Beiträge zur Rechtsgeschichte Österreichs 10. Jahrgang Heft 1/2020, pp. 45-60, 2020/05/06
The law books of the 13th and 14th centuries are an important source for research into medieval German law. It is significant that they are partly referred to as ʺKaiserrechtʺ, a secular law derived from the supreme authority, the emperor, and no longer just from custom and tribal law. Whether they actually already contain law established by the emperor will be examined in the present work. The best known law books, the ʺSachsenspiegelʺ and the ʺKaiserliches Land‐ und Lehnrechtsbuchʺ (known as the ʺSchwabenspiegelʺ), are relatively well researched compared to the ʺKleines Kaiserrechtʺ. Its recently published new edition not only presents the complete text of the reference manuscript Corvey, but also underlines the importance of this law book as ʺKaiserrechtʺ, revealing many more legal innovations than previously thought.
Keywords: imperial law – law books – medieval German law
