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Rudolf von Jhering

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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Recht (2 vols., 1877-1883). In these two works is clearly seen Jhering's individuality. The Kampf urn's Recht shows the firmness of his character, the strength of his sense of justice, and his juristic method and logic: "to assert his rights is the duty that every responsible person owes to himself." In the Zweck im Recht is perceived the bent of the author's intellect. But perhaps the happiest combination of all his distinctive characteristics is to be found in his Jurisprudenz des tliglichen Lebens (1870; Eng. trans., 1904). A great feature of his lectures was his so-called Praktika, problems in Roman law, and a collection of these with hints for solution was published as early as 1847 under the title Civilrechtsfalle ohne Entscheidungen. In Gottingen he continued to work until his death on the 17th of September 1892. A short time previously he had been the centre of a devoted crowd of friends and former pupils, assembled at Wilhelmshohe near Cassel to celebrate the jubilee of his doctorate. Almost all countries were worthily represented, and this pilgrimage affords an excellent illustration of the extraordinary fascination and enduring influence that Jhering commanded. In appearance he was of middle stature, his face clean-shaven and of classical mould, lit up with vivacity and beaming with good nature. He was perhaps seen at his best when dispensing hospitality in his own house. With him died the best beloved and the most talented of Roman-law professors of modern times. It was said of him by Professor Adolf Merkel in a memorial address, R. v. Jhering (1893), that he belonged to the happy class of persons to whom Goethe's lines are applicable: "Was ich in der Jugend gewiinscht, das habe ich im Alter die Fiille," and this may justly be said of him, though he did not live to complete his Geist des romischen Rechts and his Rechtsgeschichte. For this work the span of a single life would have been insufficient, but what he has left to the world is a monument of vigorous intellectual power and stamps Jhering as an original thinker and unrivalled exponent (in his peculiar interpretation) of the spirit of Roman law.

Among others of his works, all of them characteristic of the author and sparkling with wit, may be mentioned the following: Beitrage zur Lehre von Besitz, first published in the Jahrbiicher fiir die Dogmatik des heutigen romischen and deutschen Privat-rechts, and then separately; Der Besitzwille, and an article entitled "Besitz" in the Handwiirterbuch der Staatswissenschaften (1891), which aroused at the time much controversy, particularly on account of the opposition manifested to Savigny's conception of the subject. See also Scherz and Ernst in der Jurisprudenz (1885); Das Schuldmoment im romischen Privat-recht (1867); Das Trinkgeld (1882); and among the papers he left behind him his Vorgeschichte der Indoeuropaer, a fragment, has been published b y v. Ehrenberg (1894). See for an account of his life also M. de Jonge, Rudolf v. Jhering (1888); and A. Merkel, Rudolf von Jhering (1893). (P. A. A.)