Reichsoberhandelsgericht
The Reichsoberhandelsgericht (English: Imperial High Commercial Court), abbreviated to ROHG, was a German supreme court in Leipzig primarily dealing with appeals concerning commercial law. It was established in 1869 as the Bundesoberhandelsgericht (English: Federal Higher Commercial Court) of the North German Confederation and was named Reichsoberhandelsgericht after the establishment of the German Empire in 1871. In 1879, the court was replaced by the Reichsgericht.
Reichsoberhandelsgericht | |
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Established | 5 August 1870 |
Dissolved | 30 September 1879 |
Jurisdiction |
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Location | Georgenhalle, Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony, German Empire |
Language | German |
History of the court
Historical background
With the disintegration of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 the judicial activities of the two German supreme courts – the Reichskammergericht in Wetzlar and the Aulic Council (the Reichshofrat) in Vienna – also came to an end. For more than six decades no federal supreme court existed in the German territories until the Reichsoberhandelsgericht was formed in 1869.[1] During the time of the German Confederation (1815–1866) and the North German Federation (1867–1871) the only court with jurisdiction for more than one territory was the Oberappellationsgericht der vier Freien Städte (High Court of Appeal of the Four Free Cities, 1820–1879), which had territorial jurisdiction for Bremen, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Lübeck.[1]
Initiatives for the establishment of a federal supreme court
The German Confederation did not establish a federal supreme court, because the Confederation left the sovereignty of the individual territories and states largely untouched.[2] But due to the lack of a federal supreme court, some concern existed regarding the further fragmentation of the law in the German territories. These concerns intensified after a uniform commercial law, the Allgemeines Deutsches Handelsgesetzbuch, was introduced in the German Confederation without a federal supreme court being able to ensure its uniform interpretation.[1] The German Jurists Forums (Deutsche Juristentage) therefore called in 1860, 1861, 1863, 1864 and 1867 for the establishment of such a supreme court.[1] In 1860 the German Jurist Forum argued, that at least for the unified areas of law – meaning commercial law and the law on promissory notes – a federal supreme court would be necessary to ensure a uniform development of the law.[3]
Legislative process
The formal legislative process for the establishment of the Bundesoberhandelsgericht was started in 1869 by Saxony. Saxony introduced its bill on 23 February 1869[4] and probably coordinated it with Prussia.[1] The bill was quickly passed by a large majority in the Federal Council (Bundesrat) and the Reichstag in the first half of 1869.[4] During the legislative deliberations it remained largely unchanged, but met some opposition from the free cities belonging to the Oberappellationsgericht.[1] During the parliamentary deliberations Johannes von Miquel notably argued with a view to a possible German unification that "from a legal point of view, this Court is provisional, but from a national point of view, it is definitive".[1]
Establishment of the court

The Bundesoberhandelsgericht (abbreviated BOHG) was created by its federal establishment law of 12 June 1869. The court constituted itself on 5 August 1870 in Leipzig, on the same day its establishment law entered into force.[5] Contrary to original plans Otto von Bismarck – then the Chancellor of the North German Confederation – was unable to attend the constitution of the court in the Georgenhalle in Leipzig due to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War.[6] The seat of the court also was at the Georgenhalle.[7]
Life of the court
After the establishment of the German Empire the Bundesoberhandelsgericht was no longer a court of the North German Confederation, but a court of the German Empire. It was renamed Reichsoberhandelsgericht (ROGH) on 2 September 1871.[8] The court had jurisdiction primarily over disputes relating to commercial law and the law on promissory notes. The court's jurisdiction was subsequently expanded both geographically and in terms of subject matter. After 1871, it took the place of the French Court of Cassation in criminal cases from Alsace-Lorraine.[6][9] In its practise the court had to apply about 30 different procedural codes.
As a rule, the Reichsoberhandelsgericht was a court of the third instance, but in special cases it could also sit as a court of the second or of the fourth instance. For the member states, it replaced the corresponding higher courts of the individual Länder and free cities in the subject-matter jurisdiction exclusively assigned to it. The judgements of the court were initially issued "im Namen des norddeutschen Bundes" ("in the name of the North German Confederation"), later "im Namen des Deutschen Reiches" ("in the name of the German Empire").
