Pole right

The rod rights determined in medieval times the minimum width of roads. It originally referred to the right reserved for the king to use a long pole to check whether important highways ("high roads") were kept free. Obstacles such as buildings or parts of buildings that touched the pole and thus unduly narrowed the street had to be torn down.

Pole law gained importance especially in the Middle Ages. Here it was part of the local building law as a fire prevention ordinance . The width of all alleys and streets in a city or a market was measured and checked by the authorities at regular intervals.

If the measure - a transversely held rod of approx. 5 m in length - hit two opposite house walls at the same time, the fire protection distance of these buildings was too small. There was then the danger that a fire that had broken out could spread to other buildings and develop into a conflagration . The building in question therefore had to be demolished immediately at the expense of the builder.

literature

• Old-time criminal justice. Volume III of the series of publications of the Medieval Crime Museum Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Rothenburg, Medieval Crime Museum, 1980. With numerous. Illustr., 320 p., 23.5 cm, kart. Without ISBN.

Web links

• Peter CA Schels: Small encyclopedia of the German Middle Ages, rod right