RIEGGER, PAUL JOSEPH RITTER von. - Born in Freiburg im Breisgau on 29 January 1705, died in Vienna on 2 December 1775.

He was professor of public and international law at the University of Innsbruck, where he was also dean of the Faculty of Law and rector magnificus, then professor of canon law at the University of Vienna. A follower of the school of natural law, in his teaching and in his numerous writings he bore the mark of a constant orientation toward regalism and Febronian episcopalism, whose program he also effectively promoted at the Court of Vienna in his capacity as aulic councillor, thus opening the way, in Austria, to that neo-regalist movement which later consolidated under the name of Josephinism and of which R. can rightly be considered the father and forerunner.

The following works of his are worthy of note, though less commendable as regards orthodoxy: Corpus iuris publici et ecclesiastici Germaniae academicum (Vienna-Prague 1757-60); De collectionibus iuris eccl. antiqui (ibid. 1757); Introductio in universum ius ecclesiasticum (ibid. 1758), also published as Institutiones iurisprudentiae ecclesiasticae (ibid. 1768-1772); De Decreto Gratiani (ibid. 1760); Corpus Iuris ecclesiastici (Vienna 1764); De poenitentiis et poenis ecclesiasticis (ibid. 1774-75); Synopsis iuris ecclesiastici publici et privati (ibid. 1776, posthumous).

His son JOSEPH ANTON STEPHAN was also a canonist, and a fanatical promoter of Josephinism through his actions and writings, of which the principal ones are: Prolegomena ad ius ecclesiasticum (Vienna 1764); De collectione Decretalium Honorii III (ibid. 1769); Conspectus iuris ecclesiastici (ibid. 1769).

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: I. Wunder von Grünwald, Biogr. der beiden Ritter von R., Prague 1797; J. F. von Schulte, Die Gesch. der Quellen und Literatur des kan. Rechts, III, 1, Stuttgart 1880, p. 208 ff., 261 ff.; Hurter, V, coll. 211-13, 215 ff.; A. van Hove, Prolegomena, 2nd ed., Mechelen-Rome 1945, pp. 536, 566.

Zaccaria da San Mauro

@incollection{ec10_riegger_paul_joseph_ritter_von, author = {Zaccaria da S. Mauro}, title = {Riegger, paul joseph ritter von}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {X}, pages = {896}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/riegger-paul-joseph-ritter-von} }

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Riegger, Paul Joseph Ritter von

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