Succession of the court
After the Reichsjustizgesetze of 1878 entered into force, the Reichsoberhandelsgericht was succeeded by the Reichsgericht with effect from 1 October 1879.[10]
Historical assessment of the court
The case law of the Reichsoberhandelsgericht had a lasting influence on the practice and teaching of German promissory notes law and commercial law in general. As a judge of the court, Levin Goldschmidt argued that it was the natural task of the court to preserve unity in the application of the law and to further the development of the unified areas of law.[11] Due to the expansion of its subject-matter jurisdiction many contemporaries saw the court not as a special court for commercial law but as a general supreme court,[11] a view that is shared by commentators today.[6]
The establishment of the court marked the beginning of an institutional tradition that has continued through the Reichsgericht to today's Bundesgerichtshof.[6] Exemplary for this tradition is the collection of its important cases named "Entscheidungen des Reichsoberhandelsgerichts" ("Judgments of the Reichsoberhandelsgerichts"), abbreviated BOHGE/ROHGE, in whose tradition the later "Entscheidungen des Reichsgerichts" (abbreviated RGZ/RGSt) and the "Entscheidungen des Bundesgerichtshofs" (abbreviated BGHZ/BGHSt) still stand. Regina Ogorek has argued that the court marked the institutional beginning of the end of an epoch of fragmentation in the law.[12]
Organisation of the court
Panels of the Reichsoberhandelsgericht
Originally the Reichsoberhandelsgericht had no panels, the decisions therefore had to be taken in plenary sessions. This was rectified with effect from 1 September 1871 when the court formed two panels.[13] The first panel (Erster Senat) was chaired by the court's president, Heinrich Eduard von Pape, while the second panel (Zweiter Senat) was led by its vice president August Drechsler.[13] On 9 July 1874 a third panel (Dritter Senat) was formed and chaired by Karl Hocheder, who also became a vice president of the court.[14] The president distributed the cases to the individual panels.[15] To render a decision seven judges had to participate in the case and a majority for the decision had to be found.[16]
Jurisdiction
The Reichsoberhandelsgericht could hear appeals when it had local and subject-matter jurisdiction. If it was competent to hear an appeal, it replaced the supreme court of the respective member state for this case.[19]
Local jurisdiction
In 1869 the local jurisdiction of the court extended throughout the North German Confederation.[20][1][21] During the time of the short-lived German confederation in 1870 its territory was the court's territory until the German confederation was succeeded by the German Empire in 1871. Correspondingly the local jurisdiction of the court was now the Empire's territory.[22][1] The last extension of the court's local jurisdiction happened on 14 June 1871, when the Reichsoberhandelsgericht succeeded the French Court of Cassation for appeals concerning cases originating from Alsace-Lorraine.[23]
Subject-matter jurisdiction
As the name of the court suggests it was originally conceived as a civil court for commercial law matters. Accordingly, its subject-matter jurisdiction only extended to cases concerning question of commercial law. Section 13[24] of the court's establishment statue elaborated what specific commercial law questions were covered.[25] Later the court's subject-matter jurisdiction was rapidly expanded by statute. For example, matters concerning copyright law, patent law and trademark law were added to the court's docket.[1] But not only newly developing matters like intellectual property law were added, even some specific matters of general civil law – for example matters concerning strict liability for operators of trains – were added to its subject-matter jurisdiction.[26] The court was even granted jurisdiction for some criminal law matters, but private law remained firmly at the centre of the court's jurisdiction.[27]
Collection of decisions
All of the 12,173 decisions of the Reichsoberhandelsgericht have been preserved in the 82 volumes of the "Sammlung Sämmtlicher Erkenntnisse des Reichs-Oberhandelsgerichts", which is now housed at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe.[28][29] Of those 12,173 decisions, the court identified 2,764 (22.7%) as its most important decisions and published them in its authoritative collection "Entscheidungen des Reichsoberhandelsgerichts" (25 volumes).[29] A. Stegemann also collected and published some cases of the court in the 8 volumes of "Die Rechtsprechung des deutschen Oberhandelsgerichtes zu Leipzig".[30]
Judges of the court

