Wilhelm Joseph Behr

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Wilhelm Joseph Behr
Honorary grave in the main cemetery in Würzburg

Michael Wilhelm Joseph Behr (born August 26, 1775 in Sulzheim ; † August 1, 1851 in Bamberg ) was a German constitutional law teacher , journalist and early liberal politician . He was a professor at the University of Würzburg and First Mayor of Würzburg (1821-1832) as well as a member of the (Bavarian) Chamber of Deputies (1819) and the Frankfurt National Assembly (1848).

Life

Behr was born in 1775 as the son of a judicial officer and his wife in Sulzheim, Lower Franconia . After high school he studied philosophy and law from 1790/91 at the universities in Würzburg and Göttingen (among others with Johann Stephan Pütter and Christian von Schlözer ). In 1794 he was at the University of Würzburg Dr. phil. and in 1798 Dr. jur. PhD; his mentor was Gallus Aloys Kleinschrod . In 1799, on Kleinschrod's advice, he became associate professor for feudal law, and from 1800 also for general constitutional law at the University of Würzburg. From 1803 to 1821 he was an ordained professor for public law (constitutional, international and natural law), from 1817 also for German private law. From 1819 to 1821 he was Vice-Rector of the University and a member of the Academic Senate. After his release from this office, Konrad Cucumus , who otherwise taught Roman and criminal law, represented constitutional law from 1825 to 1832 , until Behr was followed in 1832 by constitutional lawyer Anton Arnold von Linck . Behr was a councilor .

After the fall of Napoleon (1812) he became enthusiastic about national and liberal ideas. During this time, his political theory was attacked sharply by the rather unknown Würzburg private lecturer Franz Berks . As a constitutional lawyer and member of the state parliament, Behr fought against the Bavarian edict on the emancipation of Jews from 1813, which had also been in force in Würzburg since 1814. Behr's opponent was the pro-Jewish lawyer Sebald Brendel ; their public dispute is part of the background to the Hep-Hep riots . In 1819 Behr in the Lower Main District was elected as a representative of the University of Würzburg (second class) to the Chamber of Deputies of the State Assembly of the Kingdom of Bavaria, where he felt represented by the liberal-constitutional opposition. He was a member of the committee for the address of thanks, the II committee for taxes and the VI. Committee to examine MEPs' requests. Behr spoke out in favor of swearing in the army on the constitution, which aroused the displeasure of the Chamber of Imperial Councils . Even Maximilian II. King of Bavaria was anything but enthusiastic. As a result of the Carlsbad resolutions , his lectures were observed by the police in 1820/21. A student's theses were attributed to him and his permission to hold lectures was withdrawn.

The population valued him for his rather liberal outlook and on April 3, 1821, elected him to the office of first (legally qualified) mayor of Würzburg, which he held until 1832. First, the State Ministry released him from university service. His stay in the state parliament was also up for grabs. Although elected by the Lower Franconian cities in 1822, 1825, 1827 and 1831 into the state parliament, which he also chaired from 1829 to 1831, Ludwig I, King of Bavaria , refused entry. In 1832 he was removed from office as mayor.

After his lectureship at the Gaibacher Fest (1832), where he called for the further development of the constitution and was honored by the people who carried him on shoulders with the call "He should be our king", and a denunciation he was because of treasonous activities and Lese majesty charged; he spent several years in custody (1832–1836) in Würzburg and Munich. In 1835 the criminal proceedings began before the appellate court in Landshut. In 1836 he was on appeal before the top court of appeal in Munich for treason and attempted treason to imprisonment convicted of second degree indefinitely. In addition, he had to make an apology on his knees in front of the portrait of the king in 1832 ; he lost his titles, honors and salaries. Behr spent the following years first at the Veste Oberhaus , then under police supervision in Passau (1836–1842) and exiled in Regensburg (1842–1846) and in Bamberg (from 1846). In 1847 he was pardoned and fully rehabilitated on March 6, 1848 . The compensation was 10,000 guilders and a pension. From March 18 to September 21, 1848 he was a non-attached member of the Frankfurt National Assembly for constituency 5 of Upper Franconia ( Kronach ) , and he rejected the proposed age president for health reasons. In parliament he voted with the right center.

From 1811 to 1815 he was co-editor of the Allgemeine Staatskorrespondenz (offshoot of Der Rheinische Bund ) in Frankfurt am Main / Aschaffenburg. From 1829 to 1832 he worked for the Bayerischer Volksblatt in Kronau, which was banned in 1832. In 1822 he was the founder of the municipal savings bank in Würzburg. He was also on the board of the Harmonie-Gesellschaft-Würzburg.

He was a Bavarian subject (1802–1805) and subject of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany (1806–1814).

Constitutional law

Behr taught constitutional law as a professor from 1799 to 1821 and stood for an idealistic constitutional law shaped by Immanuel Kant and Johann Gottlieb Fichte . Furthermore, influenced by the French Revolution , he included the principle of the separation of powers ( Montesquieu ) with fundamental rights in his considerations. He spoke out in favor of parliamentary participation in the form of constitutionalism ; the people should be the sovereign .

