Content and Legal-political Significance of “Introduction” of the German Civil Code in Context of Legislative Consolidation in Early Nineteenth Century

Abstract

If one looks at the beginning of the Austrian ABGB, one finds a so-called “Einleitung”, ie. introduction, first. Those introductions are the expression of a conflict about judicial policy starting to gain momentum in the second half of the 18th century and dominating relations between the monarchic legislator and the judiciary until the second half of the 19th century. Beneath the change towards a codified law since the late 18th century is the demand of the state to from now on create the law on its own. The judiciary was allocated the mere role of a purely norm-applying instance. In this article, it is shown which conflicts between politics and judiciary resulted from this view and how the state tried to discipline the judiciary.