During the nine years of its existence, the Reichsoberhandelsgericht had only one president, Heinrich Eduard von Pape, who had already been involved in the legislative preparations for the court.[31] The court had two vice-presidents – August Drechsler and Karl Hocheder (the latter joining it in 1873) – and 29 judges (Reichsoberhandelsgerichtsräte) in total. The formal requirement to become a judge was the eligibility to serve at a high court in one of a member states or to be a professor of law in Germany,[1] Levin Goldschmidt being the only professor of law serving at the court.[1] All judges of the court had life tenure.[1][32]
Of the 32 judges of the Reichsoberhandelsgericht, 20 transferred to the service of the newly formed Reichsgericht.[33] The court's president von Pape did not transfer, he became the chairperson of the first commission to draft a German Civil Code, an activity which in 1896 resulted in the momentous promulgation of the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch.[1]
President of the court
Number | Name | Assumption of office | End of office | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Heinrich Eduard von Pape (1816–1888) | 1 July 1870 | 30 September 1879 | [34] |
Vice-Presidents of the court
Number | Name | Assumption of office | End of office | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | August Drechsler (1821–1897) | 1 July 1870 | 30 September 1879 | [34] |
2 | Karl Hocheder (1825–1913) | 1 March 1873 | 30 September 1879 | [34] |
Members of the court (Reichsoberhandelsgerichtsräte)
Number | Name | Assumption of office | End of office | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Bernhard Friedrich Gustav Ponath (1812–1881) | 1 July 1870 | 30 September 1879 | [34] |
2 | Wilhelm Albert Kosmann (1825–1875) | 1 July 1870 | 1 July 1874 | [34] |
3 | Wilhelm Schmitz (1811–1875) | 1 July 1870 | 17 November 1875 | [34] |
4 | Friedrich Gallenkamp (1818–1890) | 1 July 1870 | 30 September 1879 | [34] |
5 | Friedrich Moritz Hoffmann (1818–1882) | 1 July 1870 | 30 September 1879 | [34] |
6 | Gustav Ludwig August Fleischauer (1819–1891) | 1 Juli 1870 | 30 September 1879 | [34] |
7 | Adolph Schliemann (1817–1872) | 1 July 1870 | 19 January 1872 | [34] |
8 | Jeremias Theodor Boisselier (1826–1912) | 1 July 1870 | 30 September 1879 | [34] |
9 | Levin Goldschmidt (1829–1897) | 1 July 1870 | 1 September 1875 | [34] |
10 | Johann Friedrich Voigt (1806–1886) | 1 July 1870 | 30 September 1879 | [34] |
11 | Karl Julius August von Vangerow (1809–1898) | 1 July 1870 | 30 September 1879 | [34] |
12 | Karl Friedrich Werner (1820–1877) | 1 July 1870 | 31 August 1877 | [34] |
13 | Marquard Adolph Barth (1809–1885) | 1 August 1871 | 30 September 1879 | [34] |
14 | Johann Wernz (1819–1895) | 1 August 1871 | 30 September 1879 | [34] |
15 | Ernst Sigismund Puchelt (1820–1885) | 1 August 1871 | 30 September 1879 | [34] |
16 | Robert Römer (1823–1879) | 1 August 1871 | 30 September 1879 | [34] |
17 | Friedrich von Hahn (1823–1897) | 1 May 1872 | 30 September 1879 | [35] |
18 | Wilhelm Mohrmann (1815–1891) | 1 January 1873 | 30 September 1879 | [35] |
19 | Wilhelm Langerhans (1816–1902) | 1 March 1874 | 30 September 1879 | [35] |
20 | Heinrich Wiener (1834–1897) | 1 April 1874 | 30 September 1879 | [35] |
21 | Hermann Gustav Ludwig Theodor Krüger (1825–1903) | 1 July 1874 | 30 September 1879 | [35] |
22 | Lothar Schilling (1834–1879) | 1 April 1875 | 27 May 1879 | [35] |
23 | Wilhelm Buff (1825–1900) | 1 April 1875 | 30 September 1879 | [35] |
24 | Viktor von Meibom (1821–1892) | 1 September 1875 | 30 September 1879 | [35] |
25 | Karl Heinrich Dreyer (1830–1900) | 1 March 1876 | 30 September 1879 | [35] |
26 | Baum Hambrook (1818–1897) | 1 September 1877 | 30 September 1879 | [35] |
27 | Hermann Wittmaack (1833–1928) | 2 September 1877 | 30 September 1879 | [35] |
28 | Wilhelm Maßmann (1837–1916) | 3 September 1877 | 30 September 1879 | [35] |
29 | August Hullmann (1826–1887) | 1 January 1878 | 30 September 1879 | [35] |
References
- Fleckner, Andreas M. (2009). "Reichsoberhandelsgericht (mit Reichsgericht)". Handwörterbuch des Europäischen Privatrechts (in German). Archived from the original on 2 March 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
- Müßig 2012, pp. 269–270.
- Müßig 2012, p. 272.
- Müßig 2012, p. 274.
- Müßig 2012, p. 275.
- Fischer 2015, p. 94.
- Fischer 2015, p. 94.
- Müßig 2012, p. 276.
- Fischer 2010, p. 1081.
- Fischer 2010, p. 1083.
- Müßig 2012, p. 284.
- Müßig 2012, p. 290.
- Winkler 2001, p. 45.
- Winkler 2001, p. 47.
- Fischer 2015, p. 95.
- Winkler 2001, pp. 50–51.
- Winkler 2001, pp. 40–44.
- § 10 des Gesetzes, betreffend die Errichtung eines obersten Gerichtshofes für Handelssachen, vom 12. Juni 1869.
- Winkler 2001, pp. 52–53.
- Winkler 2001, p. 53.
- § 1 des Gesetzes, betreffend die Errichtung eines obersten Gerichtshofes für Handelssachen, vom 12. Juni 1869.
- § 2 der Verfassung des Deutschen Reichs (1871)
- Winkler 2001, p. 55.
