Otto Bähr (2 June 1817 – 17 February 1895) was a German

legal scholar Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

and

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

parliamentarian. He supported the view, not always well accepted by governments, that since the State was part of society, it must be judged in the same courts as individual citizens.

Life

Early years

Bähr was born in

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. History ...

, then as now a small historic town slightly more than 100 km (65 miles) north-east of

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

in a region of the former

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

, at the time still with a somewhat ambiguous constitutional status, known as the

Electorate of Hesse The Electorate of Hesse (german: Kurfürstentum Hessen), also known as Hesse-Kassel or Kurhessen, was a landgraviate whose prince was given the right to elect the Emperor by Napoleon. When the Holy Roman Empire was abolished in 1806, its p ...

. His father was an army doctor. He devoted his own student studies to

Jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

and Cameralism (''Kameralwissenschaften'') at

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

and

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...

Legal career

In 1848 Otto Bähr was a member of a commission established to codify the administration of

civil justice Civil law is a major branch of the law.Glanville Williams. ''Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Stevens. 1982. p. 2. In common law legal systems such as England and Wales and the law of the United States, United States, the term refers to non ...

in the

. In 1844 he had obtained a post as a junior Hugh Court judge (''Obergerichts-Assessor''), and in 1849 he became a more senior High Court judicial official (''Obergerichts-Rath'') in the Electorate's capital,

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

. In terms of the serious political ructions that affected politics and constitutional law in the

at the time, Otto Bähr was an opponent of the arbitrary traditionalism represented by

Ludwig Hassenpflug Hans Daniel Ludwig Friedrich Hassenpflug (26 February 1794 – 15 October 1862), German statesman, was born at Hanau in Hesse. Promotions He studied law at Göttingen, graduated in 1816, and took his seat as Assessor in the judicial chamber of t ...

, as a result of which he was sent back to his home town, Fulda, in 1851. However, Hassenpflug fell from power during the early 1850s and in 1856 Bähr was permitted to return to Kassel. In 1857 he received an honorary doctorate from the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...

. He nevertheless rejected offers of academic posts from Marburg and from two other universities. In 1863 or 1864 he was appointed a senior appeal court judge (''"Oberappellationsgerichtsrat"'') based in

. After the events of 1866, whereby the

lost its independence, in September 1867 Bähr was accepted as a high court judge in the Prussian justice service, headquartered in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. Later, following unification, in 1879, he was appointed as a high court judge at the new state's High Court, which had its seat in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, but he resigned the post with nervous exhaustion in 1881.

Authorships

Bähr wrote a number of influential legal works. He was critical of various contemporary developments in

. Of particular importance is his 1864 publication "Der Rechtsstaat. Eine publicistische Skizze", which provides a basis for modern concepts of the rule of law.

Politics

In 1867 he became a member of the short-lived North German Reichstag, where he remained till the body was dissolved at the end of 1870. Following unification, he was listed as a member of the

German Reichstag The Reichstag (, ; officially: – ; en, Parliament) is a historic government building in Berlin which houses the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament. It was constructed to house the Imperial Diet (german: Reichstag) of the ...

between 1871 and 1880. He also sat as a member of the

Prussian House of Representatives The Prussian House of Representatives (german: Preußisches Abgeordnetenhaus) was the lower chamber of the Landtag of Prussia (german: Preußischer Landtag), the parliament of Prussia from 1850 to 1918. Together with the upper house, the House of ...

between 1867 and 1879. Mann, Bernhard (Ed.) : ''Biographisches Handbuch für das Preußische Abgeordnetenhaus''. Mitarbeit von Martin Doerry, Cornelia Rauh und Thomas Kühne. Düsseldorf : Droste Verlag, 1988, p. 52 (Handbücher zur Geschichte des Parlamentarismus und der politischen Parteien : Vol. 3) In the parliaments he represented a

electoral district, sitting as a member of the National Liberal party.

Publications

Die Anerkennung als Verpflichtungsgrund (1855)
2nd edition Göttingen 1867, 3rd edition Leipzig 1894
Der Rechtsstaat. Eine publicistische Skizze
Cassel & Göttingen, 1864.
Die preußischen Gesetzentwürfe über die Rechte am Grundvermögen
Jena 1870. *''Das Gesetz über die Enteignung von Grundeigenthum vom 11. Juni 1874'', Berlin 1875, 2nd edition 1878. *''Das Rechtsmittel zweiter Instanz im deutschen Civilproceß'', Jena 1871. *''Das Tonsystem unserer Musik'', Leipzig 1882. *''Urtheile des Reichsgerichts mit Besprechungen'', München 1883. *''Eine deutsche Stadt vor 60 Jahren'', Leipzig 1884, 2nd edition 1886. *''Die Proceß-Enquête des Prof. Dr. Wach'', Kassel 1888. *''Gesammelte Aufsätze'', Leipzig 1895. *''In Sachen der Gotthardbahngesellschaft gegen die Unternehmung des großen Tunnels'', Gutachten Luzern 1884. *''In der Rechtssache der Baugesellschaft Flüelen-Göschenen in Zürich gegen die Direction der Gotthardbahn in Luzern'', Gutachten, Luzern 1887. *''Herausgeber der Jahrbücher für die Dogmatik des heutigen römischen und deutschen Privatrechts'', Bd. 12—25.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bahr, Otto 1817 births 1895 deaths People from Fulda People from the Electorate of Hesse German Protestants National Liberal Party (Germany) politicians Members of the Prussian House of Representatives Members of the 1st Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 2nd Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 3rd Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 4th Reichstag of the German Empire 19th-century German judges