A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property , family , and obligations .
131-573: The Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch ( German: [ˈbʏʁɡɐlɪçəs ɡəˈzɛtsbuːx] , lit. ' Civil Law Book ' ), abbreviated BGB , is the civil code of Germany , codifying most generally-applicably private law . In development since 1881, it became effective on 1 January 1900, and was considered a massive and groundbreaking project. The BGB served as a template in several other civil law jurisdictions, including Japan , Korea , Republic of China (Taiwan) , Thailand , Brazil , Greece , Estonia , Latvia and Ukraine . It also had
262-715: A legal fiction , and the Soviet sector of Berlin became fully integrated into the GDR. The deepening Cold War conflict between the Western Powers and the Soviet Union over the unresolved status of West Berlin led to the Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949). The Soviet army initiated the blockade by halting all Allied rail, road, and water traffic to and from West Berlin. The Allies countered
393-528: A case by way of introducing a general rule — an exercise of legislative — thus, there is no rule of stare decisis (binding precedent) in French law, but some jurisprudence constante , to interpret the law. It might also had influenced other countries. East Germany in Europe (dark grey) East Germany ( German : Ostdeutschland , [ˈɔstˌdɔʏtʃlant] ), officially known as
524-483: A civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure . In some jurisdictions with a civil code, a number of the core areas of private law that would otherwise typically be codified in a civil code may instead be codified in a commercial code . The history of codification dates back to ancient Babylon . The earliest surviving civil code is the Code of Ur-Nammu , written around 2100–2050 BC. The Corpus Juris Civilis ,
655-733: A codification of Roman law produced between 529 and 534 AD by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I , forms the basis of civil law legal systems that would rule over Continental Europe . Other codified laws used since ancient times include various texts used in religious law , such as the Law of Manu in Hindu law , Islamic Sharia law, the Mishnah in Jewish Halakha law, and the Canons of
786-509: A contract act in 1982. Since Germany's reunification in 1990, the BGB has again been the codification encompassing the civil law of Germany. In West and reunited Germany, the BGB has been amended many times. The most significant changes were made in 2002, when the Law of Obligations, one of the BGB's five main parts, was extensively reformed. Despite its status as a civil code, legal precedent does play
917-425: A conveyance is sine causa (without legal consideration). From this differentiation it follows that a mere obligationary agreement, such as for the sale of property, does not transfer ownership if and until a separate legal instrument, the conveyance, has been drawn up and goes into effect; conversely, the alienation of property based on an invalid obligationary agreement may give rise to a restitutionary obligation for
1048-779: A critical legitimization tool in the last decades and mixed socialist and traditional elements about equally. At the Yalta Conference during World War II, the Allies , i.e., the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), and the Soviet Union (USSR), agreed on dividing a defeated Nazi Germany into occupation zones , and on dividing Berlin, the German capital, among the Allied powers as well. Initially, this meant
1179-509: A few sections of the Berlin Wall were opened, resulting in thousands of East Germans crossing freely into West Berlin and West Germany for the first time in nearly 30 years. Krenz resigned a month later, and the SED opened negotiations with the leaders of the incipient Democratic movement, Neues Forum , to schedule free elections and begin the process of democratization. As part of this process,
1310-522: A future, reunited Germany. The GDR ceased to exist when its five states ("Länder") joined the Federal Republic of Germany under Article 23 of the Basic Law , and its capital East Berlin united with West Berlin on 3 October 1990. Several of the GDR's leaders, notably its last communist leader Egon Krenz , were later prosecuted for offenses committed during the GDR era. The official name
1441-637: A labour protest, the action soon included the general populace, and on 17 June similar protests occurred throughout the GDR, with more than a million people striking in some 700 cities and towns. Fearing anti-communist counter-revolution , on 18 June 1953 the government of the GDR enlisted the Soviet Occupation Forces to aid the police in ending the riot; some fifty people were killed and 10,000 were jailed (see Uprising of 1953 in East Germany ). The German war reparations owed to
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#17327577793861572-400: A limited role; the way the courts construe and interpret the regulations of the code has changed in many ways, and continues to evolve and develop, due particularly to the high degree of abstraction throughout. In recent years lawmakers have tried to bring some outside legislation "back into the BGB". For example, aspects of tenancy legislation, which had been transferred to separate laws such as
1703-617: A major influence on the 1907 Swiss Civil Code , the 1942 Italian Civil Code , the 1966 Portuguese Civil Code , and the 1992 reformed Dutch Civil Code . The introduction in France of the Napoleonic code in 1804 created in Germany a similar desire to draft a civil code (despite the opposition of Friedrich Carl von Savigny ’s Historical School of Law ) which would systematize and unify the various heterogeneous laws that were in effect in
1834-555: A picnic near the border at Sopron (near Hungary's border with Austria). The local Sopron organizers knew nothing of possible GDR refugees, but envisaged a local party with Austrian and Hungarian participation. But with the mass exodus at the Pan-European Picnic, the subsequent hesitant behavior of the Socialist Unity Party of East Germany and the non-intervention of the Soviet Union broke the dams. Thus
1965-605: A primary goal of ridding East Germany of all traces of Nazism . It is estimated that between 180,000 and 250,000 people were sentenced to imprisonment on political grounds. In the Yalta and Potsdam conferences of 1945, the Allies established their joint military occupation and administration of Germany via the Allied Control Council (ACC), a four-power (US, UK, USSR, France) military government effective until
2096-700: A socialist political constitution establishing its control of the Anti-Fascist National Front of the German Democratic Republic (NF, Nationale Front der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik ), an omnibus alliance of every party and mass organisation in East Germany. The NF was established to stand for election to the Volkskammer ( People's Chamber ), the East German parliament. The first and only president of
