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The lawyers in the Holy Roman Empire of the 16th to the
18th century : a historical data base
Ranieri, Fillipo
Verffentlichungsversion / Published Version
Zeitschriftenartikel / journal article
Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation:
Ranieri, Fillipo: The lawyers in the Holy Roman Empire of the 16th to the 18th century : a historical data base. In: Historical Social
Research 14 (1989), 3, pp. 62-67. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-51817
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The Lawyers in the Holy Roman Empire
of the 16th to the 18th Century.
A Historical Data Base
Fillipo Ranieri*
1.1. St at e of Research
The r e has been no ext ensi ve i nvest i gat i on on t he educat i on, professi o-
nal i zat i on, car eer , social backgr ound, and fami l y ci r cumst ances of Ger-
ma n l awyer s of t he Hol y Empi r e ( 16t h- 18t h cent ur y) t hese days. Si ngl e
essays, however , concer ni ng t he per s onnel compos i t i on of s ome cour t s or
offices ar e known t o be avai l abl e. Such essays nat ur al l y r emai n i ndi -
spensabl e as t hey r epr esent t he basi s for f ur t her synt heses. Never t hel ess, a
l ack of r esear ch in t hi s respect cannot be deni ed: a soci al - hi st or i cal survey
of t hi s professi onal gr oup wi t h regard t o safe dat a on t he numer i cal
a mount of gr aduat ed l awyers, t hei r social ori gi n, t hei r uni ver si t y educa-
t i on, changes of t i me wi t hi n t hei r fami l y life and t hei r typical car eer wit-
hi n t he r ank society of t he Hol y Empi r e ar e still mi ssi ng. Nume r ous pi eces
of i nvest i gat i on, deal i ng wi t h si ngl e r egi onal or i mper i al aut hor i t i es can
onl y poi nt out det ai l s and pr ovi de el ement s for at t empt i ng a total anal ysi s.
Such a synt hesi s does not exist up t o now. That does not onl y appl y t o
t he l at e Mi ddl e Age, but al so par t i cul ar l y t o t he 17th and 18th cent ur y.
1.2. Purpose of the Project
The pr oj ect ' s obj ect i ve t hat will be pr esent ed her e, emer ged from t he
descr i bed r esear ch si t uat i on. The i nt ent i on is, t o r econst r uct all gr aduat ed
l awyer s of t he Hol y Empi r e from t he 17th t o t he 18th cent ur y pr oso-
pogr aphi cal l y, in a det ai l ed legal and soci al - hi st or i cal i nvest i gat i on. At t he
s ame t i me t hi s professi onal gr oup will be anal ysed accor di ng t o t hei r uni -
versi t y educat i on, t hei r fami l y ci r cums t ances and t hei r exampl es of ma-
ki ng car eer i n soci et y.
My t hesi s act ual l y i s t hat such a research st rat egy can be real i zed for t he
pr os opogr aphy of Ge r ma n gr aduat ed l awyer s of t he decades bet ween 1550
and 1750. A consequent consi der at i on of t he t echni cal possi bi l i t i es, offered
* Address all communications to Fillipo Ranieri, Max-Planck Insti tut f. europi-
sche Rechtsgeschichte, Friedrich Str. 2 - 6, 6000 Frankfurt/Main, FRG.
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Historical Social Research, Vol. 14 1989 No. 3, 62-67
by c omput e r pr ocessi ng, and t he anal ysi s of an up t o now har dl y not i ced
sour ce from t he hi st ory of l awyer s ' educat i on, f or m a basi s t o regi st er a
great par t of Ge r ma n gr aduat ed j ur i s t s from t hi s epoch separat el y. Fur-
t he r mor e , it offers t he possi bi l i t y of di scussi ng all t hese pr obl ems from a
di fferent poi nt of vi ew by br i ngi ng up new aspect s. Fr om t he sour ces of
uni ver si t y hi st or y of t he 17th and 18th cent ur y, t he har dl y cl ear n u mb e r of
di sser t at i ons and di sput at i ons ar e t o be consi der ed. Thi s mat er i al repres-
ent s a uni que and up t o now scarcel y ut i l i zed hi st ori cal sour ce for legal
hi st or y as well as social hi st or y. I do not want t o descr i be t hi s genr e of
l i t er at ur e i n its hi st or y and char act er i st i cs her e i n det ai l . I onl y want t o
me nt i on s ome fact s: As i t i s known, havi ng oral di s put at i ons dat es back t o
t he pedagogi cal t r adi t i on uni ver si t y. It al so r epr es ent s a cent r al aspect of
t eachi ng at Ge r ma n uni ver si t i es of t he 16th t o t he 18th cent ur y. That
appl i es especi al l y t o t he j ur i di cal facul t i es, wher e di sput at i ons wer e hel d
syst emat i cal l y as a ki nd of t r ai ni ng or for t he achi evement of an academi c
gr ade, most l y suggest ed and led by Pr aeses. Or i gi nal l y, t he di sput at i on
was an or al t r ai ni ng. But al r eady at t he end of t he 16th cent ur y, i t became
obvi ous , par t i cul ar l y at Ge r ma n uni ver si t i es of t he Hol y Empi r e t hat al so
wr i t t en el abor at i ons wer e f or mul at ed and pr i nt ed on t he occasi on of a
di s put at i on. Dur i ng t he 17th cent ur y, t hi s pr i mar i l y be c a me a r ul e at law
f acul t i es becaus e t hei r st at us often de ma nde d it.
