The school of pandectists and the German Civil Code

An offshoot of the historical school was the school of pandectists (from the Pandects, i.e., the Digest), founded by Savigny's pupil Georg Friedrich Puchta (1798-1846). Born in Cadolzburg in Bavaria, Puchta attended the

Gymnasium of Nuremberg, where he came under the personal influence of Hegel.

The lack of a national civil code in Germany until 1900 was the ultimate justification for the existence of the school, which was instrumental in drafting the German Civil Code. Pandectists were concerned about the scientific application of Roman law to current legal questions and, therefore, about systematization. Although pandectists built on classical Roman law sources, predominantly the Digest, they were able to create an autonomous theoretical system of legal principles, institutions, and legal dogmas. The method Puchta developed, called “jurisprudence of concepts” (Begriffsjurisprudenz), aimed at establishing a logical and systematic hierarchy of legal concepts that permeated the whole legal system. Law was a positive legal science with an independent existence - isolated from ethics, politics, and economic aspects of social life. These domains were not the business of legal theory, but of legislation. Rules and procedures were drawn exclusively from their own integrated system and doctrinal concepts. The legal validity of each rule would depend on its position inside the hierarchical system, and it would be an expression of the internal harmony of its own legal system. Potential gaps inside the legal system would be filled with creative construction.

Pandectism produced many distinguished legal scholars, including Aloys Brinz (1820-87), Heinrich Dernburg (1829-1907), Ludwig Enneccerus (1843­1928), Andres von Tuhr (1864-1925), and Paul Oertmann (1865-1938). The most important among them was Bernhard Windscheid (1817-92), who is considered a pioneer of modern German civil law. Born in Düsseldorf, Windscheid taught in Basel, Greifswald (where he was friendly with Rudolph Jhering), Munich, Heidelberg, and Leipzig. He declined a tenured position in Berlin. From 1873 to 1886, he served with the First Commission in charge of drafting the German Civil Code, to which his contribution was significant. Windscheid developed the modern German legal concept of Anspruch (claim), distinguishing it from the classic Roman idea of actio (action). Windscheid’s most important work is the Lehrbuch des Pandektenrechts (Textbook of Pandect Law, 1862-70), which quickly became the leading scholarly authority. Because of its objectivity, elegance, and practical function, this textbook dominated German legal science until the German Civil Code came into force.