2227-585: A way to serve their nationalist ideology. When Germany was divided into a democratic capitalist state in the West and a socialist state in the East after World War II , the BGB continued to regulate the civil law in both parts of Germany. Over time the BGB regulations were replaced in East Germany by new laws, beginning with a family code in 1966 and ending with a new civil code ( Zivilgesetzbuch ) in 1976 and
2358-403: Is retention of title . If someone buys something and pays the purchase price in installments, there are two conflicting interests at play: the buyer wants to have the purchased property immediately, whereas the seller wants to secure full payment of the purchase price. Under the abstract system, the BGB has a simple answer: the sales contract obligates the buyer to pay the full price and requires
2489-492: Is a bilateral Treaty between two States, to which the rules of international law apply and which like any other international treaty possesses validity, it is between two States that are parts of a still existing, albeit incapable of action as not being reorganized, comprehensive State of the Whole of Germany with a single body politic. Travel between the GDR and Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary became visa-free from 1972. From
2620-516: Is not needed, because both types of contract would be formed simultaneously by exchanging the property for payment of money. Although the abstract system can be seen as overly technical and contradicting the usual common-sense interpretation of commercial transactions, it is undisputed among the German legal community. The main advantage of the abstract system is its ability to provide a secure legal construction to nearly any financial transaction, however complicated this transaction may be. A good example
2751-728: Is strongly reflected by its content. The French code was the most influential one because it was introduced in many countries standing under French occupation during the Napoleonic Wars . In particular, countries such as Italy , the Benelux countries, Spain , Portugal (with the Civil Code of 1867, later replaced by the Civil Code of 1966, which is strongly influenced by the German BGB), the Latin American countries,
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#17327577793862882-485: Is that should the sales contract be found defective due to some vitiating factor (e.g. fraud , mistake, or undue influence), this would not affect the seller's ownership, thereby making it unnecessary to resell the property for the sake of transferring ownership back to the original seller. Instead, under the rules of unjust enrichment , the buyer is obligated to transfer the property back if possible or otherwise pay compensation. Civil code A jurisdiction that has
3013-495: Is typical of 19th century legislation and has been criticized from its very beginnings for its lack of social responsibility. Lawmakers and legal practice have improved the system over the years to adapt the BGB in this respect with more or less success. Recently, the influence of EU legislation has been quite strong and the BGB has seen many changes as a result. The BGB follows a modified pandectist structure, derived from Roman law : like other Roman-influenced codes, it regulates
3144-651: Is typically taught according to the Pandect System (which was devised by German scholars in the time between the enactment of the Austrian and the German Codes), even though this is not consistent with the structure of the Code. The following is the list of national or regional civil codes by alphabetic order of names of countries or regions: The legislation of the Civil Code of China was started in 1954, after
3275-600: Is very different in form and content from all other civil codes. Another unique example is the Louisiana Civil Code , based on Spanish law Las Siete Partidas , but incorrectly credited to be based on French Law. In 1825, Haiti promulgated a Code Civil , that was simply a copy of the Napoleonic one; while Louisiana abolished its Digeste , replacing it with the Code Civil de l'État de la Louisiane
3406-498: Is yet to pass a law in this regard. A typical civil code deals with the fields of law known to the common lawyer as law of contracts , torts , property law , family law and the law of inheritance . Commercial law , corporate law and civil procedure are usually codified separately. The older civil codes such as the French, Egyptian, Austrian and Spanish ones are structured under the Institutional System of
3537-579: The Republikflucht ("desertion from the republic") to West Germany, further weakening the GDR's economy. Western economic opportunities induced a brain drain . In response, the GDR closed the inner German border , and on the night of 12 August 1961, East German soldiers began erecting the Berlin Wall . In 1971, Ulbricht was removed from leadership after Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev supported his ouster; Erich Honecker replaced him. While
3668-737: The East Bloc states. This policy saw the Treaty of Moscow (August 1970), the Treaty of Warsaw (December 1970), the Four Power Agreement on Berlin (September 1971), the Transit Agreement (May 1972), and the Basic Treaty (December 1972), which relinquished any separate claims to an exclusive mandate over Germany as a whole and established normal relations between the two Germanies. Both countries were admitted into
3799-569: The German Democratic Republic ( GDR ; Deutsche Demokratische Republik , [ˈdɔʏtʃə demoˈkʁaːtɪʃə ʁepuˈbliːk] , DDR ), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally viewed as a communist state and described itself as a socialist "workers' and peasants' state". The economy of
3930-591: The Hallstein Doctrine (1955), West Germany did not establish (formal) diplomatic ties with any country – except the Soviets ;– that recognized East German sovereignty. In the early 1970s, the Ostpolitik ("Eastern Policy") of "Change Through Rapprochement" of the pragmatic government of FRG Chancellor Willy Brandt , established normal diplomatic relations with
4061-465: The Miethöhegesetz ("Rental Rate Act") are once again covered by the BGB. The BGB continues to be the centerpiece of the German legal system. Other legislation builds on principles defined in the BGB. The German Commercial Code, for example, contains only those rules relevant to merchant partnerships and limited partnerships, as the general rules for partnerships in the BGB also apply. The BGB
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4192-558: The Roman jurist Gaius and generally have three large parts: The newer codes such as the ones of Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Portugal, Romania and Catalonia are structured according to the Pandectist System : The civil code of the state of Louisiana , following the institutions system, is divided into five parts: Pandectism also had an influence on the earlier codes and their interpretation. For example, Austrian civil law
4323-499: The SED general secretary Walter Ulbricht assumed most executive authority. Socialist leader Otto Grotewohl (1894–1964) became prime minister until his death. The government of East Germany denounced West German failures in accomplishing denazification and renounced ties to the Nazi past, imprisoning many former Nazis and preventing them from holding government positions. The SED set
