TheGerman town law (German:Deutsches Stadtrecht) orGerman municipal concerns (Deutsches Städtewesen) was a set of earlytown privileges based on theMagdeburg rights developed byOtto I. TheMagdeburg law became the inspiration for regional town charters not only in Germany, but also inCentral andEastern Europe who modified it during theMiddle Ages. The German town law (based on the Magdeburg rights) was used in the founding of many German cities, towns, and villages beginning in the 13th century.[1]
AsGermans began establishing towns throughout northern Europe as early as the 10th century, they often receivedtown privileges granting them autonomy from local secular or religious rulers. Such privileges often included the right to self-governance, economic autonomy, criminal courts, andmilitia. Town laws were more or less entirely copied from neighboring towns, such as theWestphalian towns ofSoest,Dortmund,Minden, andMünster. As Germans began settling eastward, the colonists modelled their town laws on the pre-existing 12th century laws ofCologne in the west,Lübeck in the north (Lübeck law),Magdeburg in the east (Magdeburg rights), and eitherNuremberg orVienna in the south.
The granting of German city rights modelled after an established town to a new town regarded the original model as aRechtsvorort, or roughly a legal sponsor of the newly chartered town. For instance, Magdeburg became the sponsor of towns using Magdeburg Rights, and its lay judges could rule in ambiguous legal cases in towns using such rights. Certain city rights became known under different names, although they originally came from the same source; the name of some city variants designates theRechtsvorort they became famous from, not necessarily that that specific style of rights originated from theRechtsvorort. As territorial borders changed through the passage of time, changes to German city rights were inevitable.
During the course of the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, the town laws of many places were modified with aspects ofRoman law by legal experts. Ultimately, the older towns' laws, along with local autonomy and jurisdiction, gave way to landed territorial rulers. With theReichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803, almost all of the 51reichsfrei cities of theHoly Roman Empire weremediatised by the territorial princes; the remainingimperial free cities ofFrankfurt,Bremen,Hamburg, andLübeck became sovereigncity-states. The only remnants of medieval town rights (statutes) included in theBürgerliches Gesetzbuch of 1 January 1900 were single articles concerning family and inheritance laws. The cities of Hamburg, Bremen, andBerlin are currently administered underLandesrechte, or laws of thefederal states ofGermany.
Many towns granted German city rights had already existed for some time, but the granting of town law codified the legal status of the settlement. Many European localities date their foundation to their reception of a town charter, even though they had existed as a settlement beforehand.
German town law was frequently applied during theOstsiedlung of Central and Eastern Europe by Germancolonists beginning in the early 13th century. Because many areas were considered underpopulated or underdeveloped, local rulers offered urban privileges to peasants from German lands to induce them to immigrate eastward. Some towns which received a German town law charter were based on pre-existing settlements, while others were constructed anew by colonists. Many towns were formed in conjunction with the settlement of nearby rural communities, but the towns' urban rights were jealously guarded. Initially German town law was applied only to ethnic Germans, but gradually in most localities all town-dwellers were regarded as citizens, regardless of ethnic origin.
Lübeck law spread rapidly among the maritime settlements along the southern shore of theBaltic Sea and was used in northernMecklenburg,Western Pomerania, and parts ofPomerelia andWarmia. It formed the basis of Riga law inRiga, used for some towns in the lands of theLivonian Order inLivonia,Estonia, andCourland.
Magdeburg law was popular around theMarch of Meissen andUpper Saxony and was the source of several variants, including Neumarkt law (Środa Śląska) in Poland, used extensively in central and southern Poland, andKulm law (Chełmno law), used in theState of the Teutonic Order inPrussia and along the lowerVistula in Eastern Pomerania, and in theDuchy of Masovia. Other variants included Brandenburg, Litoměřice, and Olomouc law.
Litoměřice law and codes based on that ofNuremberg, such as Old Prague and Cheb law, were introduced intoBohemia during the reign of KingWenceslaus I, while German colonists introduced Brünn (Brno) and Olmütz (Olomouc) law inMoravia. South German law, broadly referring to the codes of Nuremberg andVienna, was used inBavaria,Austria, andSlovenia, and was introduced into theKingdom of Hungary during the rule of KingBéla IV. Jihlava law was a variant used frequently bymining communities in Bohemia, Moravia, the mountains ofUpper Hungary, andTransylvania. Other town laws were only suitable for or were modified to fit local conditions, such asGłubczyce,Görlitz, Goslar, Lüneburg,Lwówek Śląski,Nysa, Spiš, and Székesfehérvár laws.
The Środa/Neumarkt law is a local Polish variant of the Magdeburg rights, modelled after the town rights ofŚroda Śląska inLower Silesia, granted in 1235 by Polish rulerHenry the Bearded of thePiast dynasty. The purpose of creating the Środa law was to conform the so-called German law to the interests of Polish authority.[2] Major cities chartered with Środa law wereKalisz,Legnica andRadom. Resulting from the reign of KingCasimir III of Poland, numerous towns were chartered with Środa town law throughout theKingdom of Poland in the 14th century, especially inMasovia,Galicia, andVolhynia. By 1477, 132 towns and thousands of villages in Poland were granted Środa law.[2] ManyTransylvanian Saxon settlements in Transylvania, especially in the regions ofAltland,Burzenland, andNösnerland, received South German town law in the 14th century.
In the 15th century, many towns in theGrand Duchy of Lithuania were chartered with the Środa town law used in much of Poland, although this was done through the duplication of Polish administrative methods instead of German colonization. In the 16th centuryMuscovy granted or reaffirmed Magdeburg rights to various towns along theDnieper acquired from thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. After thePartitions of Poland, Magdeburg law continued to be used in westernImperial Russia until the 1830s.
