Burkhard Wilhelm Pfeiffer

Pfeiffer grew up in Cassel, where his father served as the parish priest in Oberneustadt, and Burkhard was training to follow in his footsteps and become a preacher.[2] After about a year at the University of Marburg, his father died, and he subsequently transferred to the faculty of Politics and Jurisprudence in 1792. It was here that Pfeiffer became acquainted with Friedrich Carl von Savigny, who would remain a friend for decades.[3] Pfeiffer received his doctorate in law from the University in 1798, and was quickly made an archivist for the Hessian government, a position he held until 1803. From 1803 to 1805 he was a public prosecutor, but in 1805 he was again appointed as state archivist. In addition to his duties as archivist, he was also named procurator fiscal to the court of William I, Elector of Hesse. This job lasted until the invasion of Hesse by Napoleon and its annexation into the Kingdom of Westphalia. Under the rule of King Jérôme, Pfeiffer worked as the Assistant Procurator General for the Court of Appeals in Cassel, and for his service, was awarded the Order of the Crown of Westphalia.[2] During this time, Pfeiffer also published extensively, on subjects as varied as Roman law, patrimony and jurisdiction, civil code, and the Westphalian constitution.[4]

It was during this period of intense publication that Pfeiffer and von Savigny fell out over politics, with Pfeiffer’s liberal views placing him at odds with Savigny as they worked with Thibaut to help reform and restructure the outdated laws and civil codes that plagued all of the German states at this time.[4] After the defeat of Napoleon and the reestablishment of the Electorate of Hesse, Pfeiffer again took offices as a government councilor and legal advisor. In 1817, he was made a senior appellate judge at the Electoral Court of Appeals in Hesse, whose law-code he revised from its previous 1771 version. He was offered a position on the court of appeals in Berlin, but his attachment to his homeland saw him decline the offer.[2] In 1820, Pfeiffer came into direct conflict with the Elector William, over an expert opinion drawn up to the disadvantage of the Elector on the legality of debt repayments to the war chest during the Napoleonic period.[5] This decision, and the subsequent backlash from the court, prompted him to leave his position, move to Lübeck, and take up a position on the newly formed Oberappellationsgericht der vier Freien Städte, or “High Court of Appeal of the Four Free Cities,” which held jurisdiction over the free imperial cities of Lübeck, Bremen, Frankfurt and Hamburg.[6]

William I, Elector of Hesse died in 1821, and Pfeiffer was quickly summoned back to court by the new Elector, William II. Among his duties at court was to oversee the legal and political education of William’s son Frederick William, who would go on to be the third and final Elector of Hesse. in 1824, Pfeiffer received an offer from Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach to take up a teaching position at the University of Jena, as well as a senior role in the court of appeals there, but yet again, he declined the offer. In a letter to his son, he recorded his internal turmoil: "Even if there are many, many things I would wish otherwise, it would not be any better if I selfishly avoided them. I would also have to recognize myself guilty of ingratitude against the prince to whom I owe my honorable return to my sorely missed fatherland, if I wanted to leave it again without any cause for displeasure with my situation here."[note 1][2] Despite his high position at court, Pfeiffer’s liberal views were well-known and over the next decades, he published an assortment of essays and treatises outlining all that was wrong with the German political system and how it needed to change. Among other things, he proposed the establishment of a German Supreme Court, and severe controls on sovereign powers wielded by the rulers of constituent states. Chief among his published works was his eight-volume magnum opus Praktische Ausführungen aus allen Teilen der Rechtswissenschaften, Mit Erkenntnissen des Oberappellationsgerichts zu Kassel or "Practical Explanations from all Parts of Jurisprudence, with Findings of the High Court of Appeal in Kassel," which was published between 1825 and 1846. It contains 98 essays, drawing from Pfeiffer’s decades of experience in the legal profession, and addresses problems with laws in all of the German states. The immense size of the work earned Pfeiffer the nickname der praktische Pfeiffer, or "the Practical Pfeiffer" for the rest of his life.[2]

In 1830, Pfeiffer's lifelong dedication to Hesse and its people was rewarded when the Elector, William II, invested him as a Commander, 2nd Class in the House Order of the Golden Lion. Pfeiffer’s aforementioned gratitude to both the Elector and his family forced him to accept the honor, but he deeply wished to decline, fearing that this recognition by the State would, in his own words, cause him “to lose the confidence of the estates, which he had earned so far, and thus to be disturbed in his desired participation in the great constitutional work.”[note 2][2] At his request, the announcement of his investment was left out of the official government circular, allowing him to continue his political career for the time being. In 1831, he took part in the conference that drafted the new constitution for the Electorate of Hesse, which was later described by Karl Marx as "the most liberal constitution [...] that has ever been promulgated in Europe."[7] The new Elector was not pleased with the liberal stance of the new constitution, particularly the controls on his powers, but he nevertheless appointed Pfeiffer as president of the Landtag of Hesse. Concerned with Pfeiffer’s perceived closeness to the electoral family and court, despite his liberal credentials, the other members of the Landtag declared the election invalid, which led to a conflict with Ludwig Hassenpflug that would last the rest of his life.[1][2] The next decade consisted largely of political maneuvering on Pfeiffer and Hassenpflug's parts, each working to outwit the other. In 1834, Hassenpflug's manipulation led to Pfeiffer being passed over for the role Landtag President, despite having held the position provisionally for over a year, in favor of a younger and less qualified colleague. In the wake of this derailment of his political career, and feeling his own age, he submitted a formal request to retire in 1842, but was refused by the Landtag with two simple words: nicht genehmigt.[2] After a year of hearing cases in absentia due to his ill health, Pfeiffer was permitted to retire in 1843. He continued to publish until 1851, but his influence and position in Hessian politics was finished.[8]