4454-599: The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in the Soviet-controlled zone. However, the SED quickly transformed into a full-fledged Communist party as the more independent-minded Social Democrats were pushed out. The Potsdam Agreement committed the Soviets to support a democratic form of government in Germany, though the Soviets' understanding of democracy was radically different from that of
4585-670: The Soviet-occupied zone , bounded on the east by the Oder-Neiße line . The GDR was dominated by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), a communist party , before being democratized and liberalized in 1989 as a result of the pressure against communist governments brought by the Revolutions of 1989 . This paved the way for East Germany's reunification with the West. Unlike the government of West Germany,
4716-755: The United Nations and the Helsinki Final Act . This assessment of the Basic Treaty was confirmed in a decision of the Federal Constitutional Court in 1973; the German Democratic Republic is in the international-law sense a State and as such a subject of international law. This finding is independent of recognition in international law of the German Democratic Republic by the Federal Republic of Germany. Such recognition has not only never been formally pronounced by
4847-426: The de facto and de jure government, but also the sole de jure legitimate representative of a dormant "Germany as whole". The two Germanies each relinquished any claim to represent the other internationally; which they acknowledged as necessarily implying a mutual recognition of each other as both capable of representing their own populations de jure in participating in international bodies and agreements, such as
4978-658: The elections of October 1946 . The SED government nationalised infrastructure and industrial plants. In March 1948 the German Economic Commission ( Deutsche Wirtschaftskomission –DWK) under its chairman Heinrich Rau assumed administrative authority in the Soviet occupation zone, thus becoming the predecessor of an East German government. On 7 October 1949 the SED established the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic – GDR), based on
5109-673: The equestrian statue of Frederick the Great was removed from East Berlin. Instead, the SED focused on the progressive heritage of German history, including Thomas Müntzer 's role in the German Peasants' War of 1524–1525 and the role played by the heroes of the class struggle during Prussia's industrialization. Other notable figures and reformers from Prussian history such as Karl Freiherr vom Stein (1757–1831), Karl August von Hardenberg (1750–1822), Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835), and Gerhard von Scharnhorst (1755–1813) were upheld by
5240-548: The fall of the Berlin Wall and the establishment of a government committed to liberalization. The following year, a free and fair election was held in the country, and international negotiations between the four former Allied countries and the two German states commenced. The negotiations led to the signing of the Final Settlement treaty , which replaced the Potsdam Agreement on the status and borders of
5371-460: The shock-therapy style of privatization , the artificially high rate of exchange offered for the Ostmark , and the speed with which the entire process was implemented did not leave room for East German enterprises to adapt. There were four periods in East German political history. These included: 1949–1961, which saw the building of socialism; 1961–1970 after the Berlin Wall closed off escape
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5502-466: The titles and the actual acquisition of property, similarly to the Roman Law . The separation doctrine states that obligationary agreements for alienation and conveyances that effect that alienation must be treated separately and follow their own rules. Also, under the abstract system, alienation does not depend on the validity of the underlying causa of the obligationary contract; in other words,
5633-505: The 'state anti-fascism' of the GDR gave way to the 'state anti-communism' of the FRG. From then on, the dominant interpretation of GDR history, based on the concept of totalitarianism, led to the equivalence of communism and Nazism. Historian Anne-Kathleen Tillack-Graf shows, with the help of the newspaper Neues Deutschland , how the national memorials of Buchenwald , Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück were politically instrumentalised in
5764-755: The 18th century in Germany , when the states of Austria , Prussia , Bavaria and Saxony began to codify their laws. The first statute that used this denomination was the Codex Maximilianeus bavaricus civilis of 1756 in Bavaria, still using the Latin language. It was followed in 1792 by a legal compilation that included civil, penal, and constitutional law, the Allgemeines Landrecht für die Preussischen Staaten (General National Law for
5895-635: The 1990s, the majority of West German historians described the Normandy landings in June 1944 as an "invasion", exonerated the Wehrmacht of its responsibility for the genocide of the Jews and fabricated the myth of a diplomatic corps that "did not know". On the contrary, Auschwitz was never a taboo in the GDR. The Nazis' crimes were the subject of extensive film, theatre and literary productions. In 1991, 16% of
6026-408: The 8th year); nevertheless, in 1808 a Digeste de la loi civile was sanctioned. In the United States , codification appears to be widespread at a first glance, but U.S. legal codes are actually collections of common law rules and a variety of ad hoc statutes; that is, they do not aspire to complete logical coherence. For example, the California Civil Code largely codifies common law doctrine and
6157-406: The Apostles in Christian Canon law . The idea of codification re-emerged during the Age of Enlightenment , when it was believed that all spheres of life could be dealt with in a conclusive system based on human rationality , following from the experience of the early codifications of Roman Law during the Roman Empire . The first attempts at modern codification were made in the second half of
6288-440: The Argentine code, replacing its code of 1903. Cuba had the old Civil Code of Spain until the year 1987 when the National Assembly of People's Power approved the Cuban Civil Code, Law 59. The Portuguese Civil Code of 1868 was introduced in the Portuguese overseas territories of Asia ( Portuguese India , Macau and Portuguese Timor ) from 1870, with local modifications being latter introduced. It continued to be in effect in
6419-399: The BGB were re-interpreted to meet the (legal) spirit of that time. Especially through the good faith doctrine in § 242 BGB (see above) or the contra bonos mores doctrine in § 138 BGB ( sittenwidriges Rechtsgeschäft ), voiding transactions perceived as being contra bonos mores , i.e. against public policy or morals, the Nazis and their willing judges and lawyers were able to direct the law in