The l i t er ar y si gni fi cance of t hese wr i t i ngs i s di f f er ent . Mai nl y, t hese are
not t r eat i ses whi ch t ake up an i mpor t ant pl ace a mong j ur i di cal hi st or y of
dogma s and i deas. But what real l y ma ke s up t he char act er i st i c and uni que
qual i t y as a sour ce of t hi s genr e is t hat it appear s on a massi ve scal e. As
di s put i ng at t hat t i me, at least unt i l t he mi ddl e of t he 18th cent ur y, bel on-
ged t o he nor ma l cur r i cul um of j ur i di cal educat i on, t he eval uat i on of t hi s
ki nd of l i t er at ur e offers t he chance of regi st eri ng t he hi st ori cal popul at i on
of 17th and 18th cent ur y gr aduat ed j ur i s t s of t he Hol y Empi r e, especi al l y
t hose who achi eved an academi c gr ade left an uni que and i mpr essi ve c o l -
l ect i ve evi dence i n t hei r di sser t at i ons dur i ng t he per i od of t hei r uni ver -
sity stay.
1. 3. Resul ts of Prel i mi nary Work
Bot h, legal and social hi st or y capi t ul at ed t o such a sour ce. The mas s of
r ecor ds and t he i nsuffi ci ent and often si mpl y l acki ng i nvest i gat i on of most
wr i t i ngs i n l i br ar i es make i t i mpossi bl e t o use t he mat er i al i n hi st ori cal
r es ear ch. Such an anal ysi s has for t he first t i me be c ome possi bl e t hr ough
my devel oped r esear ch pr oj ect at t he Ma x- Pl a nc k- l ns t i t ut e of Eur opean
legal hi st or y. The pr oj ect deal s wi t h aut hor s and subj ect s of j ur i di cal di s-
ser t at i ons, bei ng wor ked out dur i ng 1600 and 1800 at Ge r ma n uni ver si t i es
i n t he ar ea of t he Hol y Empi r e . The I nst i t ut e' s uni que col l ect i on, par t i cu-
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l ary t he suppl y of about 70, 000 di sser t at i ons from t he 17th and t he 18th
cent ur y of t he Hol y Empi r e and t he possi bi l i t i es offered by comput er pr o-
cessi ng gave t he f undament al i mpet us for st ar t i ng such a pr oj ect . The
ma i n basi s of t he exami nat i on was for t he t i me bei ng t he above ment i oned
col l ect i on of j ur i di cal di sser t at i ons. The pr evi ous resul t s show t hat t hey
ma k e up about half of all hi st ori cal l y pr ovabl e di sser t at i ons. The hi st ori -
cal , l i t er ar y and bi ogr aphi cal i nf or mat i on on each j ur i di cal di ssert at i on
and each di sput at i on candi dat e ( r es pondent ) ar e sort ed out by a dat a bank
i n or der t o ma ke l egal - hi st or i cal a nd soci al - hi st or i cal i nvest i gat i on possib-
l e. We t ri ed t o regi st er all t hose j ur i di cal di sser t at i ons of t he Hol y Empi r e' s
uni ver si t i es from t he chosen t i me per i od, whi ch coul d be i nvest i gat ed eit-
her from t he i nst i t ut e' s anal ysi s of wor k, or from cat al ogues of l i br ar y' s
st ocks, from book exhi bi t i ons, from c ont e mpor a r y Sor t i ment s, from old
bi bl i ogr aphi es and mat r i cul at i on regi st ers. The bi ogr aphi cal dat a on each
r es pondent gat her ed from t he di sser t at i ons wer e added by facts exami ned
from mat r i cul at i on regi st ers, cat al ogues of funeral s er mons . We st art ed t he
pr oj ect i n di fferent st eps. In a pr el i mi nar y phas e t hat i s compl et ed by now,
all pr ovabl e j ur i di cal di sser t at i ons from specific years ( 1601- 1605/ 1651-
1655/ 1701- 1705/ 1751- 1755) wer e regi st ered. The same appl i es t o t he
bi ogr aphi cal dat a on t he i nvol ved gr aduat ed l awyer s. In a si mi l ar way, we
i nvest i gat ed bi bl i ogr aphi cal and bi ogr aphi cal dat a of a st at i st i cal l y
r epr es ent at i ve s ampl e sur vey of t hose wr i t i ngs (t hat refers t o di sser t at i ons
of j ur i s t s whos e f ami l y n a me begi ns wi t h A. and E.).
