SAVIGNY, FRIEDRICH KARL von. - Jurist, b. in Frankfurt am Main on 21 Feb. 1779, d. in Berlin on 25 Oct. 1861. He studied at the University of Marburg and the year after his degree, at the same University,
1551. It was precisely Paul III who made hereditary in the S. the office of marshal and custodian of the conclave.
GIACOMO, son of the preceding, protonotary, was created cardinal deacon by Paul III on 19 Dec. 1539 with a reputation as a virtuous young man devoted to letters (Pastor, V, p. 804). He soon received in administration the bishoprics of Nicastro (5 Nov. 1540-19 Nov. 1554, and again 6 Feb. 1556-26 Jan. 1560), of Teramo (15 Apr. 1545-26 May 1546), later those of Gubbio (29 May 1555-6 Feb. 1556) and of Benevento (26 Jan. 1560-27 May obtained the free lectureship. From 1808 he taught at the University of Berlin, which was then being founded, and held there the chair of Roman Law until 1842. After having devoted himself for some years to the legislative reform entrusted to him by the Prussian government, he dedicated the rest of his life to scientific activity.
S. was the principal exponent of the "historical school" that arose in opposition to the natural-law approach and method regarding the interpretation of law. S. strenuously opposed the formulation of a civil code analogous to the one that Napoleon had given to France (v. his work Vom Beruf unserer Zeit für Gesetzgebung und Rechtswissenschaft [Heidelberg 1814]), in polemic with Thibaut, who had maintained the necessity of a general civil code for Germany). Law, according to his thought, cannot be the fruit of legislative arbitrariness, nor can it be dogmatized in a codification, inasmuch as it is born from the people, bearing their moral and intellectual characteristics and continually evolving and perfecting itself; great importance therefore attaches to the customary institution, as being more responsive to a regulation of relationships in continuous evolution. The analysis of ancient and medieval sources, of which S. was a passionate scholar, suffers from his scarcely critical method, which derives from a constant and reverential devotion to the Justinianic texts. Modern science considers S.'s conception superseded, but looks to him as the founder of the history of law.
Principal works: Das Recht des Besitzes, Marburg 1803 (7th ed., Vienna 1865); Gesch. des röm. Rechts im Mittelalter, 6 vols., Heidelberg 1815-31 (2nd ed., 1834-51; Italian trans. by E. Bollati, Turin 1854-57); System des heutigen röm. Rechts, Berlin 1840-49 (Italian trans. by V. Scialoja: Sistema del dir. romano attuale, Turin 1886-88); Vermischte Schriften, Leipzig 1850; Das Obligationenrecht als Theil des heutigen römischen Rechts, 2 vols., Berlin 1851-53 (Italian trans. by G. Pacchioni, Le obbligazioni, Turin 1912-15); Juristische Methodenlehre (posthumous, Stuttgart 1951).
Bibliography3 works
M. Teresa de Simone-Niquesa