Ondřej Horák
"...but the soul of the Sribe is essentially different." On the Meaning, Character adn Changes of the General Civil Code (1811)
This paper focuses on the General Civil Code (ABGB) of 1811, the most famous
Central European code and the most important work of Czech-Austrian legal
science, which significantly influenced the legal, social and cultural development
(not only) in the Czech Lands. Using the ABGB as an example, the paper focuses
on four sets of issues related to the codification of law, namely 1) meaning and
function (codification as an expression of "modernity"), 2) origin and authorship
(codification as an "hourglass"), 3) character and sources (codification as a "tree"),
and 4) transformation and inspiration (codification as an "architectural design").
Special attention is paid to the Czech Lands, which have had a not negligible
contribution to its drafting (in terms of places, persons and sources), modifications
(in terms of legislation, jurisprudence and dogmatics) and reception (during the
preparation of the interwar drafts of 1931 and 1937 and the current Civil Code
of 2012).
Keywords: Habsburg monarchy – General Civil Code (ABGB) – codification –
civil law
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