- § 13 des Gesetzes, betreffend die Errichtung eines obersten Gerichtshofes für Handelssachen, vom 12. Juni 1869.
- Winkler 2001, pp. 56–61.
- Winkler 2001, p. 65.
- Winkler 2001, pp. 133–134.
- Fischer 2010, p. 1082.
- Winkler 2001, p. 99.
- Stegemann, A., ed. (1873). Die Rechtsprechung des deutschen Oberhandelsgerichtes zu Leipzig (in German). Vol. VIII. Berlin: Verlag von J. Guttentag. p. 399.
- Winkler 2001, pp. 34–35.
- § 23 des Gesetzes, betreffend die Errichtung eines obersten Gerichtshofes für Handelssachen, vom 12. Juni 1869.
- Lobe 1929, pp. 337–338.
- Lobe 1929, p. 337.
- Lobe 1929, p. 338.
Sources
- Fischer, Detlev (2010). "Zur Geschichte der höchstrichterlichen Rechtsprechung in Deutschland". JuristenZeitung (in German). 65 (22): 1077–1087. doi:10.1628/002268810793455442. ISSN 0022-6882. JSTOR 20830325.
- ——————— (2015). "Zwischen Leipzig und Karlsruhe, rechtshistorische Reminiszenzen und Wechselwirkungen". Journal der Juristischen Zeitgeschichte (in German). 9 (3): 93–106. doi:10.1515/jjzg-2015-0029. ISSN 1868-8810. S2CID 185474516.
- Lobe, Adolf (1929). Fünfzig Jahre Reichsgericht am 1. Oktober 1929 (in German). Berlin and Leipzig: De Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9783111648354. ISBN 9783111648354.
- Müßig, Ulrike (2012). "Handelsrechtseinheit durch Höchstgerichtsbarkeit: Die Entstehung des Bundes- bzw. Reichsoberhandelsgerichts". In Cordes, Albrecht; Dauchy, Serge (eds.). Eine Grenze in Bewegung / Une frontière mouvante (in German). De Gruyter. pp. 265–292. doi:10.1515/9783110446722-015. ISBN 9783486717990.
- Winkler, Sabine (2001). Das Bundes- und spätere Reichsoberhandelsgericht: Eine Untersuchung seiner äusseren und inneren Organisation sowie seiner Rechtsprechungstätigkeit unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der kaufmännischen Mängelrüge (in German). Paderborn: Schöningh. ISBN 978-3-506-73395-5.
Further reading
- Endemann, Wilhelm (1869). "Das Gesetz vom 21. Juni 1869, betreffend die Errichtung des Bundes-Oberhandelsgerichts zu Leipzig". Archiv für Theorie und Praxis des allgemeinen deutschen Handelsrechts (in German). 17: XLVII–CXX.
- Henne, Thomas (2004). "Jüdische Richter" am Reichs-Oberhandelsgericht und am Reichsgericht bis 1933". In Ephraim-Carlebach-Stiftung (ed.). Antisemitismus in Sachsen im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert (in German). Dresden. pp. 142–155. ISBN 3-932434-23-4.
- ——————— (2004). "Richterliche Rechtsharmonisierung: Startbedingungen, Methoden und Erfolge in Zeiten beginnender staatlicher Zentralisierung analysiert am Beispiel des Oberhandelsgerichts". Kontinuitäten und Zäsuren in der europäischen Rechtsgeschichte (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Lang. pp. 335–355. ISBN 9783631348826.
- Kronke, Herbert (1997). "Rechtsvergleichung und Rechtsvereinheitlichung in der Rechtsprechung des Reichsoberhandelsgerichts". Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht (in German). 5: 735–750.
- Ogorek, Regina (1986). "Privatautonomie unter Justizkontrolle – Zur Rechtsprechung des Reichsoberhandelsgerichts (1870–1879)". Zeitschrift für das gesamte Handelsrecht und Wirtschaftsrecht (in German). 150: 87–116.
- Silberschmidt, Wilhelm (1894). Die Entstehung des deutschen Handelsgerichts: Nach archivalischen Quellen (in German). Duncker & Humblot.
- Weiss, Axel (1997). Die Entscheidungen des Reichsoberhandelsgerichts in Strafsachen (in German). Marburg: Elwert Verlag. ISBN 9783770810765.
External links
- Fleckner, Andreas M. (2009). "Reichsoberhandelsgericht (mit Reichsgericht)". Handwörterbuch des Europäischen Privatrechts (in German). Archived from the original on 2 March 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
German Wikisource has original text related to this article: Gesetz, betreffend die Errichtung eines obersten Gerichtshofes für Handelssachen.
German Wikisource has original text related to this article: Entscheidungen des Reichsoberhandelsgerichts.
German Wikisource has original text related to this article: Die Rechtsprechung des deutschen Oberhandelsgerichtes zu Leipzig.