Fi nal l y, t he bi ogr aphi cal and bi bl i ogr aphi cal dat a of all di sser t at i ons of
t he uni ver si t i es of Basel, Hel ms t edt , Hal l e, Dui s bur g, Gi een. Kni gsber g
and Pr ag wer e i ncor por at ed i nt o t he dat a ba nk. Unde r t hr ee different as-
pect s (a specific year, a st at i st i cal l y r epr esent at i ve s ampl e survey ( na me )
and a uni ver si t y) , t he dat a bank now offers f ar - r eachi ng oppor t uni t i es of
anal ysi s.
At t he mome nt , t he dat a ba nk cont ai ns i nf or mat i on on 20,000 j ur i st s of
t he 16th t o t he 18th cent ur y and t hei r uni ver si t y di sput at i ons ( al t oget her
about 2, 000. 000 separ at e dat a) .
2. 1. The Data Bank
Concer ni ng t he choi ce of a pr ogr am for a dat a bank, we deci ded to t ake
a pr oduct by Si emens, namel y GOL E M. The cri t eri a for t hat deci si on and
t he r esul t i ng exper i ence will be shor t l y descr i bed i n t he f ol l owi ng:
In our case, onl y a sel ect i on of 8,000 wr i t i ngs out of mor e t han 70,000
di s put at i ons from t he i nst i t ut e' s suppl y wer e t o be accept ed dur i ng a phase
of bui l di ng up. In t he pr ocess of deci di ng for a cer t ai n dat a bank, we al so
had t o t ake i nt o account t he r egi st r at i on of t he rest of t he stock and even
f ur t her st ocks. For t he capaci t y of all dat a bank t hat meant al l owi ng an
64
Historical Social Research, Vol. 14 1989 No. 3, 62-67
i ncl usi on of at least 80, 000 doc ume nt s . Not onl y t he n u mb e r of dat a files,
but al so t he compos i t i on of each dat a file i s t o be consi der ed for a deci si on.
Th e r ul es of f or mal i zat i on for t he r egi st r at i on of t he di s put at i ons want ed a
det ai l ed char act er i zat i on of each wr i t i ng or candi dat e' s bi ogr aphy. Al t o-
get her , mor e t han 60 descr i pt or s had t o be al l ocat ed.
On t he one ha nd t hat i ncl uded dat a, for i nst ance t he na mi ng of t he t i t l e,
t he uni ver si t y wher e t he di sput at i on was hel d or t he na me s of r es pondent s
and t he Pr aes es . On t he ot her hand t hat i ncl uded a free t ext of u n k n o wn
l engt h, t el l i ng about t he aut hor ' s life and gi vi ng i nf or mat i on on t he con-
t ent s of t he wr i t i ng. I t shoul d pr ovi de access ei t her t hr ough st r uct ur ed dat a
or t hr ough every occur r i ng wor d i n t he free t ext .
Fu r t h e r mo r e , st at i st i cal anal yses of t he mat er i al wer e pl anned. Whe n
descr i bi ng GOL E M i n t he f ol l owi ng, i t will become obvi ous i n how far
GOL E M sui t s t he above def i ned r equi r ement s .
2.2. The Input of Data
GOL E M offers t wo possi bi l i t i es of gi vi ng dat a i nt o t he pool . On t he one
ha nd dat a can be r egi st er ed i n nor ma l t ext files wher e, however ,
GOLEM- s pe c i f i c or der s need t o be i ncl uded, whi ch ma k e t he pr ogr am
di st i ngui sh bet ween si ngl e descr i pt or s and free t ext . On t he ot her ha nd a
descr i pt i on of t he i nf or mat i on s t r uct ur e can be defi ned wi t hi n t he fra-
me wor k of GOL E M whi ch al l ows an i nput i n t he form of a ques t i onnai r e.