6550-418: The Civil Code. It was passed on May 28 and came into force on January 1, 2021. Inspired by Justinian's sixth-century codification of Roman law. Differ with comprehensive rewrite including earlier rules, in a rational structure rather than a religious content. This made laws clearer and more accessible and superseded the conflict between royal and judges legislative power. This code prohibits judges from deciding
6681-405: The Code Civil du Bas-Canada (or Civil Code of Lower Canada ) was promulgated in Lower Canada (later the Canadian province of Quebec ). It was replaced in 1991 by a new Civil Code of Quebec , which came into effect in 1994. Uruguay promulgated its code in 1868, and Argentina in 1869 (work by Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield ). Paraguay adopted its code in 1987, and in 1877 Guatemala adopted
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#17327577793866812-414: The Communist Party of the Soviet Union , Joseph Stalin , issued a proposal to reunify Germany with a policy of neutrality, with no conditions on economic policies and with guarantees for "the rights of man and basic freedoms, including freedom of speech, press, religious persuasion, political conviction, and assembly" and free activity of democratic parties and organizations. The West demurred; reunification
6943-416: The East German state was defined by two dominant forces – Soviet communism on the one hand, and German traditions filtered through the interwar experiences of German communists on the other. Throughout its existence GDR consistently grappled with the influence of the more prosperous West, against which East Germans continually measured their own nation. The notable transformations instituted by
7074-452: The East of Berlin). Over time, however, the abbreviation "DDR" was also increasingly used colloquially by West Germans and West German media. When used by West Germans, Westdeutschland ( West Germany ) was a term almost always in reference to the geographic region of Western Germany and not to the area within the boundaries of the Federal Republic of Germany. However, this use was not always consistent and West Berliners frequently used
7205-585: The FRG. While in West Germany, a work of memory on the resurgence of Nazism was carried out, this was not the case in the East. Indeed, as Axel Dossmann, professor of history at the University of Jena , notes, "this phenomenon was completely hidden. For the state-SED (the East German communist party), it was impossible to admit the existence of neo-Nazis, since the foundation of the GDR was to be an anti-fascist state. The Stasi kept an eye on them, but they were considered to be outsiders or thick-skinned bullies. These young people grew up hearing double talk. At school, it
7336-415: The Federal Republic of Germany but on the contrary repeatedly explicitly rejected. If the conduct of the Federal Republic of Germany towards the German Democratic Republic is assessed in the light of its détente policy, in particular, the conclusion of the Treaty as de facto recognition, then it can only be understood as de facto recognition of a special kind. The special feature of this Treaty is that while it
7467-417: The Federal Republic of Germany, while East and West Berlin united as a third city-state (in the same manner as Bremen and Hamburg ). On 1 July, a currency union preceded the political union: the "Ostmark" was abolished, and the Western German "Deutsche Mark" became the common currency. Although the Volkskammer 's declaration of accession to the Federal Republic had initiated the process of reunification,
7598-404: The First law of the Civil Code of Catalonia, Parliament of Catalonia's several laws have approved the successive books of the Civil Code of Catalonia . This has replaced most of the Compilation of the Civil Law of Catalonia, several special laws and two partial codes. Only the Sixth book, relating to obligations and contracts, has to be approved. In Europe, apart from the common law countries of
7729-406: The French Civil Code was structured in a "casuistic" approach attempting to regulate every possible case, the German BGB and the later Swiss ZGB applied a more abstract and systematic approach. Therefore, the BGB had a great deal of influence on later codification projects in countries as diverse as Japan , Greece , Turkey , Portugal (1966 Civil Code) and Macau (1999 Civil Code). Since 2002 with
7860-420: The GDR, particularly during the celebrations of the liberation of the concentration camps. Although officially built in opposition to the 'fascist world' in West Germany, in 1954, 32% of public administration employees were former members of the Nazi Party . However, in 1961, the share of former NSDAP members among the senior Interior Ministry administration staff was less than 10% in the GDR, compared to 67% in
7991-431: The GDR. SPDA Vice President Wolfgang Thierse , for his part, complained in Die Welt about the rise of the extreme right in the everyday life of the inhabitants of the former GDR, in particular the terrorist group NSU, with the German journalist Odile Benyahia-Kouider explaining that "it is no coincidence that the neo-Nazi party NPD has experienced a renaissance via the East". The historian Sonia Combe observes that until
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#17327577793868122-404: The German Democratic Republic was Wilhelm Pieck . However, after 1950, political power in East Germany was held by the First Secretary of the SED, Walter Ulbricht . On 16 June 1953, workers constructing the new Stalinallee boulevard in East Berlin according to the GDR's officially promulgated Sixteen Principles of Urban Design , rioted against a 10% production-quota increase. Initially
8253-442: The German labour movement and the victims of the camps, it was "staged, censored, ordered" and, during the 40 years of the regime, was an instrument of legitimisation, repression and maintenance of power. In May 1989, following widespread public anger over the faking of results of local government elections, many GDR citizens applied for exit visas or left the country contrary to GDR laws. The impetus for this exodus of East Germans
8384-434: The Nazis consolidated all power and criminalized them, and official East German and Soviet histories portrayed this merger as a voluntary pooling of efforts by the socialist parties and symbolic of the new friendship of German socialists after defeating their common enemy; however, there is much evidence that the merger was more troubled than commonly portrayed, and that the Soviet occupation authorities applied great pressure on
8515-432: The Peruvian code of 1852. Nicaragua in 1904 replaced its civil code of 1867 by adopting the Argentine code. In 1916 Brazil enacted its civil code (project of Clovis Bevilacqua , after rejecting the project by Teixeira de Freitas that was translated by the Argentines to prepare their project), that entered into effect in 1917 (in 2002, the Brazilian Civil Code was replaced by a new text). Brazilian Civil Code of 1916
8646-525: The Portuguese Code was replaced by the Indonesian Code when Indonesia occupied that territory in 1975. Macau adopted its own Civil Code in 1999, although this being based in the Portuguese Code of 1966. Also the civil code of Spain of 1889 would be enforced in its colony , the Philippines , and this would remain in effect even after the end of Spanish rule until the Philippines enacted its own Civil Code in 1950 after almost fifty years of U.S. rule. Many legal systems of other countries in Asia are within
