Carl Gottlieb Svarez und das Verhältnis von Herrschaft und Recht im aufgeklärten Absolutismus

The tension inherent in the concept of enlightened absolutism to a certain degree continues into a dichotomy of governance and law. The books analyses the relation between these two factors from the perspective of Carl Gottlieb Svarez (1746-1798). Svarez' influence on the legislation of the Prussian states in the late 18th century exceeded that of any other jurist at the time, especially by virtue of his being in charge of the development of the Allgemeine Preußische Landrecht of 1794. The author discusses Svarez the law reformer's approaches to defining the relation between governance and law on a theoretical as well as practical level. In this context, the study focusses particularly on the question of whether and to what extent the Allgemeine Preußische Landrecht was intended to subject the monarch to law-enforced commitments.