Honors

Bust of Wilhelm Joseph Behr in the Munich Hall of Fame

Behr became an honorary citizen of Würzburg (1819) and Volkach (1819). Behr is honored with a bust in the Munich Hall of Fame . In 1983 the city council of Würzburg decided unanimously to create the Behr medal for personalities who were particularly committed to civic participation and democracy in Würzburg . The street in Würzburg that leads from Zeppelinstraße to Frauenlandplatz was named after Behr . The main street was also named after him in his birthplace Sulzheim.

The City of Volkach awards the Wilhelm-Josef-Behr-Prize for excellent performance in the advanced history course at the Franken-Landschulheim Schloss Gaibach .

Fonts (selection)

  • Attempt at a general determination of the legal difference between feudal glory and feudal sovereignty (1799)
  • On the necessity of studying political science, especially in academies (1800)
  • The organism of the Rhenish [German] Federation, for the sake of its purpose, insofar as it has been positively determined up to now, and materials for the more detailed definition of that organism (1807)
  • Systematic representation of the Rhenish Confederation (1808)
  • System of applied general state doctrine or statesmanship (politics) (1810)
  • Which main requirements does a penal code have to meet in order to be recognized as satisfactory? (1813)
  • New Outline of Political Science (1816)
  • The Right and Duty of Governments in Relation to the Present Matters of Taxation (1817)
  • References to the financial moments of the new constitution of the Bavarian state (1818)
  • Political considerations on the origin and main moments of the new constitution of the Bavarian state (1818)
  • Speech to celebrate the first anniversary of the constitution of the Bavarian state (1819)
  • Comments on the draft law for the introduction of the wine surcharge (1819)
  • On the Legal Limits of the German Confederation's Action on the Constitution, Legislation, and Administration of Justice in its Member States (1820)
  • The Doctrine of the Economy of the State or the Pragmatic Theory of Financial Legislation and Financial Management (1822)
  • Requirements for Bavaria's Landtag in 1827/28 and impartial scientific assessment of its negotiations
  • Critical illumination of the negotiations of the Bavarian Parliament in 1827/28 (1828)
  • Urgent appeal to the public vote against the proceedings of the Chamber of Deputies in Bavaria against him (1828)
  • Needs and wishes of Bavaria (1830)
  • Brief indications of the task of the forthcoming constituent assembly in Frankfurt (1848)
  • General Police Science or Pragmatic Theory of Police Legislation and Administration (1848)

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Joseph Behr  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Michael Stolleis : History of public law in Germany . Volume 2: Constitutional Law and Administrative Science, 1800–1914 . Beck, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-406-33061-4 , p. 67.
  2. ↑ a b Andreas Röpke: The Würzburg Faculty of Law from 1815 to 1914. Legal studies and legal teaching in Würzburg between the Restoration and the First World War (= Würzburg juristic writings . Vol. 27). Ergon Verlag, Würzburg 2001, ISBN 3-935556-77-2 , p. 270.
  3. ↑ a b c Andreas Röpke: The Würzburg Faculty of Law from 1815 to 1914. Legal studies and teaching in Würzburg between the Restoration and the First World War (= Würzburg juristic writings . Vol. 27). Ergon Verlag, Würzburg 2001, ISBN 3-935556-77-2 , p. 281.
  4. ^ Sybille Grübel: Timeline of the history of the city from 1814-2006. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes, Volume I-III / 2, Theiss, Stuttgart 2001-2007; III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. Volume 2, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 , pp. 1225-1247; here: p. 1226.
  5. ↑ Ulrich Wagner: Würzburg rulers, Bavarian minister-presidents, chairmen of the district council / district council presidents, regional presidents, bishops, lord mayors 1814–2006. In: Ulrich Wagner (Hrsg.): History of the city of Würzburg. 4 volumes, Volume I-III / 2, Theiss, Stuttgart 2001-2007; III / 1–2: From the transition to Bavaria to the 21st century. Volume 2, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1478-9 , pp. 1221-1224.
  6. ^ Ulrich Wagner: Mayor Wilhelm Joseph Behr - champion of democracy. 2007.
  7. ^ Max Döllner : History of the development of the city of Neustadt an der Aisch up to 1933. Ph. C. W. Schmidt, Neustadt a. d. Aisch 1950, OCLC 42823280 ; New edition to mark the 150th anniversary of the Ph. C. W. Schmidt publishing house, Neustadt an der Aisch 1828–1978. Ibid 1978, ISBN 3-87707-013-2 , p. 623 f.
personal data
SURNAME Behr, Wilhelm Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Behr, Michael Wilhelm Joseph (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lawyer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH August 26, 1775
PLACE OF BIRTH Sulzheim
DATE OF DEATH August 1, 1851
Place of death Bamberg