Karl Konrad Ferdinand Maria von Amira (25 May 1863 – 14 December 1945) was a German

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

who served as Professor of

Constitutional Law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a State (polity), state, namely, the executive (government), executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as th ...

at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

. He was a known expert on

early Germanic law Germanic law is a scholarly term used to described a series of commonalities between the various law codes (the ''Leges Barbarorum'', 'laws of the barbarians', also called Leges) of the early Germanic peoples. These were compared with statements ...

Biography

Karl von Amira was born in

Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg (; South Franconian: ''Aschebersch'') is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg, but is its administrative seat. Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...

, Germany on 8 March 1848. Gaining his

abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

at the Wilhelmsgymnasium in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, von Amira studied law at the

. Among his teachers were

Bernhard Windscheid Bernhard Windscheid (26 June 1817 – 26 October 1892) was a German jurist and a member of the pandectistic school of law thought. He became famous with his essay on the concept of a legal action, which sparkled a debate with that is said to ...

, Julius Wilhelm von Planck, and Alois von Brinz. He also studied

North Germanic languages The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is also r ...

under

Konrad Maurer Konrad Maurer, since 1876 Konrad von Maurer (April 29, 1823 – September 16, 1902) was a German legal historian. He was the son of legal historian and statesman Georg Ludwig von Maurer (1790–1872). Maurer is considered one of the most s ...

. von Amira gained his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

at Munich in 1872 under the supervision of Maurer. From 1875 to 1892, von Amira was Professor of German and Church Law at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...

. Since 1892, von Amira was Professor of

at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. von Amira specialized in the study of

Early Germanic law Germanic law is a scholarly term used to described a series of commonalities between the various law codes (the ''Leges Barbarorum'', 'laws of the barbarians', also called Leges) of the early Germanic peoples. These were compared with statements ...

and

Medieval Roman law Medieval Roman law is the continuation and development of ancient Roman law that developed in the European Late Middle Ages. Based on the ancient text of Roman law, ''Corpus iuris civilis'', it added many new concepts, and formed the basis of the la ...

. He instrumental in the publishing of the '' Deutsches Rechtswörterbuch''. Among his students were and . von Amira was a member of many learned societies, including the

Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledg ...

(since 1901), the

Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala The Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskaps-Societeten i Uppsala), is the oldest of the royal academies in Sweden, having been founded in 1710. The society has, by royal decree of 1906, 50 Swedish fellows and 100 foreign. ...

(since 1887), the

Royal Society of Arts and Sciences in Gothenburg The Royal Society of Arts and Sciences in Gothenburg ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskaps- och Vitterhets-Samhället i Göteborg, abbreviated KVVS and often known simply as ''Samhället'') is a Swedish Royal Academy. Its predecessor was founded in Gothenburg ...

(since 1891), the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

(since 1905), the

Prussian Academy of Sciences The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences (german: Königlich-Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften) was an academy established in Berlin, Germany on 11 July 1700, four years after the Prussian Academy of Arts, or "Arts Academy," to which "Berlin ...

(1900), the

Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Göttingen Academy of Sciences (german: Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen)Note that the German ''Wissenschaft'' has a wider meaning than the English "Science", and includes Social sciences and Humanities. is the second oldest of the se ...

(1922) and the

Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig (german: Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig) is an institute which was founded in 1846 under the name ''Royal Saxon Society for the Sciences'' (german: Königlich Sächsische G ...

(since 1929). He received the

Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art The Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art (german: Bayerischer Maximiliansorden für Wissenschaft und Kunst, links=no) was first established on 28 November 1853 by King Maximilian II von Bayern. It is awarded to acknowledge and reward exc ...

in 1902.

Selected works

* ''Das altnorwegische Vollstreckungsverfahren: Eine rechtsgeschichtliche Abhandlung.'' München 1874. * ''Erbenfolge und Verwandtschaftsgliederung nach den alt-niederdeutschen Rechten.'' Ackermann, München 1874
Digitalisat
. * ''Ueber Zweck und Mittel der germanischen Rechtsgeschichte. Akademische Antrittsrede.'' Ackermann, München 1876
Digitalisat
. * ''Das Endinger Judenspiel'' (Herausgeberschaft). Halle 1883 ( Digitalisat;

DjVu DjVu ( , like French "déjà vu") is a computer file format designed primarily to store scanned documents, especially those containing a combination of text, line drawings, indexed color images, and photographs. It uses technologies such as ima ...