We deci ded t o t ake t he second possi bi l i t y because t he i nput i s muc h
easi er and mor eover less l i abl e t o er r or s. Such a pr oceedi ng forces us t o
f or mul at e rul es, whi ch sort out t he mass of i nf or mat i on i t ems from t he
doc ume nt s and t her eby makes an efficient or gani zat i on of t he dat a bank
possi bl e. W
;
e wor ked out an e nor mous sum of rul es t hat cont ai ned gui del -
i nes for t he r egi st r at i on of di s put at i ons .
2. 3. Stati sti cal and Cartographical Evaluation
Apar t from t he oppor t uni t y of r et r i evi ng i nf or mat i on, we al so i nt ended
t o eval uat e t he col l ect ed dat a st at i st i cal l y. As GOL E M does not offer such
a st at i st i cal c ompone nt , we had t o devel op our own system usi ng t he pos-
si bi l i t y of GOLEM' s i nt er f ace ( GOLI NK) , whe r e i t can be cont act ed by
as s embl er s and Cobol pr ogr a ms .
We now have a pr ogr am t hat i s led by mas ks whi ch i s r at her easy t o
ha ndl e . It quest i ons t he necessar y dat a at GOLEM' s i nt er f ace, i n or der t o
t r ans mi t t hem i n an appr opr i at e pr ocessed form t o t he st at i st i cal pr ogr am
I NF P LAN t hat t akes over t he pr ocessi ng. That i s why t abul ar eval uat i on i s
possi bl e wi t h absol ut e or per cent age numbe r s . Those refer ei t her t o t he
whol e dat a ba nk, t o cer t ai n t i me per i ods of t he mat er i al , or t o t he s a mpl e
65
Historical Social Research, Vol. 14 1989 No. 3, 62-67
sur vey. You can al so get a pr i nt - out of t he t abl e or a gr aphi c r epr esent a-
t i on of t he Scal endi agr am.
Fur t he r mor e , i t shoul d be ment i oned t hat we succeeded i n t r ans f or mi ng
t he statistical resul t s car t ogr aphi cal l y by pr ocessi ng:
The ma p of t he Hol y Empi r e i n t he hi st ori cal bor der s of t he Peace
Treat y of 1648, t he respect i ve bor der s of t he Empi r e' s t er r i t or i es and t he
coor di nat es of 9,000 pl aces have been di gi t al i zed. On t he basi s of t he avai -
l abl e dat a t hat ar e r eadabl e by machi nes , t he car t ogr aphi cal r epr esent at i on
of st at i st i cal r esul t s i s possi bl e i n var i ous f or ms. That means , t her e i s an
i ns t r ume nt whi ch can be used for quant i t at i vel y or i ent at ed research pr o-
j ect s on t he Hol y Empi r e i n si mi l ar ways.
References
By st or i ng all t hat i nf or mat i on i n t he dat a bank we wer e pr ovi ded wi t h
t he pr er equi si t es of publ i s hi ng bi ogr aphi cal and bi bl i ogr aphi cal repert oi -
r es. Unt i l now, t hr ee vol umes have been publ i shed:
Jur i st i sche Di sser t at i onen deut scher Uni ver s i t t en ( 17. - 18. J a hr hunde r t ) .
Dokume nt a t i on zusammengest el l t von ei ner Ar bei t sgr uppe unt er der
Lei t ung von F. Rani er i , III ( l us Co mmu n e . Sonder hef t e 27), Fr ank-
furt am Mai n 1986; Bi ogr aphi sches Reper t or i um der Juri st en i m Al t en
Rei ch, 16. -18. J a hr hunde r t , her ausgegeben von F. Rani er i unt er Mit-
ar bei t ei ner Ar bei t s gr uppe des Ma x- Pl a nc k- I ns t i t ut s fr Eur opi sche
Recht sgeschi cht e, Vol. E, Fr ankf ur t am Mai n ( Kl os t er mann) 1987.
Fur t he r vol umes of t hi s r eper t oi r e ar e pl anned.
