Royalty in Germany

Introduction

These pages are devoted to royalty in Germany from the historical and legal viewpoint, with particular focus on house laws and succession rules.

General

Special Topics

Succession Laws

  • The Golden Bull (1356)
    It governed the succession to the Electorates of the Empire.
  • English text
  • original Latin, critical edition
  • Constitutions and House Laws of the Nineteenth Century
    (original texts in German, introductions in English)

  • most of the texts come from Schulze's Hausgesetze. The introduction provide a historical summary of the dynasties.
  • Anhalt
  • Baden
  • Bavaria
  • Hesse (grand-ducal and electoral)
  • Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
  • Brunswick (Brunswick-Luneburg and Hannover)
  • Lippe (Lippe-Detmold and Schaumburg-Lippe)
  • Mecklenburg (both branches)
  • Oldenburg
  • Prussia
  • Reuß
  • Saxony (all branches)
  • Schwarzburg (both branches)
  • Waldeck-Pyrmont
  • Württemberg
  • French Empire: house law of 1806 and constitution (in French)
    (included here because it provided an influential model for the German house laws of the 19th c.)
  • House laws in modern German law

    Other Resources

    Maps

    References

    Other than the references listed on the main Royalty page, here are some specific references for Germany.

    From 1907 to 1914 a series of volumes on the public law of countries was published in Tübingen by the publisher J. C. B. Mohr (Das öffentliche recht der gegenwart). They are very good references for laws of succession and constitutional questions in general. The fact that they were published just before World War I makes them a good source for the state of public law in German states right before the monarchies disappeared. Here is a list of the volumes:

    1. German Empire by Paul Laband and Otto Mayer (1907)
    2. Württemberg by Karl Göz (1908)
    3. International law by Emanuel Ullmann (1908)
    4. Braunschweig by Albert Rhamm (1908)
    5. Baden by Ernst Walz (1909)
    6. France (constitutional) by André Lebon (1909)
    7. ...
    8. Greece by Nikolaus Saripolos (1909)
    9. Saxony by Otto Mayer (1909)
    10. Austria by Josef Ulbrich (1909)
    11. Luxemburg by Paul Eyschen (1910)
    12. USA by Ernst Freund (1911)
    13. Norway by Bredo Henrik Munthe af Morgenstierne (1911)
    14. Oldenburg by Walther Schücking (1911)
    15. Hungary (constitutional) by Heinrich Marczali (1911)
    16. Hungary (administrative) by Desider Márkus (1912)
    17. Russia by Wiatscheslaw Gribowski (1912)
    18. Finland by Rafael Erich (1912)
    19. Hesse-Darmstadt by Wilhelm van Calker (1913)
    20. Denmark by C. Goos and Henrik Hansen (1913)
    21. Bavaria (constitutional) by Max von Seydel (1913)
    22. Bavaria (administrative) by Max von Seydel (1913)
    23. France (administrative) by Gaston Jèze (1913)
    24. Spain by Adolfo Posada (1914)
    25. United Kingdom by Julius Hatschek (1914)
    26. Alsace-Lorraine by Oscar Fischbach (1914)
    27. Bremen and Lübeck by Johannes Bollmann (1914)

    For the German states there are several sources, beyond those listed above: