Published in the Bulgarian “BAR REVIEW”, issue 5-6/2008
I dedicate to the junior lawyers our professional Resurrection. V.B.
JACOB GRIMM FOR THE POETRY IN LAW
І. Historical background.
It has been almost two hundred years since 1812 when the child’s soul was first touched by the tales of Snow-white, The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Red Riding Hood, The Puss in Boots, Hansel and Gretel, The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats, The Town Musicians of Bremen and many more. The storytellers of the above tales are simply known as Brothers Grimm not only because they are related but also because of the feeling that they are every child’s kind older brothers. Their fairy and linguistic (Grammar and Dictionary of the German language) prominence has pushed into the shadows of history the fact that Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (1786-1859) are both Professors of Law. In fact, they are respectively the second and the third child among the 8 sons and one daughter of lawyer-parents Philip Wilhelm and Dorothea Grimm, born in Hanau – just a few kilometers east of Frankfurt.
During 1802 and 1803 Jacob and Wilhelm are first-year law students in the university in Marburg. It is there where a long-lasting friendship is born with the exceptionally young professor, who is then a rising star of the German legal thinking, 24-year old Friedrich Karl von Savigny, who had just (on 13th March, 1803) published his masterpiece: Das Recht des Besitzes = The law of possession. Savigny is impressed by Jacob Grimm’s interest in the ancient sources of German law and offers to accompany him on a research trip to the French National Library in Paris in order to explore its oldest archives. During 1804 the French Code Civil enters in force which causes excitement throughout nearly the whole of Europe. In Paris Savigny and Grimm spend from December 1804 to September 1805, dipping into nearly 160 000 manuscripts of the national library, which is open during the day only between 10:00 and 14:00. Their notes from the Paris research provide an overwhelming impulse for their subsequent work especially for Jacob Grimm who finds extremely interest old philological texts with legal contents. In is only once more during his life that Jacob delighted by the contact with a similar treasure-house of manuscripts – in the Uppsala Library after an audience with the Swedish king during 1843.
From 1806 to 1813 almost all German provinces are under French control. The uprising of the German people began with an intellectual revival, whose aim was not only political liberation but also reforms and progress without the horror of a revolution. Napoleon had to be opposed not only through weaponry but also through inspiring ideals. Even before the Leipzig victory from 1813, and also after it, the members of the German intellectual elite had proven to be the spiritual guardians of the nation. One of the many examples is the opening by Wilhelm von Humboldt in Berlin during the spring of 1810 of the University Friedrich Wilhelm (known today as the Humboldt University of Berlin). Its first chancellor was Johann Fichte (soon dismissed due to anti-French activity), the history department was headed by Barthold Niebuhr, who discovered the Gaius Institutions in the monastery library of Verona during 1816. Savigny taught Roman law, and late Hegel – philosophy. Contemporary accounts recount that the lectures in the university were not merely read but were jointly celebrated by both professors and students.
The full text of the article in Bulgarian is available here.