East German Law

[jon m.]

Jon - When did the book come out?

Published in 1986, however all of his research was conducted during a three month visit to East Germany in 1983.

[Ralph P]

Jon - I wonder if since the end of the Cold War he has relooked at his book and research material and continues to have the same conclusion to the system and law.

Thanks for the info...

Published in 1986, however all of his research was conducted during a three month visit to East Germany in 1983.

[jon m.]

I am just into the third chapter of the book. It has a lot of, what I call "trivia." Such as:

"No law faculty has a photocopying machine; typically each university has one or two such machines and they are under close control in the central library."

"Unlike Justice Ministries in Western Europe, the Ministry of Justice [of the DDR, aka MdJ] has no law enforcement or litigating authority whatsoever; it plays no part in the prosecuting of crime."

"Although the 1968 Constitution [of the GDR] had been submitted to a public vote, the 1974 amendments were adopted by a vote of the People's Chamber [Volkskammer]. This body is authorized to amend the Constitution at any time by a two-thirds vote. As this suggests, the GDR Constitution has a status only slightly higher than that of ordinary legislation."[my italics]

Or the nice tidbit of information where he cites the only time when the Volkskammer did not enact something unanimously, was in 1972 "when members of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) voted against a measure to liberalize abortions, and others abstained."

In no instance has the author mentioned the Stasi. I am not complaining.... though I am certain that the Stasi had a file on him..... He describes the layout of the law sections in each of the four Universities (Berlin, Halle, Jena, Leipzig) from what floors of which buildings they are located to how many people have to share how many offices.... and who is located in which specific office

The first chapter (40 or so pages) gives a history of the legal traditions in Germany from the early 19th century to the present (which was at that time 1983).

Anyway I will provide more information later, after I have gone deeper into the book.

BTW. I found the book on amazon.com.

Impressions of law in East Germany
by, Daniel John Meador.
ISBN: 0-8139-1110-9
University Press of Virginia
1986

[jon m.]

Jon - I wonder if since the end of the Cold War he has relooked at his book and research material and continues to have the same conclusion to the system and law.

Thanks for the info...

The book was not written the way I had originally expected it to be (when I ordered it): that is not to say it was not good. The book was better than I thought it would have been. Surprisingly the author was quite objective and impartial in his writings....he saves the last chapter or two for his own personal thoughts about (1.) the system of law in the DDR, and (2.) life in the DDR in general.

The main focus is on the two systems of law practiced in the GDR: Criminal and Economic. The latter dealt with the VEB's (or what have you) and contracts between enterprises. The former should be obvious....Criminals.

The Universities that had law sections were Humboldt, Leipzig, Jena and Halle. He goes on to state that there were individual courses taught, by individual lawyers, at other Universities on specific areas... such as: a course on Traffic law at Dresden U. or Shipping laws at Rostock U.. Those, however, were the exception and not the rule.

The four law schools mentioned had specific goals: Berlin trained Judges and Court officials; Jena trained Procurators. These two Universities were concerned with the area of "Criminal Law."

The Universities of Leipzig and Halle, focusing on "Economic [or Contract] Law," trained lawyers who would work, for example, as "in-house counsel" for the various state owned enterprises.

Generally, when someone graduated from a specific University, they would remain within that speciality... example: although Humboldt [Berlin] University trained future Judges, one could become a Judge after having been educated at one of the other Universities......however this was extremely rare.

Here is something that a friend told me (she is a lawyer in Halle) about the GDR Judges post-Wende:

...

I just know it was quite a political
thing to become a judge that's why most of them had trouble to be acknowledged by the new system. They had to do extra studies and exams to stay judges, many of them were downgraded to lawyers

[Ralph P]

Jon - An interesting review to read. At some point I will need to pick up a copy to read...Thanks and much appreciated...

[jon m.]

I apologize for taking a fortnight to post my thoughts on the book.... I have been busy with a school paper on, ... are you ready?... the Marxian Dialectic.

[Ralph P]

Hey Jon - No problem in taking the time to get back and post an update. Even if it dealt with another doctrine...

I just hope you didn't use us as your reference...

I apologize for taking a fortnight to post my thoughts on the book.... I have been busy with a school paper on, ... are you ready?... the Marxian Dialetic.