). * ''Thierstrafen und Thierprocesse.'' In: ''Mittheilungen des Instituts für österreichische Geschichtsforschung.'' 11. Band, 1891, S. 545–601. Separatdruck: Innsbruck 1891 ( Digitalisat; PDF). * ''Die Dresdner Bilderhandschrift des

Sachsenspiegel The (; gml, Sassen Speyghel; modern nds, Sassenspegel; all literally "Saxon Mirror") is one of the most important law books and custumals compiled during the Holy Roman Empire. Originating between 1220 and 1235 as a record of existing loc ...

s.'' Erster Band: ''Facsimile der Handschrift.'' Leipzig 1902. Zweiter Band: ''Erläuterungen.'' Teil I, Leipzig 1925 und Teil II, Leipzig 1926. * ''Die Handgebärden in den Bilderhandschriften des Sachsenspiegels'' (= ''Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.'' Philosophisch-Philologische und Historische Klasse; Bd. 23, 2). München 1905. * ''Der Stab in der germanischen Rechtssymbolik'' (= ''Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.'' Philosophisch-Philologische und Historische Klasse; Band 25, 1). München 1909
Rezension in der ZRG
. * ''Grundriß des germanischen Rechts'' (= ''Grundriß der Germanischen Philologie.'' Band 5). 3. Auflage. Strassburg 1913. * ''Die Neubauersche Chronik'' (= ''Sitzungsberichte der Königlichen Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.'' Philosophisch-philologische und historische Klasse; Jg. 1918, 9). München 1918 ( Digitalisat;

). * ''Die germanischen Todesstrafen. Untersuchungen zur Rechts- und Religionsgeschichte'' (= ''Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.'' Philosophisch-philologische und Historische Klasse; Bd. 31, 3). München 1922. *''Rechtsarchäologie. 1. Einführung in die Rechtsarchäologie. Gegenstände, Formen und Symbole germanischen Rechts''. Berlin 1943
Digitalisat
.

Sources

* Paul Puntschart: ''Karl von Amira und sein Werk''. Böhlau, Weimar 1932. * *

Peter Landau Peter Landau (26 February 1935 – 23 May 2019) was a German jurist, legal historian and expert on canon law. After going to school in Berlin, where he was born, and Eisenberg, Thuringia, Landau studied law, history, and philosophy at the Free U ...

, Hermann Nehlsen, Mathias Schmoeckel (Hrsg.): ''Karl von Amira zum Gedächtnis'' (= ''Rechtshistorische Reihe'', Band 206), Lang, Frankfurt am Main u. a. 1999, . * Gerhard J. Bellinger, Brigitte Regler-Bellinger: ''Schwabings Ainmillerstrasse und ihre bedeutendsten Anwohner. Ein repräsentatives Beispiel der Münchner Stadtgeschichte von 1888 bis heute.'' Norderstedt 2003, S. 139–140, ; 2. Aufl. 2012, ; E-Book 2013, . * Mathias Schmoeckel: ''Amira, Karl von (1848–1930)''. In: Albrecht Cordes,

Heiner Lück __NOTOC__ Heiner is a German male name, a diminutive of Heinrich (given name), Heinrich, and also a surname. Given name *Heiner Backhaus (born 1982), professional footballer *Heiner Baltes (born 1949), former football defender *Heiner Brand (bor ...

, Dieter Werkmüller,

Ruth Schmidt-Wiegand Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Ar ...

(Hrsg.): '' Handwörterbuch zur deutschen Rechtsgeschichte'', 2., völlig überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage, Band 1, Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 2008, , Sp. 200–202
online, kostenpflichtig
. * Hermann Nehlsen: ''Karl von Amira (1848–1930)''. In: Katharina Weigand (Hrsg.): ''Münchner Historiker zwischen Politik und Wissenschaft.'' Utz, München 2010, , S. 137–158. {{DEFAULTSORT:Amira, Karl Von 1848 births 1930 deaths German legal scholars Germanic studies scholars Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences People from Aschaffenburg Old Norse studies scholars Academic staff of the University of Freiburg Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala