Preliminary communication

The “First” European Codification of Private Law: The ABGB

Wilhelm Brauneder ; Institut für Rechts- und Verfassungsgeschichte, Rechtswissenschaftliche Fakultät der Universität Wien, Wien, Austria

Abstract

Firstly, the author discusses the position of the 1812 ABGB (Allgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch) among other early codifications, and the legal-theoretical groundings of its time that defined it as a part of of the “Verfassung” (constitution), being also termed a “Grundgesetz” (basic law) or “Fundamentalgesetz” (fundamental law). The second point of author’s interest is that, as immediately after the enactment of the ABGB official translations were published, each nationality in the Habsburg Empire could have held the ABGB for a law of its own, making it a contribution not only to the Austrian private law but also to that of all the nationalities, which was also a result of regulatory techniques that gave the ABGB a measure of territorial and chronological elasticity.

Keywords

legal history; Austria; Habsburg Empire; codification; private law; civil law; legal theory

Hrčak ID:

116252

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/116252

Publication date:

30.12.2013.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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