JURISPRUDE

NCE
PROJECT
SUBMITTED TO :

SUBMITTED

BY:
MS.POOJA BHARDWAR NIKHILESH VERMA
SEC- D BCOM-LLB(HONS)

ROLL NUMBER-231/14

LAW AS A
MANIFESTATI
ON OF SPIRIT
OF PEOPLE
BY

SAVIGNY

ACKNOWLEDGEM
ENT
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to
my teacher Ms.Pooja Bhardwar as well as our director Dr.
Sangeeta Bhalla who gave me the golden opportunity to
do this wonderful project on the topic"LAW AS A
MANIFESTATION OF PEOPLE BY SAVIGNY", which also
helped me in doing a lot of Research and i came to know
about so many new things I am really thankful to them.
Secondly i would also like to thank my parents and friends
who helped me a lot in finalizing this project within the
limited time frame.

Friedrich Carl von

Savigny

Early life and education

Savigny was born at Frankfurt, of a family recorded in the history

of Lorraine, deriving its name from the castle of Savigny
nearCharmes in the valley of the Moselle. Left an orphan at the
age of 13, Savigny was brought up by a guardian until, in 1795,
he entered the University of Marburg, where, though in poor
health, he studied under Professors Anton Bauer and Philipp
Friedrich Weiss, the former a pioneer in the reform of the German
criminal law, the latter distinguished for his knowledge of medieval
jurisprudence. After the fashion of German students, Savigny
visited several universities, notably Jena, Leipzig and Halle; and
returning to Marburg, took his doctor's degree in 1800. At Marburg
he lectured as Privatdozent on criminal law and the Pandects.

WORK
In 1803 Savigny published Das Recht des Besitzes ("The law of
possession"). Thibaut hailed it as a masterpiece which brought the old
uncritical study of Roman law to an end. It quickly obtained a European
reputation, and still remains a prominent landmark in the history of
jurisprudence. In 1804 he married Kunigunde Brentano, the sister
of Bettina von Arnim and Clemens Brentano the poet. The same year he
embarked on an extensive tour through France and south Germany in
search of fresh sources of Roman law.
In 1808 Savigny was appointed full professor of Roman law at Landshut.
He remained in this position for a year and a half. In 1810 he was
appointed to the chair of Roman law at the new University of Berlin, chiefly
at the instance of Wilhelm von Humboldt. Here, in connection with the
faculty of law, he created a "Spruch-Collegium", an extraordinary tribunal
competent to deliver opinions on cases remitted to it by the ordinary courts;
and he took an active part in its labours. This was the busiest time of his
life. He was engaged in lecturing, in the government of the university (of
which he was the third rector), and as tutor to the crown prince in Roman,
criminal and Prussian law. During his time in Berlin Savigny
befriended Niebuhr and Eichhorn.
In 1814 Savigny wrote the pamphlet Vom Beruf unserer Zeit fr
Gesetzgebung und Rechtswissenschaft. In an earlier pamphlet Thibaut had
argued for the creation of a unified legal code for Germany, independent of
the influence of foreign legal systems. Savigny argued that such a
codification of the law would have an adverse effect. According to Savigny
the damage which had been caused by the neglect of former generations