For mor e det ai l ed sour ces of l i t er at ur e on j ur i di cal di sput at i ons at Ger -
ma n uni ver si t i es of t he 16th t o t he 18th cent ur y, its i mpor t ance for hi st ory
of law and cons t i t ut i on, as well as its hi st ori cal quant i t at i ve eval uat i on, see
t he f ol l owi ng art i cl es:
RANI ERI , F. Jur i st i sche Li t er at ur aus dem Anci en Regi me und histori-
sche Li t er at ur sozi ol ogi e, Ei ni ge met hodi s che Vor ber l egungen, i n: As-
pekt e eur opi s cher Recht sgeschi cht e. Fest gabe fr He l mut Coi ng zum
70. Gebur t s t ag, Fr ankf ur t am Mai n 1982, 293- 322
DERS. , Vom St and zum Beruf. Di e Pr of essi onal i si er ung des Jur i st enst an-
des als For s chungs auf gabe der eur opi schen Recht sgeschi cht e der Neu-
zeit, i n: l us Co mmu n e 13 (1985), 83- 105
DERS. , Ei ne Da t e nba nk ber j ur i st i sche Di sser t at i onen und Jur i st en i m
Al t en Rei ch. Ei n Pr oj ekt ber i cht , i n: Hi st or i cal Social Resear ch. Quan-
t um I nf or mat i on 37 (1986), 109- 115
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Historical Social Research, Vol. 14 1989 No. 3, 62-67
DERS. , Jur i st i sche Uni ver s i t t s di s put at i onen i m 17. und 18. J a hr hunde r t .
Zur Anal yse des deut s chen Au t o r e n - und H ndl e r ma r kt e s , i n: E.V.
Heyen ( Ed. ) . Hi s t or i s che Sozi ol ogi e der Recht swi ssenschaf t , Fr ankf ur t
am Mai n 1986, 157- 172
RANI ERI , F. und NE UGE BAUE R, R. GOL E M als Wer kzeug des Recht s -
hi st or i ker s, i n: I nf or mat i k und Recht , 11/ 12 (1986), 476- 481
RANI ERI , F. Der Uni ver s i t t s bes uch der deut schen Recht s s t udent en am
ber gang zwi schen 16. und 17. J a hr hunde r t . Ei n r e c ht s - und sozi al hi -
st or i scher Bei t rag zur Mobi l i t t der Jur i st en i m Al t en Rei ch, i n: Ius
Co mmu n e 15 (1987)
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Longitudinal Data File Compilation
for Historical Analysis
Yoshiro Mat suda*
1. Introducti on
Recent devel opment of c omput e r e nvi r onme nt has ma de i t possi bl e t o
ha ndl e a l ar ge scale dat abase. Thus , t o compi l e a l ongi t udi nal dat a file
based on t he mi cr o dat a for hi st ori cal anal ysi s becomes possi bl e i f t he
sour ce of dat a r emai ns . Our r ecent effort i s t o compi l e a hi st ori cal dat abase
especi al l y ai mi ng t o r econst r uct a list dat a of fact ori es and compani es ob-
t ai ned from var i ous sour ces and t o i nt egr at e t hese list dat a i nt o one Ion
gi t udi nal file l i nki ng t he dat a of s ame fact ory i n di fferent t i me per i ods. (1)
Our focus of at t ent i on i s t o anal yze t he i ndust r i al i zat i on process of t he
J apanes e economy si nce t he Mei j i Rest or at i on i n 1859 after t he openi ng
t he J apanes e ma r ke t t o t he wor l d. The basi c economi c pol i cy of t he gover n
me nt was how t o cat ch up t he s t andar d of t he West ern Worl d t hr ough
i nt r oduci ng t he West ern t echnol ogy, bot h, of ha r dwa r e and soft ware. The
fact ory pr oduct i on system was one of t he exampl es . (2)
The fact ory pr oduct i on syst em was char act er i zed wi t h t he power machi
ne and t he new ma na ge me nt system of assembl i ng wor ker s i n one wor ks
hop. Si nce t he 1980s, t he J apanes e gove r nme nt t ri ed t o grasp t he act ual
si t uat i on of t he fact ory system and left var i ous list dat a of t he fact ori es.
Our file uses t hese f r agment al dat a t o compi l e a l ongi t udi nal one bet ween
1902 and 1909 for manuf act ur i ng fact ori es. Thi s per i od i s ext r emel y i m
por t ant t o under s t and t he si t uat i ons of t he r esul t s of t he first i ndust r i al
r evol ut i on. The Russo- Japanese War was i n 1904-5 and t he Fi rst Worl d
War was i n 1914-18 and t he per i od we anal yze lies bet ween t hese t wo
phas es .
2. Survey System and Hi gh Refusal Rati ons
The list of fact ory of 1902 was based on t he survey of whi ch t he basi c
e nume r a t i on or r epor t i ng uni t was t he fact ory of mor e t han ten empl oyees.
But t he cover age of t he list of fact ory of 1909 was expanded t o mor e t han
* Address all communications to Yoshiro Matsuda, Institute of Economic Re
search, Hitotsubashi University, Kunitachi, Tokyo, Japan.
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