ABGB von 1811 im Heeresgeschichtlichen Museum

The General civil code ( or ABGB) is the

Civil Code A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property law, property, family law, family, and law of obligations, obligations. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdiction ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, which after about 40 years of preparatory work was published on 1 June 1811 and came into force on 1 January 1812. Karl Anton Freiherr von Martini and Franz von Zeiller were the leading drafters at the earlier and later stages of the draft. Comparable to the

Napoleonic code The Napoleonic Code (), officially the Civil Code of the French (; simply referred to as ), is the French civil code established during the French Consulate in 1804 and still in force in France, although heavily and frequently amended since i ...

, it was based on the ideals of freedom and equality before the law. It was divided into three major segments, following the

Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. Roman law also den ...

segregation methods. It was modernized during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. ABGB continues to be the basic civil code of

to this day and it is also still the basic civil code of

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

. The ABGB was widely received. Besides Austria, its influence persists in other successor states of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

. In the Czech part of

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

(the Slovak part used Hungarian customary law) it was in effect until 1951, although it had been novelized multiple times, until it was replaced by the civil code from 1950. Despite fact that some parts were in effect until 1964, the civil code had never been translated and published in Czech. The new Czech civil code (2012) took its inspiration from the ABGB again. In southern Poland it was partially in effect until the end of 1946. In

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, it was partially introduced after 1878, and some parts are still in use, even after this country's independence.

References

External links

RIS
– online access to the current version of the ABGB 1811 in law Law of Austria Civil codes {{Europe-law-stub

References

Further reading

External links