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, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the a ...

and

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

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 city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the city hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. Histor ...

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

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

in a region of the former

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

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

Electorate of Hesse The Electorate of Hesse (), also known as Hesse-Kassel or Kurhessen, was the title used for the former Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel after an 1803 reform where the Holy Roman Emperor elevated its ruler to the rank of Elector, thus giving him ...

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

Jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

and Cameralism (''Kameralwissenschaften'') at

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) 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. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

and

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

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", in common law legal systems such as those in England and Wales and in the United States, where it stands in contrast to criminal law.Glanville Williams. ''Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Stevens. 19 ...

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 North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

. 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 people, German politician, statesman, was born at Hanau in Hesse. Promotions He studied law at university of Göttingen, Göttingen, graduated in 1816, and 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 () is a public research university located in Marburg, Germany. It was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Prote ...

. 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 of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. Later, following

unification Unification or unification theory may refer to: Computer science * Unification (computer science), the act of identifying two terms with a suitable substitution * Unification (graph theory), the computation of the most general graph that subs ...

, 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 States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, 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

, he was listed as a member of the

German Reichstag The Reichstag (; ) is a historic legislative government building on Platz der Republik in Berlin that is the seat of the German Bundestag. It is also the meeting place of the Federal Convention, which elects the President of Germany. The Ne ...

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

Prussian House of Representatives The Prussian House of Representatives () was the lower chamber of the Landtag of Prussia (), the parliament of Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia from 1850 to 1918. Together with the upper house, the Prussian House of Lords, House of Lords (), it formed ...

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 Members of the Reichstag of the North German Confederation