734 



PRUSSIA. 



of the archbishops and bishops. The courts of the 

 secuiul instance comprise sixteen high courts of the 

 country, of which the one at Berlin is called court 

 tf the chamber (Kammergericht). These are per- 

 manent courts, and all the time in session. Every 

 high court of the country is divided into two senates 

 (three only excepted), of which the second forms 

 generally the court of appeal, and at the same time 

 attends to affairs of guardianship, &c. The divi- 

 sion into senates exists also for criminal cases. These 

 high courts of the country consist of 330 presidents, 

 counsellors and assessors (all judges). Above them 

 stands the privy supreme tribunal at Berlin, as a 

 court of revision for important cases. Civil cases, 

 according to the ancient German custom, pasr suc- 

 cessively through three courts, criminal cases through 

 two; but all decisions in important criminal cases 

 are sent to the minister of justice, and generally are 

 laid by him before the Kammergericht for its opinion. 

 For the conduct of investigations there is a division 

 called Inquisitorial, in the high courts of the coun- 

 try. This organization exists in East and West 

 Prussia, Brandenburg, Pomerania, Silesia, Saxony, 

 Westphalia, and Juliers-Cleves-Berg. B. The 

 province of Posen had, during the existence of the 

 duchy of Warsaw, a judicial organization entirely 

 French, which, with certain modifications, has been 

 retained by the ordinance of Feb. 9, 1817. There 

 are in that province thirty-one courts of the peace, 

 for much the same objects as the French courts of 

 this sort, namely, to effect compromises, to decide 

 in actions for the recovery of small debts, contracts 

 of hire, insults, &c. As courts of the second in- 

 stance for cases decided by the justices of the peace, 

 and of the first instance for other cases, there are 

 seven "country courts" (Landgerichte), correspond- 

 ing to the French tribunaux de premiere instance. 

 In some cases, the oral pleading has been retained 

 in civil cases, but with an extension of the power 

 of the judge, and a curtailing of the irregular writ- 

 ing, which the French process permits to the advo- 

 cates. (See Process.) For criminal cases there are 

 four inquisitoriats, entirely in the Prussian form. A 

 high court of appeal at Posen, with two presidents 

 and eight counsellors (judges), forms the court of 

 highest instance in all cases. The first appeal is 

 made from one country court to another ; so that 

 these courts exercise mutually an appellate juris- 

 diction over each other. The high court of appeal 

 is not merely a court of cassation (q. v.), but goes 

 into a consideration of the whole case, and decides 

 it upon the merits. The courts of the peace con- 

 sist of a judge and an assessor (assistant). The 

 country courts comprise sixty-two presidents, di- 

 rectors, counsellors and assessors. C. In the pro- 

 vince of the Lower Rhine, the French administra- 

 tion has been retained entirely, as well in respect 

 to the organization of the courts as to the nature of 

 the process. (Only the Eastern Rhenish part of 

 the district of the country court of Coblentz has the 

 Prussian organization.) In this province, there are 

 123 courts of the peace. Above them stand six 

 country courts, with ninety-one presidents, counsel- 

 lors and assessors. The court of second instance 

 (in regard to courts of the peace, the third) is the 

 Rhenish court of appeal, with two presidents, 

 twenty-six counsellors, and two assessors. There 

 are in these courts, collectively, thirty-three advo- 

 cates of the crown. At Aix-la-Chapelle, Coblentz, 

 Cologne, Crefeld, Elberfeld and Treves are com- 

 mercial courts. Appeals of cassation (q. v.) go to 

 the court of cassation at Berlin. D. The princi- 

 pality of Neufchatel and Valingin has its own an- 

 cient judicial system. The lower judicial authori- 

 ties are the mayors and castellans; the higher are 



two sovereign courts, in which the governor pre- 

 sides, nnd to which each estate (nobility, officers 

 and communities) sends four members. The su- 

 preme tribunal at Berlin is the highest court of jus- 

 tice for that part of the Prussian monarchy, in which 

 the Prussian judicial system prevails. It decides 

 only as the highest court of appeal, the court of 

 third instance, in causes in which the amount in dis- 

 pute is at least 2000 German dollars, with the ex- 

 ception of a few kinds of cases which belong to it, 

 without regard to the amount, and of some which 

 are excepted from its jurisdiction, without regard 

 to the amount. It acts only on the reports carried 

 up to it from the lower courts, and, whenever a dis- 

 puted fact remains to be settled, the cause is sent 

 back to the inferior court. The numerous other 

 courts, which possess final jurisdiction, have pre- 

 vented this tribunal from contributing so much to 

 give completeness and uniformity to the jurispru- 

 dence of the country, as other supreme tribunals in 

 other countries ; lor example, the parliament of 

 Paris, the court of cassation, the court of the im 

 perial chamber, the Roman rota, &c. The regula- 

 tion of the judicial system has hitherto fallen princi- 

 pally to the minister of justice. The supreme tri- 

 bunal, in the year 1824, consisted of a president 

 (bearing the rank of minister) and twenty counsel- 

 lors, who were chosen from the most distinguished 

 members of the supreme tribunals of all the pro- 

 vinces. In addition to these, there was established, 

 in 1819, for the administration of justice in the 

 Rhenish provinces of Prussia, a court of revision 

 and cassation at Berlin. For the grand duchy of 

 Posen there is a supreme court of appeal, consist- 

 ing of a president and eight counsellors at Posen. 

 Swedish Pomerania also has its old system of jus- 

 tice, a court of five members, and a supreme court 

 of appeal, composed of a president and three coun- 

 sellors, both established at Greifwald. 



Prussian Code (Allgemeines Landrecht, that is, 

 universal law of the country, called also, sometimes, 

 by foreigners, Codex Fridericianus). All the kings 

 of Prussia and Brandenburg, since the elector Fre- 

 deric William of Brandenburg, have zealously en- 

 deavoured to improve the system of law and legisla- 

 tion; but none of them have understood so thorough- 

 ly the real wants of the people, and none have had 

 such success as king Frederic II., who was, in a 

 great many respects, a benefactor to his country. 

 Immediately after the conclusion of his first war 

 he gave to the courts a more simple and efficient 

 constitution. The minister of justice (high-chan- 

 cellor), Samuel V. Cocceji, a celebrated lawyer 

 began a Corpus Juris Fridericianum, in which the 

 Roman law was brought into a natural order, gener- 

 al principles laid down and conclusions deduced. ah 

 subtleties and fictions, and all rules not applicable 

 to the state of Germany, excluded, and all doubt- 

 ful laws settled (1st part 1749, 2d part 1751). But 

 this essay embraced only a small part of the system 

 of law; and, although it was introduced in some 

 provinces, still the proposed end was not yet attain- 

 ed. After Cocceji's death (1755), his constitution 

 of the courts fell into disuse, and the design of 

 making a new code of laws was for the time aban- 

 doned. But, in 1780, under the superintendence of 

 the minister Von Carmer, the formation of a code, 

 was undertaken, and prosecuted with unceasing 

 activity. It was not intended to make an entirely 

 new code of laws, but to supply the defects of the 

 existing system. The Roman law was, therefore, 

 taken as the foundation of the work. To each pas- 

 sage was prefixed the piace which it should occupy 

 in the code, or the ground on which it was rejected, 

 and whatever the new : nstitutions made necessary 





