Domestic trials, and The Struggle for Law: Jhering’s legal dispute w his maidservant as a formative influence on his concept of law
Journal Title: Transformacje Prawa Prywatnego - Year 2017, Vol 4, Issue 4
Abstract
In 1864 and 1865, during close to a year and a half, the famous German law professor and renowned legal expert, Rudolf von Jhering, was caught up in a civil action in his then hometown of Gießen. It had been brought against him by his former maidservant, a certain Caroline Kuhl, who sued him for three months’ wages. Years later, towards the end of his tenure in Vienna, Jhering vividly recalled this trial as a prime example of some of the deficiencies and absurdities of modern law which he so scathingly criticised. In the published version of Der Kampf um’s Recht, which appeared in 1872, however, there is not the slightest mention either of Kuhl or the lawsuit she dared to bring — and win — against one of the greatest lawyers of the century. This paper presents a historical reconstruction of Kuhl v. Jhering based on the court papers from Jhering’s estate preserved at the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek (SUB) Göttingen, followed by an assessment of Jhering’s actions and behaviour before and during the trial. It finishes with a discussion of the lawsuit’s significance as a provider of ideas and, indeed, a prequel to Jhering’s single most successful work Der Kampf um’s Recht, one of the few 19th century law books with a real global reach, which is still popular today.
Authors and Affiliations
Inge Kroppenberg, Nikolaus Linder
Keywords
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