Water Law, printed in Low German in Copenhagen in 1505 . This, in turn, is ultimately a compilation of Luebian law , the French Rôles d'Oléron and the Dutch Ordinancie .

Wisby's maritime law was of supraregional importance in the North and Baltic Sea region until the 19th century and was widespread in Low German, Dutch and Danish versions. However, it was applied on a subsidiary basis , so that in places with their own maritime regulations, such as in the Hanseatic cities and also in Wisby itself, these were usually applied initially. As the law of the sea of ​​supraregional validity, the law of the sea in Wisby had far-reaching effects. Even until the 18th century it was mistakenly regarded as the original European maritime law of the Middle Ages and the source of other legal collections. It was occasionally quoted in court judgments in the 19th century.

development

With the wine trade originating in western France (Bordeaux), the local law of the sea, which was already recorded in the Rôles d'Oléron before 1286, also spread. In addition to England, where the Rôles d'Oléron also became the basis of maritime law, the main destination of French wine transports was the seaport of Bruges , Damme . It was there in the 14th century that a Flemish-Dutch translation of the Rôles d'Oléron was created, which was called Vonnisse (also Vonnesse) van Damme (Weistümer von Damme). In the northern Netherlands, in the second half of the 14th century, a collection of the customary maritime law there, the so-called Ordinancie, was often also named with the additions of van Amsterdam or van Staveren . A compilation of Vonnisse and Ordinancie was from the 15th century as water rights so referred to simply as water rights. For the cities of the Hanseatic League further east, the city charter, which mostly followed Luebian law, contained maritime law regulations. The supraregional Hanserecesse also built on this. In particular with the trade between the Baltic and North Sea, which has been developing since the 14th century, the need for an overview of the rights applicable in this area arose. A corresponding collection was apparently first created in the Baltic Sea trading center Wisby , to which the first print, published in Copenhagen in 1505, today mostly referred to as Gotland Water Law , refers.

Gotland Water Law consists of the 14 relevant articles of Luebian law, the 24 articles of Vonnisse van Damme reproduced here in 25 articles, which are identical to the first 24 articles of the Rôles d'Oléron, 25 articles from the (abbreviated) Ordinancie and finally two further articles from Luebian law, the last of which (Art. 66) repeats part of Article 1. Further repetitions come about through identical or similar articles in the three different source documents. In the other editions from the prints from Amsterdam 1532 and Lübeck 1537, which are referred to as Wisby's law of the sea , two articles on the sea ​​litter from Luebian law are - apparently due to duplications, but at least four more remain - (previously No. 7 and 11 ) painted. The missing six articles of the Ordinancie are inserted before the last two articles. By splitting and combining articles, the first twelve of a total of 72 articles are now Luebian law, followed by 24 articles (13–36) Vonnisse, then 34 articles (37–70) Ordinance and finally two articles (71–72) Luebian law. A Danish version appeared as early as 1545, again with a different structure.

content

The law of the sea of ​​Wisby consists of casuistic regulations of the legal relationships within the ship's crew, between the crews of different ships as well as the relationship between shipowners and charterers to the crew and contains a catalog of penalties in the event of violations. Liability and the financial compensation for damage, in particular due to force majeure, are also regulated between the parties involved.

reception

In Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark, Wisby's law of the sea found immediate widespread use. It was printed over and over again in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was interpreted according to its own designation, the highest and oldest water law , Dutch Zeerechten, dat is dat hoogste ende oudste Gotlandtsche Waterrecht, and for a long time mistakenly, as already by Grotius , understood as the original text of the actually older sea rights of Oléron, Damme and Amsterdam / Staveren. Due to its great importance, it was later translated into other languages, such as French (Bordeaux 1647), Swedish (Stockholm 1689) and English (London 1709).

Wisby's law of the sea continued to be considered a subsidiary law even during the increasing development of national maritime regulations and only slowly lost its importance. For example, it remained valid for the Hanseatic League even after the creation of the uniform Hanseatic maritime law in 1614 by the Hanseatic Ship Regulations. The Dutch version was also printed in Amsterdam in 1695, 1697 and 1699.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ City law of Wisby, 3rd book, Part III: van sciprechte / van bolwerken. In: HS Collin (ed.), CJ Schlyter (ed.): Corpus iuris Sueo-Gotorum antiqui. 8: Codices iuris Visbyensis Urbici et Maritimi / Carl J. Schlyter (arr.). Lund: Berling, 1853, pp. 131-146
  2. ↑ so as "newer" maritime law (i. Ggs. On Roman law) in the judgment of the Higher Appeal Court of the four Free Cities of December 22, 1831 regarding the claim from the Larsen versus DG Witte freight contract . In: CAT Bruhn (Hrsg.): Collection of decisions of the Oberappellationsgericht zu Lübeck in Lübeck legal cases. Vol. 1. Lübeck: Rohden'sche Buchhandlung, 1858, pp. 393, 395

literature

  • HS Collin (ed.), CJ Schlyter (ed.): Corpus iuris Sueo-Gotorum antiqui. 8: Codices iuris Visbyensis Urbici et Maritimi: cum notis criticis, variis lectionibus, novis versionibus suecanis, glossariis et indicibus nominum propriorum; Wisby stadslag och sjörätt / Carl J. Schlyter (arr.). Lund: Berling, 1853. - Scientific edition of the city law and the Niederdt., Dutch. and dan. Wisby Law of the Sea editions
  • Pardessus, Jean Marie: De la compilation vulgairement connue sous le nom de Droit maritime de Wisby. In: Pardessus, Jean Marie: Collection de lois maritimes antérieures au XVIIIe siècle. Vol. I. Paris: Imprimerie royale, 1828, pp. 425-462
  • Heinrich Stettner: A candle for the sick seaman - From the "Rôles d'Oléron" to the "Wisby Sea Law" . In: Deutsche Schiffahrt . tape 16 , no. 2 . Förderverein Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum e. V., Bremerhaven 1994, p. 9-12 .
  • Jahnke, Carsten; Graßmann, Antjekathrin (ed.): Maritime Law in the Hanseatic Region of the 15th Century . Edition and commentary on the Flemish Copiar No. 9. Publications on the history of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck. Archive of the Hanseatic City, Lübeck 2003, ISBN 3-7950-0476-4 .

Web links

Wikisource: Datt Högeste unde Öldeste waterrecht (Druck Lübeck 1537)  - sources and full texts