of jurists could not be quickly repaired, and more time was required to set
the house in order. Moreover, a unified legal code would almost certainly be
influenced by natural law, with its "infinite arrogance" and its "shallow
philosophy". It was Savigny's opinion that jurisprudence should be saved
from the hollow abstractions of such a work as the Institutiones juris
naturae et gentium of Christian Wolff. Savigny opposed this conception of
jurisprudence to the historical study of the positive law, which, according to
him, is a condition precedent to the right understanding of the science of all
law. However, Savigny did not oppose to the introduction of new laws or of
a new system of laws.
In 1815 Savigny, together with Karl Friedrich Eichhorn and Johann
Friedrich Ludwig Gschen, founded the Zeitschrift fr geschichtliche
Rechtswissenschaft ("Journal of historical legal studies"), the organ of
the new historical school. In this periodical (vol. iii. p. 129 seq.) Savigny
made known to the world the discovery by Niebuhr at Verona of the lost
text of Gaius. Savigny pronounced it to be the work of Gaius himself and
not, as Niebuhr suggested, of Ulpian.
The same year, Savigny published the first volume of his Geschichte des
rmischen Rechts im Mittelalter ("History of Roman Law in the Middle
Ages"), the last of which did not appear until 1831. He had been prompted
to write this work by his early instructor Weiss. Savigny intended it to be a
literary history of Roman law from Irnerius to the present time. His design
was in some respect narrowed; in others it was widened. He did not
continue the narrative beyond the 16th century, when the separation of
nationalities disturbed the foundations of the science of law. In the first
volume, Savigny treated the history of Roman law from the breaking up of
the empire until the beginning of the 12th century. According to Savigny,
Roman law, although considered dead, lived on in local customs, in towns,
in ecclesiastical doctrines and school teachings, until it once again
reappeared in Bologna and other Italian cities.
In 1817 Savigny was appointed a member of the commission for organizing
the Prussian provincial estates, and also a member of the department of

justice in the Staatsrath("State council"). In 1819 he became a member of

the supreme court of appeal for the Rhine Provinces. In 1820 he was made
a member of the commission for revising the Prussian code. In 1822 he
was afflicted with nervous illness, which compelled him to seek relief in
travel. In 1835 Savigny began his elaborate work on contemporary Roman
law,System des heutigen rmischen Rechts (8 vols., 18401849). His
activity as professor ceased in March 1842, when he was appointed
"Grosskanzler" (High Chancellor), the official at the head of the juridical
system in Prussia. In this position he carried out several important law
reforms in regard to bills of exchange and divorce. He held the office until
1848, when he resigned.
In 1850, on the occasion of the jubilee of obtaining his doctor's degree,
appeared in five volumes his Vermischte Schriften, consisting of a
collection of minor works published between 1800 and 1844. Savigny was
hailed throughout Germany as "the great master" and founder of modern
jurisprudence. In 1851 and 1853 he published the two volumes of his
treatise on the law of obligations, (Das Obligationenrecht), mostly on what
English-speaking lawyers consider in contract law. It was a supplement to
his work on modern Roman law, in which he again argued for the necessity
of the historical treatment of law.
Savigny died at Berlin. His son, Karl Friedrich von Savigny (18141875),
was Prussian minister of foreign affairs in 1849. He represented Prussia in
important diplomatic transactions, especially in 1866.

IDEAS AND INFLUENCE

Savigny belongs to the German historical school of jurists, founded

by Gustav Hugo, and served a role in its consolidation. The works for which
Savigny is best known are theRecht des Besitzes and the Beruf unserer
Zeit fr Gesetzgebung. According to Jhering "with the Recht des Besitzes
the juridical method of the Romans was regained, and modern
jurisprudence born." It was seen as a great advance both in results and
method, and rendered obsolete a large body of literature. Savigny argued
that in Roman law possession had always reference to "usucapion" or to
"interdicts". It did not include a right to continuance in possession but only
to immunity from interference as possession is based on the
consciousness of unlimited power. These and other propositions were
derived by the interpretation and harmonization of the Roman jurists.
However, many of Savigny's conclusions did not meet with universal
acclaim. They were opposed by, among others, Jhering, Gans, and Bruns.

Savigny argued in the Beruf unserer Zeit that law is part and parcel of
national life. He opposed the idea, common to French 18th century jurists
and Bentham, that law can be arbitrarily imposed on a country irrespective
of its state of civilization and history. Another important idea of Savigny is
that the practice and theory of jurisprudence cannot be divorced without
injury to both.

LAW AS A
MANIFESTATI
ON OF
PEOPLE
BY

SAVIGNY