8777-401: The Prussian States) promulgated by King Frederick II the Great . In Austria, the first step towards fully-fledged codification were the yet incomplete Codex Theresianus (compiled between 1753 and 1766), the Josephinian Code (1787) and the complete West Galician Code (enacted as a test in Galicia in 1797). The final Austrian Civil Code (called Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch , ABGB)
8908-406: The SED as examples and role models. The communist regime of the GDR based its legitimacy on the struggle of anti-fascist militants. A form of resistance "cult" was established in the Buchenwald camp memorial site, with the creation of a museum in 1958, and the annual celebration of the Buchenwald oath taken on 19 April 1945 by the prisoners who pledged to fight for peace and freedom. In the 1990s,
9039-415: The SED did not see its state as the successor to the German Reich (1871–1945) and abolished the goal of unification in the constitution ( 1974 ). The SED-ruled GDR was often described as a Soviet satellite state ; historians described it as an authoritarian regime. Geographically the GDR bordered the Baltic Sea to the north, Poland to the east, Czechoslovakia to the southeast, and West Germany to
9170-477: The SED eliminated the clause in the East German constitution guaranteeing the Communists leadership of the state. The change was approved in the Volkskammer on 1 December 1989 by a vote of 420 to 0. East Germany held its last election in March 1990 . The winner was Alliance for Germany , a coalition headed by the East German branch of West Germany's Christian Democratic Union , which advocated speedy reunification. Negotiations ( 2+4 Talks) were held involving
9301-411: The SPD's eastern branch to merge with the KPD, and the communists, who held a majority, had virtually total control over policy. The SED remained the ruling party for the entire duration of the East German state. It had close ties with the Soviets, which maintained military forces in East Germany until the dissolution of the Soviet regime in 1991 ( Russia continued to maintain forces in the territory of
9432-452: The Soviets administered their zone without regard to the policies implemented in the other zones. The Soviets withdrew from the ACC in 1948; subsequently, as the other three zones were increasingly unified and granted self-government, the Soviet administration instituted a separate socialist government in its zone. Seven years after the Allies' 1945 Potsdam Agreement on common German policies,
9563-520: The Soviets impoverished the Soviet Zone of Occupation and severely weakened the East German economy. In the 1945–46 period the Soviets confiscated and transported to the USSR approximately 33% of the industrial plant and by the early 1950s had extracted some US$ 10 billion in reparations in agricultural and industrial products. The poverty of East Germany, induced or deepened by reparations, provoked
9694-619: The Soviets with the Berlin Airlift (1948–49) of food, fuel, and supplies to West Berlin. On 21 April 1946 the Communist Party of Germany ( Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands – KPD) and the part of the Social Democratic Party of Germany ( Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands – SPD) in the Soviet zone merged to form the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED – Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands ), which then won
9825-632: The USSR via the Stalin Note (10 March 1952) proposed German reunification and superpower disengagement from Central Europe, which the three Western Allies (the United States, France, the United Kingdom) rejected. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin , a Communist proponent of reunification, died in early March 1953. Similarly, Lavrenty Beria , the First Deputy Prime Minister of the USSR, pursued German reunification, but he
9956-575: The Ulbricht government had experimented with liberal reforms, the Honecker government reversed them. The new government introduced a new East German Constitution which defined the German Democratic Republic as a "republic of workers and peasants". Initially, East Germany claimed an exclusive mandate for all of Germany, a claim supported by most of the Communist bloc. It claimed that West Germany
10087-399: The United Kingdom and Ireland, only Scandinavia remained untouched by the codification movement. The particular tradition of the civil code originally enacted in a country is often thought to have a lasting influence on the methodology employed in legal interpretation. Scholars of comparative law and economists promoting the legal origins theory of (financial) development usually subdivide
10218-686: The United Nations on 18 September 1973. This also increased the number of countries recognizing East Germany to 55, including the US, UK and France, though these three still refused to recognize East Berlin as the capital, and insisted on a specific provision in the UN resolution accepting the two Germanies into the UN to that effect. Following the Ostpolitik, the West German view was that East Germany
10349-581: The West more accessible than ever before, 30,000 East Germans made the crossing via Czechoslovakia in the first two days alone. To try to stem the outward flow of the population, the SED proposed a law loosening travel restrictions. When the Volkskammer rejected it on 5 November, the Cabinet and Politburo of the GDR resigned. This left only one avenue open for Krenz and the SED: completely abolishing travel restrictions between East and West. On 9 November 1989,
10480-509: The act of reunification itself (with its many specific terms, conditions and qualifications, some of which involved amendments to the West German Basic Law) was achieved constitutionally by the subsequent Unification Treaty of 31 August 1990 – that is, through a binding agreement between the former Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic, now recognising each other as separate sovereign states in international law. The treaty
10611-766: The barrier of the Eastern Bloc was broken. Tens of thousands of East Germans, alerted by the media, made their way to Hungary, which was no longer ready to keep its borders completely closed or force its border troops to open fire on escapees. The GDR leadership in East Berlin did not dare to completely lock down their own country's borders. The next major turning point in the exodus came on 10 September 1989, when Hungarian Foreign Minister Gyula Horn announced that his country would no longer restrict movement from Hungary into Austria. Within two days, 22,000 East Germans crossed into Austria; tens of thousands more did so in
10742-597: The beginning, the newly formed GDR tried to establish its own separate identity. Because of the imperial and military legacy of Prussia , the SED repudiated continuity between Prussia and the GDR. The SED destroyed a number of symbolic relics of the former Prussian aristocracy ; Junker manor-houses were torn down, the Berliner Stadtschloß was razed and the Palace of the Republic was built in its place, and
