GERMANY. 



110 



offense is punishable with a year's imprisonment. 

 A manufacturer or trader can proceed against a 

 rival win) employs unfair methods, either by civil 

 or by criminal complaint. NYwspapers intention- 

 ally printing untruthful advertisements come with- 

 in the scope of the act. also persons who knowingly 

 indulge in or circulate commercial slander. The 

 prosecution of Socialist leaders and the dissolution 

 of their organizations under an antiquated Prussian 

 law led the Reichstag to approve a project for the 

 reform of the law of association emanating from 

 the Radical party. A bill to amend the industrial 

 code, prohibiting hawking and peddling and the 

 solicitation of orders, failed to pass. The Reichstag 

 adjourned on July '2 till Nov. 10. 



In the autumn session an interpellation was raised 

 regarding Prince Bismarck's newspaper revelations 

 secret treaty with Russia, existing from 1884 till 

 1890, assuring the neutrality of that power in the 

 event of a war with France and the neutrality of 

 Germany in the event of Austrian aggression against 

 Russia. The first legislative proposal of the Gov- 

 ernment was a bill to grant compensation to per- 

 sons unjustly convicted of crime or misdemeanor. 



The agitation against aristocratic dueling was 

 coupled in the autumn session of the Reichstag 

 with a discussion more nearly affecting popular 

 rights, that of the old subject of military arrogance 

 toward civilians. Since the Emperor uttered the 

 sentiment that whoso insults the Kaiser's uniform 

 insults the Kaiser's person, the demeanor of officers 

 has grown more unbearable. In October a shock- 

 ing example of military ruthlessness roused the 

 indignation of the country. At Carlsrnhe Lieut. 

 Morned von Bri'isewitz. while sitting in a coffee 

 house, was jostled by an artisan who passed his 

 chair, and when the latter refused to apologize ex- 

 cept to say that it was unintentional, the officer 

 rose to run him through the body with his sword, 

 which he finally accomplished after being momen- 

 tarily restrained by the landlord in order to allow 

 the frightened civilian time to escape. The mur- 

 derer's companions justified his act. for which, after 

 the whole country had denounced it, he was brought 

 before a military court, which sentenced him to two 

 years' imprisonment in a fortress. The outcry against 

 such misdeeds, other instances of which were recalled 

 or brought to light, hastened the reform of military 

 judicial procedure. An important amending bill to 

 extend and regulate old age and sick insurance was 

 also brought forward. Other measures affecting 

 workingmen were the new industrial code and a 

 bill for the compulsory organization of artisans. 



The budget for 1896-'97 showed a deficit of 57,- 

 000.000 marks, caused by the demand for extraordi- 

 nary naval expenditure amounting to To.ooO.OOO 

 marks, of which 62.000.000 marks are required for 

 building a first-class ironclad to take the place of 

 the " Konig Willielm" and the construction of 2 

 second-class cruisers, gunboats to take the place of 

 the Hya'ne" and the "Iltis," a torpedo division 

 boat, and 8 torpedo boats. The budget contains 

 a proposal to convert the 4-per-cent. consols to 3i 

 per cents. The saving in interest is to be applied 

 to increasing the pay and pensions of civil and 

 military oil 



The Civil Code. The work which completes 

 and crowns German unity, the new code of laws, 

 was laid before the Reichstag by the Imperial 

 Chancellor in January. The Government formed 

 the design of giving the country a complete code 

 of law soon after the empire was founded, deeming 

 that this would do more to break down the old 

 barriers of particularism and consolidate the na- 

 tion than the customs union, the imperial postal 

 service, or even the common military system. Ger- 

 many has hitherto been governed by half a dozen 



nis of law and a multitude of local owl 

 and laws. Of the six general systems the mo.-t 

 important are the French code, tenaciously adhered 

 to in the Rhine provinces after being introduced 

 by Xapoleon, the Saxon laws established in \W,, 

 and the common law founded on the Roman. 

 These great systems were modified by local statutes 

 and usages. In the Prussian province-: a score of 

 codes superseded the common law. In the same 

 state, even in the same city, there was such diversity 

 that the aid of a local lawyer wa- required in 

 transactions that in other countries involve n<> 

 question that an ordinarily intelligent person can 

 not solve for himself. In one town in Bavaria the 

 estates of three persons dying in different rooms of 

 the same house would have to be distributed ac- 

 cording to three different legal systems. To r. 

 the lost idea of uniform justice and to strengthen 

 the newly founded empire, the ambitious task of 

 codifying and unifying the whole body of civil law 

 was early taken in hand. The Government framed 

 a mercantile code, a criminal code, a code of crim- 

 inal and civil procedure, and a number of minor 

 measures, such as the law of copyright and trade- 

 marks, and these were adopted and put into prac- 

 tice while the main work was still being deliber- 

 ately and rij ely elaborated. After the plan was 

 sketched out by 5 eminent jurists, a commission 

 appointed in 1874. composed of judges, officials 

 connected with the ministries of justice in the 

 different states of the empire, and professors of 

 universities, was engaged for thirteen years in draft- 

 ing and revising a scheme. This first draft was 

 then published and criticisms were invited. These 

 were abundantly offered from all quarters at home 

 and abroad. The thoroughness and impartiality of 

 the work were everywhere acknowledged, the in- 

 finite care that had been taken to come to right 

 conclusions and to hold the balance just between 

 diverse interests. But to progressive jurists the 

 result did not seem to accord with the spirit of 

 the age. There were knots that should have been 

 severed, and antiquated forms that were needlessly 

 retained. The phraseology was too pedantic and 

 formal. Those who were inspired with the fresh 

 German patriotism devised a system more distinctly 

 modern and national and condemned this one as a 

 body of Roman laws only slightly modified. In 

 1890 the Government appointed a third commis- 

 sion, consisting for the most part of jurists who 

 had not served on the first, to consider and review 

 this draft. The work of revision was carried on 

 for several years longer, though the main lines of 

 the first draft were adhered to. In this code the 

 Government had to deal with scores of vexed ques- 

 tions, and in the commissions the various social and 

 political parties and schools were represented and 

 fought out their differences in so far as they were 

 not irreconcilable. The Socialists and their oppo- 

 nents joined battle over the clauses relating to 

 tenancy of land and houses and contracts of serv- 

 ice. The commissions embodied important and 

 far-reaching innovations in the new code. In de- 

 fining the duties of masters and servants some 

 large concessions were made to the latter, but not 

 enough to satisfy the Social Democrats, who dis- 

 cerned in the draft code features that seemed to 

 favor the capitalists. The commissions spent much 

 time in defining the legal position of married 

 women and in putting the law of divorce on a 

 rational basis. The unavoidable opposition of the 

 Church parties was encountered here, for the Cler- 

 icals can not accept divorce and civil marriage in 

 any form. The draft was referred to a committee 

 of "the Reichstag and was finally passed in very 

 nearly the original shape. Amendments proposed 

 by Ilerr Bebel to secure for married women complete 