In Cassel, on December 20, 1801, Burchard Pfeiffer married Louise Susanne Arnoldine Harnier (12 June 1778 – 22 December 1847), daughter of Johann Caspar Harnier (1739-1811), the Hessian Minister of War.[2] Her family was of Huguenot descent.[9] They had four children:

• Carl Caspar Jacob (4 October 1803 – 31 July 1831)
• Ludwig Carl Georg (4 July 1805 – 2 October 1877), physician, botanist, and conchologist.
• Marianne Sophie Henriette (17 June 1807 – 3 January 1892), second wife of Louis Spohr.
• Louise Catharine Caroline (25 December 1809 – 19 January 1886)

The untimely death of Burkhard Pfeiffer's son Carl at the age of 28 from cholera had profound effect on both him and his wife. Pfeiffer found himself an outspoken advocate for public health and the treatment of disease, as well as a critic of war in general, which he believed responsible for the spread of disease.[2] Louise Pfeiffer spent the years after her son's death in near-isolation, and her death in 1847 went almost unnoticed by the outside world, who had not seen or heard her in over a decade. After the death of his wife, Pfeiffer emerged somewhat from retirement, having seen the great work of his Hessian constitution begin to erode, and the rights of the people begin to wane, so he began writing newspaper articles challenging the men in power to return to their principles and reinforce the constitutional rights of the Hessian people.[2] Despite this, in 1850 the Hessian constitutional crisis tore into his homeland, despite his lifelong efforts, and in 1852 Burkhard Wilhelm Pfeiffer died.[4]

• Dissertatio inauguralis de praelegatis, Marburg 1798.
• Vermischte Aufsätze über Gegenstände des römischen und deutschen Privatrechts, Marburg 1802.
• Über die Grenzen der Civil-Patrimonial-Jurisdiktion. Ein Beitrag zum Territorial-Staatsrecht, Göttingen 1806.
• Napoleon's Gesetzbuch nach seinen Abweichungen von Teutschlands gemeinem Rechte, Vol. I. & II. Göttingen 1808. (written with his younger brother Franz Georg Pfeiffer)
• Vollständige Unterweisung der Beamten des Civilstandes, in ihren sämmtlichen Verrichtungen, Kassel 1808. (He was not named as author until the fifth edition was published in Hannover in 1810.)
• Rechtsfälle, entschieden nach dem Gesetzbuche Napoleons, Vol. I. Hannover 1811. Vol. II. 1813.
• Rechtsfälle zur Erläuterung der Gerichtsverfassung und Prozeßordnungen Westfalens, Vol. I. Hannover 1812.
• Ideen zu einer neuen Gesetzgebung für teutsche Staaten, Göttingen 1815.
• Inwiesern sind Regierungshandlungen eines Zwischenherrschers für den rechtmäßigen Regenten nach seiner Rückkehr verbindlich?, Hannover 1819.
• Decisiones supremi tribunalis Hasso-Cassellani, P. 1-4. Kassel 1821.
• Das Recht der Kriegseroberung tu Beziehung auf Staatskapitalien, Kassel 1823.
• Praktische Ausführungen aus allen Teilen der Rechtswissenschaft; mit Erkenntnissen des Ober appellationsgerichts zu Kassel, Vol. I. Hannover 1825. Vol. II. 1828. Vol. III-VIII. 1830-1846. Register 1850.
• Grundzüge der rechtlichen Entscheidung des Sachsen-Gothaischen Successionsfalles, Kassel 1826.
• Über die Ordnung der Regierungs-Nachfolge in teutschen Staaten überhaupt, und in dem herzoglichen Gesammthause Sachsen-Gotha insbesondere, Vol. I & II, Kassel 1826.
• Einige Worte über den Entwurf einer Verfassungsurkunde für Kurhessen vom 7. Oktober 1830, Kassel 1830.
• Geschichte der landständischen Verfassung in Kurhessen, Kassel 1834.
• Praktischer Beitrag zur Lehre von Injurien und Majestätsbeleidigungen in Hitzig's Annalen der Kriminalrechtspflege, Vol. 18. S. 163 — 239. Berlin 1840
• Hessen und Hessenkassel in Weiske's Rechtslexikon, Vol. 5. Leipzig 1844
• Ausführliche Darstellung des gesummten Lehnrechts, Vol. 6. Leipzig 1845
• Über den altgermanischen Ursprung der Lehre vom unvordenklichen Besitze, in der Zeitschrift für deutsches Recht von Reyscher und Wilda, Vol. 8. Leipzig 1843.
• Die rechtlichen Verhältnisse der Witwenkassen, Zeitschrift für deutsches Recht von Reyscher und Wilda, Vol. 9. Tübingen 1845
• Sind die Sachen und Rechte der Städte einer Verjährung von 30 oder 40 Jahren unterworfen?, im Archiv für civilistische Praxis. Vol. 28. Heidelberg 1846.
• Über den Umfang der Anwendbarkeit der lex 68 Digestorum „Ad legem Falcidiam“ im Archiv für civilistische Praxis. Vol. 28. Heidelberg 1846.
• Der praktische Gebrauch und Nutzen der Schiedsgerichte in einzelnen Streitfällen, in der Zeitschrift für Civilrecht und Prozeß, herausgegeben von Linde, Marezoll und Schröter. Nene Folge. Vol. 3. Gießen 1847.
• Das deutsche Meierrecht nach seiner rechtlichen Begründung und dermaligen Gestaltung mit vielfältigen Belegen aus der Praxis der obersten Gerichtshöfe, Kassel 1848.
• Fingerzeige für deutsche Ständeversammlungen, Kassel 1849.
• Zur Würdigung des Bundestags-Beschlusses vom 21. Sept. 1850, den dermaligen Conflict der kurhessischen Regierung mit den Ständen über die Steuerfrage betreffend, Kassel 1850.
• Der alte und der neue Bundestag, Kassel 1851.
• Die Selbständigkeit des Richteramts, Kassel 1851.

