Die interne Rechtssetzung und die Rechtsdurchsetzung im Deutschen Orden

Abstract

The legislation in the Teutonic Order started just after its founding in 1191, at latest after his rising to the rank of a military order in 1198. In the first phase the brethren simply took over the rule of the Templars with some supplements from the rule of the Hospitallers. With the development of their own legal ideas around 1210-1215 the second legislative phase began. At its end the Teutonic Knights revised their legislative acts entirely and replaced them with new, written in a book called “Ordensbuch” – the Book of the Order – and consisted of Rules, Laws and Customs. In every castle of the Teutonic Order a copy of such a Book should be present and read to all the members once a week to allow them a thorough legal knowledge. In few cases the legal acts proved insufficient or not clear enough so the later Grandmasters developed or changed them. So began the third and last step in the legislation. In each of those three phases the general chapter – an assembly of all the brethren of the Order – played a crucial role for without their permission no legal act could be launched. A strict system of punishments applied by the local chapters made sure that the regulations of the Brotherhood were observed thus providing a main function in the law enforcement.