10873-699: The border on the Iron Curtain . In particular, it tested whether Moscow would give the Soviet troops stationed in Hungary the command to intervene. Extensive advertising for the planned picnic was made by the Paneuropean Union through posters and flyers among the GDR holidaymakers in Hungary. The Austrian branch of the Paneuropean Union , which was then headed by Karl von Habsburg , distributed thousands of brochures inviting GDR citizens to
11004-417: The building of the Berlin Wall in 1961. The idea of opening the border at a ceremony came from Otto von Habsburg , who proposed it to Miklós Németh , then Hungarian Prime Minister, who promoted the idea. The patrons of the picnic, Habsburg and Hungarian Minister of State Imre Pozsgay , who did not attend the event, saw the planned event as an opportunity to test Mikhail Gorbachev 's reaction to an opening of
11135-564: The capital. However, the Western Allies disputed this recognition, considering the entire city of Berlin to be occupied territory governed by the Allied Control Council . According to Margarete Feinstein, East Berlin's status as the capital was largely unrecognized by the West and by most Third World countries. In practice, the ACC's authority was rendered moot by the Cold War , East Berlin's status as occupied territory largely became
11266-554: The civil law tradition and have enacted a civil code, mostly derived from the German civil code; that is the case of China , Japan , Korea , Thailand (the Civil and Commercial Code), Taiwan and Indonesia (which is influenced by the Dutch Civil Code, Burgerlijke Wetboek ). The Indian Constitution in its Directive Principles of State Policy recommends to a Uniform Civil Code in ts Article 44. The Indian parliament
11397-549: The communist regime were particularly evident in the abolition of capitalism, the overhaul of industrial and agricultural sectors, the militarization of society, and the political orientation of both the educational system and the media. On the other hand, the new regime made relatively few changes in the historically independent domains of the sciences, the engineering professions, the Protestant churches, and in many bourgeois lifestyles. Social policy, says Ritter, became
11528-605: The constitution passed in 1873 (named Lex Miquel-Lasker in reference to the amendment's sponsors, representatives Johannes von Miquel and Eduard Lasker ) transferred this legislative authority to the Reich. Various committees were then formed to draft a bill that was to become a civil law codification for the entire country, replacing the civil law systems of the states. A first draft code, in 1888, did not meet with favour. A second committee of 22 members, comprising not only jurists but also representatives of financial interests and of
11659-530: The countries of the civil law tradition as belonging either to the French, Scandinavian or German group (the latter including Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , Japan , China , Taiwan , South Korea and Ukraine ). The first civil code promulgated in Canada was that of New Brunswick of 1804, inspired by the 1800 project of the French civil code, known as the Projet de l'an VIII (project of
11790-598: The country was centrally planned and state-owned . Although the GDR had to pay substantial war reparations to the Soviets, its economy became the most successful in the Eastern Bloc . Before its establishment, the country's territory was administered and occupied by Soviet forces following the Berlin Declaration abolishing German sovereignty in World War II . The Potsdam Agreement established
11921-585: The country. However, such an undertaking during the German Confederation would have been difficult because the appropriate legislative body did not exist. In 1871, most of the various German states were united into the German Empire . In the beginning, civil law legislative power was held by the individual states, not the Empire ( Reich ) that was composed of those states. An amendment to
12052-453: The early 1970s, West Germany maintained that East Germany was an illegally constituted state. It argued that the GDR was a Soviet puppet-state, and frequently referred to it as the "Soviet occupation zone". West Germany's allies shared this position until 1973. East Germany was recognized primarily by socialist countries and by the Arab bloc , along with some "scattered sympathizers". According to
12183-695: The first Constitution was adopted. However, legislation was stopped and resumed for several times, while China adopted several civil laws instead. In 2014, the current legislation procedure started, and the first part, the General Provisions, was adopted in 2017 National People's Congress . Despite the delay of the 2020 National People's Congress due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the Congressmen gathered in Beijing on May 22 to discuss and vote for
12314-409: The following weeks. Many other GDR citizens demonstrated against the ruling party , especially in the city of Leipzig . The Leipzig demonstrations became a weekly occurrence, with a turnout of 10,000 people at the first demonstration on 2 October, peaking at an estimated 300,000 by the end of the month. The protests were surpassed in East Berlin, where half a million demonstrators turned out against
12445-447: The formation of three zones of occupation, i.e., American, British, and Soviet. Later, a French zone was carved out of the US and British zones. The ruling communist party, known as the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), formed on 21 April 1946 from the merger between the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). The two former parties were notorious rivals when they were active before
12576-658: The former East Germany until 1994), with the purpose of countering NATO bases in West Germany. As West Germany was reorganized and gained independence from its occupiers (1945–1949), the GDR was established in East Germany in October 1949. The emergence of the two sovereign states solidified the 1945 division of Germany. On 10 March 1952, (in what would become known as the " Stalin Note ") the General Secretary of
12707-628: The former Portuguese India even after the end of the Portuguese rule in 1961. It is still in force in the present Indian territories of Goa (locally referred as the Goa civil code ), Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli . As Macau and Portuguese Timor were still under Portuguese rule when the Portuguese Civil Code of 1868 was replaced by that of 1966, this later was adopted by these territories. In East Timor (ex-Portuguese Timor),
12838-420: The full integration of the German Democratic Republic into the Federal Republic of Germany. Because of the resulting deindustrialization in the former East Germany, the causes of the failure of this integration continue to be debated. Some western commentators claim that the depressed eastern economy is a natural aftereffect of a demonstrably inefficient command economy . But many East German critics contend that