• Bovensiepen, Rudolf: Wilhelm Pfeiffer. In: Ingeborg Schnack (Hrsg.): Lebensbilder aus Kurhessen und Waldeck 1830–1930. Bd. 2, Marburg 1940, S. 308–321.
• Grothe, Ewald: Verfassungsgebung und Verfassungskonflikt. Das Kurfürstentum Hessen in der ersten Ära Hassenpflug 1830–1837, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1996 (= Schriften zur Verfassungsgeschichte, 48), ISBN 3-428-08509-4.
• Grothe, Ewald (Hrsg.): Die Abgeordneten der kurhessischen Ständeversammlungen 1830–1866. (=Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Hessen. Bd. 48, 13 = Politische und parlamentarische Geschichte des Landes Hessen. Bd. 43). Historische Kommission für Hessen, Marburg 2016, ISBN 978-3-942225-33-5, Nr. KSV-338.
• Hattenhauer, Hans: Burchard Wilhelm Pfeiffer und die Bauernbefreiung in Kurhessen. Eine Exegese, in: Sten Gagnér/Hans Schlosser/Wolfgang Wiegand (Hrsg.): Festschrift für Hermann Krause, Böhlau, Köln/Wien 1975, S. 188–209.
• Hünersdorf, Karl Heinrich. Zur Erinnerung an Dr. Burkhard Wilhelm Pfeiffer in Zeitschrift für deutsches Recht und deutsche Rechtswissenschaft. 14. 1853. Tübingen: Fues, 1853. p. 432-447.
• Lengemann, Jochen: MdL Hessen. 1808–1996. Biographischer Index (= Politische und parlamentarische Geschichte des Landes Hessen. Bd. 14 = Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Hessen. Bd. 48, 7). Elwert, Marburg 1996, ISBN 3-7708-1071-6, S. 292.
• Edgar: Pfeiffer, Burkhard Wilhelm. In: Kassel Lexikon. Hrsg. v. der Stadt Kassel, Bd. 2, euregio, Kassel 2009, ISBN 978-3-933617-40-8, S. 131.
• Liebmann, Jürgen Nolte: Burchard Wilhelm Pfeiffer. Gedanken zur Reform des Zivilrechts. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der deutschen Zivilgesetzgebung. Göttingen 1969.
• Seier, Hellmut (Hrsg.): Akten und Briefe aus den Anfängen der kurhessischen Verfassungszeit 1830–1837, bearb. von dems. und Ewald Grothe, Elwert, Marburg 1992 (= Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Hessen, 48,4; Vorgeschichte und Geschichte des Parlamentarismus in Hessen, 8), ISBN 3-7708-0993-9.
• Theisen, Frank: Zwischen Machtspruch und Unabhängigkeit. Kurhessische Rechtsprechung von 1821–1848, Böhlau, Köln 1997, ISBN 978-3-412-02997-5.

• Literature by and about Burkhard Wilhelm Pfeiffer in the German National Library catalogue
• Pfeiffer, Burkard Wilhelm. Hessische Biografie. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS). (Stand: 20 December 2019)
• Karl H. L. Welker (2001), "Pfeiffer, Burchard Wilhelm", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 20, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 324–325; (full text online)
• Karl Wippermann (1887), "Pfeiffer, Burkhard Wilhelm", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) (in German), vol. 25, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 633–634