About Authority, Which Didn’t Want to Take Responsibility (Some Traditions and Cases in the Law System of Medieval Freiburg)

• Main Author: Pavel А. Blokhin
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Volgograd State University 2017-09-01
• Series: Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Seriâ 4. Istoriâ, Regionovedenie, Meždunarodnye Otnošeniâ
• Subjects: middle ages; medieval town; medieval urban law; Freiburg in Breisgau; legal traditions and cases
• Online Access: http://hfrir.jvolsu.com/index.php/en/component/attachments/download/1406

Urban law is a unique phenomenon in the life of medieval western society. When you study the history of medieval law initiation and progression, it is important to investigate the legal sources. Traditions is one of such sources (reference to eternity and ancientry of laws). In Freiburg legal system such reference existed in the form of pointing out the borrowing local law regulations from the so-called Cologne law. Thus, Cologne officially became maternal city for Freiburg. However, this tradition didn’t result in law filiation. As the years passed the provisions of law have changed. New regulation referred to Cologne as a place of the arbitration court for Freiburg inhabitants, not as a model city in a legal sense. Legal practice confirms this rule in the legislation. Firstly, the special regulatory act imposing the procedure of applying to Cologne arbitration court was established. The decision on application was made by the burghermaster and City council. Secondly, there are at least three fortuitous events – the responses of Cologne authorities to Freiburg Council with regard to these three cases. These include murder cases, cases over infliction of serious bodily injury or harm and theft offences. The documents don’t contain judgment, and the two of them contain arbitrators’ references about the need to apply Cologne legal proceedings. The uniqueness of this case consists in the fact that new regulation was established during the period of legal paradigm shift, when the judicial proceedings were transformed from archaic into rational ones.