12969-532: The law of persons, property, family and inheritance, but unlike e.g. the French Code civil or the Austrian Civil Code , a chapter containing generally applicable regulations is placed first. Consequently, the BGB contains five main parts (or "books"): One of the BGB's fundamental components is the doctrine of abstract alienation of property (German: Abstraktionsprinzip ), and its corollary,
13100-461: The official name and its abbreviation, instead using terms like Ostzone (Eastern Zone), Sowjetische Besatzungszone (Soviet Occupation Zone; often abbreviated to SBZ ) and sogenannte DDR or "so-called GDR". The centre of political power in East Berlin was – in the West – referred to as Pankow (the seat of command of the Soviet forces in Germany was in Karlshorst , a district in
13231-648: The owner, but merely gives you the right to demand the transfer of ownership. The opposite system, the causal system, is in effect in France and other legal jurisdictions influenced by French law, under which an obligationary agreement is sufficient to transfer ownership; no subsequent conveyance is needed. The German system thus mirrors the English common law differentiation between in rem rights and in personam rights. The Chilean Civil Code , which came into force on 1 January 1857, also makes this differentiation between
13362-409: The population in West Germany and 6% in East Germany had antisemitic prejudices. In 1994, 40% of West Germans and 22% of East Germans felt that too much emphasis was placed on the genocide of the Jews. Historian Ulrich Pfeil , nevertheless, recalls the fact that anti-fascist commemoration in the GDR had "a hagiographic and indoctrination character". As in the case of the memory of the protagonists of
13493-452: The property. Only once this second agreement is formed, the buyer acquires ownership of the purchased property. Consequently, these two procedures are regulated differently: the contracting parties' obligations are regulated by art. 433, whereas real contracts alienating movable property are provided for under art. 929. The payment of the purchase price (or valuable consideration) is treated likewise. In day-to-day business, this differentiation
13624-535: The province of Quebec in Canada , and all other former French colonies which base their civil law systems to a strong extent on the Napoleonic Code. It is a misconception that the state of Louisiana in the United States based their civil code on the Napoleonic code. Rather, the drafters of the code were instructed to write a civil code based on the current laws, and the laws that were in effect at
13755-538: The regime on 4 November. Kurt Masur , conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra , led local negotiations with the government and held town meetings in the concert hall. The demonstrations eventually led Erich Honecker to resign in October; he was replaced by a slightly more moderate communist, Egon Krenz . The massive demonstration in East Berlin on 4 November coincided with Czechoslovakia formally opening its border to West Germany. With
13886-478: The restoration of German sovereignty. In eastern Germany, the Soviet Occupation Zone (SBZ – Sowjetische Besatzungszone ) comprised the five states ( Länder ) of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , Brandenburg , Saxony , Saxony-Anhalt , and Thuringia . Disagreements over the policies to be followed in the occupied zones quickly led to a breakdown in cooperation between the four powers, and
14017-522: The risky crossing into Austria but remained instead in Hungary or claimed asylum in West German embassies in Prague or Budapest . The opening of a border gate between Austria and Hungary at the Pan-European Picnic on 19 August 1989 then set in motion a chain reaction leading to the end of the GDR and disintegration of the Eastern Bloc. It was the largest mass escape from East Germany since
14148-575: The same year. The Mexican state of Oaxaca promulgated the first Latin American civil code in 1827, copying the French civil code. Later on, in 1830, the civil code of Bolivia , a summarized copy of the French one, was promulgated by Andrés de Santa Cruz . The latest, with some changes, was adopted by Costa Rica in 1841. The Dominican Republic , in 1845, put into force the original Napoleonic code, in French language (a translation in Spanish
14279-488: The scheme and for the contents (similar to the Castillan law in force in that territory) that was written by Andrés Bello (begun in 1833). This code was integrally adopted by Ecuador in 1858; El Salvador in 1859; Venezuela in 1862 (only during that year); Nicaragua in 1867; Honduras in 1880 (until 1899, and again since 1906); Colombia in 1887; and Panama (after its separation from Colombia in 1903). In 1865,
14410-453: The seller to transfer property upon receipt of the last installment. As the sale obligations and the actual conveyance of ownership are embodied in two separate agreements, it is quite simple to secure both parties' interests. The seller maintains ownership of the property until the last payment, while the buyer merely possesses the property. If the buyer defaults, the seller may repossess the property just like any other owner. Another advantage
14541-438: The separation doctrine ( Trennungsprinzip ). Derived from the works of the pandectist scholar Friedrich Carl von Savigny , the Code draws a sharp distinction between obligationary agreements (BGB, Book 2), which create enforceable obligations, and "real" or alienation agreements (BGB, Book 3), which transfer property rights. In short, the two doctrines state: the owner having an obligation to transfer ownership does not make you
14672-585: The southwest and west. Internally, the GDR also bordered the Soviet sector of Allied-occupied Berlin , known as East Berlin , which was also administered as the country's de facto capital. It also bordered the three sectors occupied by the United States , United Kingdom , and France known collectively as West Berlin ( de facto part of the FRG). Emigration to the West was a significant problem as many emigrants were well-educated young people; such emigration weakened
14803-410: The state economically. In response, the GDR government fortified its inner German border and later built the Berlin Wall in 1961. Many people attempting to flee were killed by border guards or booby traps such as landmines . In 1989 numerous social, economic, and political forces in the GDR and abroad, one of the most notable being peaceful protests starting in the city of Leipzig , led to
14934-509: The term Westdeutschland to denote the Federal Republic. Before World War II, Ostdeutschland (eastern Germany) was used to describe all the territories east of the Elbe ( East Elbia ), as reflected in the works of sociologist Max Weber and political theorist Carl Schmitt . Explaining the internal impact of the GDR government from the perspective of German history in the long term, historian Gerhard A. Ritter (2002) has argued that
15065-751: The time were Spanish laws based on Las Siete Partidas . The late 19th century and the beginning 20th century saw the emergence of the School of Pandectism , whose work peaked in the German Civil Code (BGB), which was enacted in 1900 in the course of Germany's national unification project, and in the Swiss Civil Code ( Zivilgesetzbuch ) of 1907. Those two codes had been most advanced in their systematic structure and classification from fundamental and general principles to specific areas of law (e.g. contract law, labour law, inheritance law). While
15196-468: The transferee to restore the property (e.g. unjust enrichment ), but until the property is re-conveyed, again by way of a conveyance, the transferred property is not affected. Under the BGB, a sales contract alone, for example, would not lead to the buyer acquiring ownership, but merely impose an obligation on the seller to transfer ownership of the sold property. The seller is then contractually obligated to form another, and separate, agreement to transfer
15327-481: The two German states and the former Allies , which led to agreement on the conditions for German unification. By a two-thirds vote in the Volkskammer on 23 August 1990, the German Democratic Republic declared its accession to the Federal Republic of Germany. The five original East German states that had been abolished in the 1952 redistricting were restored. On 3 October 1990, the five states officially joined
15458-479: The various ideological currents of the time, compiled a second draft. After significant revisions, the BGB was passed by the Reichstag in 1896. It was put into effect on 1 January 1900, and has been the central codification of Germany 's civil law ever since. In Nazi Germany , there were plans to replace the BGB with a new codification that was planned to be entitled " Volksgesetzbuch " ("people's code"), which
15589-410: Was Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic), usually abbreviated to DDR (GDR). Both terms were used in East Germany, with increasing usage of the abbreviated form, especially since East Germany considered West Germans and West Berliners to be foreigners following the promulgation of its second constitution in 1968. West Germans, the western media and statesmen initially avoided
15720-516: Was a de facto government within a single German nation and a de jure state organisation of parts of Germany outside the Federal Republic. The Federal Republic continued to maintain that it could not within its own structures recognize the GDR de jure as a sovereign state under international law; but it fully acknowledged that, within the structures of international law, the GDR was an independent sovereign state. By distinction, West Germany then viewed itself as being within its own boundaries, not only
15851-657: Was a period of stability and consolidation; 1971–1985 was termed the Honecker Era, and saw closer ties with West Germany; and 1985–1990 saw the decline and extinction of East Germany. The ruling political party in East Germany was the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands ( Socialist Unity Party of Germany , SED). It was created in 1946 through the Soviet-directed merger of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and
15982-446: Was an illegally-constituted puppet state of NATO. However, from the 1960s onward, East Germany began recognizing itself as a separate country from West Germany and shared the legacy of the united German state of 1871–1945 . This was formalized in 1974 when the reunification clause was removed from the revised East German constitution. West Germany, in contrast, maintained that it was the only legitimate government of Germany. From 1949 to
16113-611: Was considered, by many, as the last code of the 19th century despite being adopted in the 20th century. The reason behind that is that the Brazilian Code of 1916 was the last of the important codes from the era of codifications in the world that had strong liberal influences, and all other codes enacted thereafter were deeply influenced by the social ideals that emerged after World War I and the Soviet Socialist Revolution. Panama in 1916 decided to adopt
16244-546: Was forbidden to talk about the Third Reich and, at home, their grandparents told them how, thanks to Hitler , we had the first motorways." On 17 October 1987, thirty or so skinheads violently threw themselves into a crowd of 2,000 people at a rock concert in the Zionskirche without the police intervening. In 1990, the writer Freya Klier received a death threat for writing an essay on antisemitism and xenophobia in
16375-491: Was meant to reflect Nazi ideology better than the BGB, but these plans did not become reality. However, some general principles of the BGB such as the doctrine of good faith (§ 242 BGB, Grundsatz von Treu und Glauben ) were used to interpret the BGB in a Nazi-friendly way. Therefore, the political need to draft a completely new code to match the Nazis' expectations subsided, and instead the many flexible doctrines and principles of
16506-529: Was not then a priority for the leadership of West Germany, and the NATO powers declined the proposal, asserting that Germany should be able to join NATO and that such a negotiation with the Soviet Union would be seen as a capitulation. In 1949 the Soviets turned control of East Germany over to the SED , headed by Wilhelm Pieck (1876–1960), who became President of the GDR and held the office until his death, while
16637-692: Was only completed in 1811 after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire under the influence of the Napoleonic Wars . One of the first countries to follow up through legal transplants in codification was Serbia , the Serbian Civil Code (1844). Meanwhile, the French Napoleonic code ( Code Civil ) was enacted in 1804 after only a few years of preparation, but it was a child of the French Revolution , which
16768-465: Was published in 1884). In 1852, Peru promulgated its own civil code (based on a project of 1847), which was not a simple copy or imitation of the French one, but presented a more original text based on the Castillan law (of Roman origin) that was previously in force on the Peruvian territory. Chile promulgated its civil code in 1855, an original work in confront with the French code both for
16899-482: Was removed from power that same year before he could act on the matter. His successor, Nikita Khrushchev , rejected reunification as equivalent to returning East Germany for annexation to the West; hence reunification was off the table until the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. East Germany regarded East Berlin as its capital, and the Soviet Union and the rest of the Eastern Bloc diplomatically recognized East Berlin as
17030-462: Was the removal of the electrified fence along Hungary 's border with Austria on 2 May 1989. Although formally the Hungarian frontier was still closed, many East Germans took the opportunity to enter Hungary via Czechoslovakia , and then make the illegal crossing from Hungary to Austria and to West Germany beyond. By July, 25,000 East Germans had crossed into Hungary; most of them did not attempt
17161-591: Was then voted into effect prior to the agreed date for Unification by both the Volkskammer and the Bundestag by the constitutionally required two-thirds majorities, effecting on the one hand the extinction of the GDR, and on the other the agreed amendments to the Basic Law of the Federal Republic. The great economic and socio-political inequalities between the former Germanies required government subsidies for
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