The article examines the mobility behaviour of the versatile lawyer Robert Bartsch. His everyday life was dominated by tram journeys and by walking. The railway was used for longer distances; it also allowed political activity far from his home. The bicycle provided the first experience of private transport, but was only used during his bachelor years and only as a leisure and sports device. A profound change in lifestyle resulted from the purchase of his own car. Its financing was closely linked to the changes in the political system, resulting in changing opportunities for legal publishing activities.

Keywords: bicycle, car use in the 1930s, mobility, railway, Robert Bartsch (1874–1955), voting rights of honorary citizens

For Bartolo of Sassoferrato, as for any other premodern author, it is rather difficult to establish a clear picture of his private life. Centuries of historiography have delved deeply into the scarce remaining archival material, which allows for some conclusions on his biography. Nevertheless, Bartolo as a person remains behind the curtain of his publications. Therefore, this article focuses on important places (Sassoferrato, Todi, Bologna, Pisa and Perugia) which provided the practical background and allowed for political experiences upon which he would draw in many of his juridical writings. Topics such as the property rights of the Franciscan Order, the role and competencies of the medieval emperors and questions of a republican city government obviously were inspired by his personal experiences and prove to be a pivotal line of thought in his various writings.

Keywords: consilia, Franciscan Order, Imperial diets, Italian city-government, Medieval emperors, political tracts, summary procedure, trademarks

Johann Baptist Suttinger is one of the most important representatives of Austrian jurisprudence of his time. His works on Austrian customary law and Roman common judicial law remained valuable guides for judi-cial practice for generations of Austrian jurists in reprints. His draft of a provincial code for Lower Austria (c. 1650) remained in use in individual legal statutes and provided valuable material for the compilation commission established in 1753 for its initial work on the codifications of natural law. After completing his law studies in Vienna and a brief period of practice as a lawyer, Suttinger began a career in the service of the archduke and the provincial estates of Lower Austria, rising to the highest offices in each of these areas. Eventually, the archduke admitted him to the ranks of the provincial estates. Starting with a small manorial estate in Brunn am Gebirge (“Turmhof“) he managed to build up a considerable po-sition as a holder of local sovereign rights in the area south of Vienna, where he and his wife owned a house in a prominent location (Kohlmarkt). Although he had no male offspring, his daughter‘s two marriages put him in touch with two important families of the Lower Austrian nobility, the Pergens and the Volkchras. Suttinger was an extremely pious man. He was a member of several religious brotherhoods and served as a patron of important religious orders. He distinguished himself also as a patron in social matters, supporting children in need (giving them baptism gifts) and poor students (by establishing a foundation). For a good decade, he served as the princely superintendent of the university. Suttinger‘s material assets were all sold by his heirs (eight grandchildren from his daughter‘s two marriages), thus alienating them from the family until the beginning of the 18th century. His foundation at the university existed only for about 100 years. Today, only the family crypt in St. Michael‘s Church near the Archdukes Palace in Vienna remains as a reminder of the existence of this jurist, who was so important in his time.

Keywords: common law, customary law, manorial estate, provincial code for Lower Austria, provincial estates, religious brotherhoods, social patronage, University of Vienna

The literature about Hans Kelsen fills libraries. However, apart from a short work by one of his students, there was no biography of the ‘jurist of the century‘ for over 40 years after his death. The author of this essay spent more than 15 years working on such a biography and reports on practical and theoretical difficulties he encountered during its composition.

Keywords: biography, Hans Kelsen, Legal Theory vs. Legal History

The essay attempts to further explore the biography of Joseph von Würth (1817–1855) on the basis of previously unknown aspects of his private and public life. His cultural and scientific interests (description of the solar eclipse of 1842; observer of the earliest photographic exhibition and of the first daguerreotype in Vienna) as well as his turn to liberal ideas and the use of associations (Nö. Gewerbeverein; Juridisch-politischer Leseverein) as parliamentary testing grounds in the Vormärz are presented. During the revolution of 1848, he was active first in Vienna, then as a member of the German National Assembly in Frankfurt am Main and as Undersecretary of State in the Imperial Ministry of the Interior (Reichsministerium des Inneren, Schmerling Cabinet). After the ‘lesser German’ solution gained a majority in parliament, he resigned his mandate and returned to Austria, where he eventually worked in the Ministry of Justice as a law clerk in the field of criminal procedural law.

Keywords: Austrian code of criminal procedure 1850, German National Assembly in Frankfurt am Main, uridisch-politischer Leseverein (Legal and Political Reading Association), liberalism, Nö. Gewerbeverein (Lower Austrian Trade Association), photography, solar eclipse of 1842, Viennese bourgeoisie

Gaius, a Roman legal author credited with a wide range of works, is shrouded in mystery. No other Roman author is known exclusively by his praenomen which is extremly common in the case of Gaius. According to a theory put forward by Theodor Mommsen, Gaius was a provincial lawyer. Inspired by this, others wrote his biography. This theory has no basis and cannot explain anything. Gaius is a name that late antique scholars found in fragments of classical legal literature (the praenomen of a well-known jurist, who was cited alternately with his different names) and behind which they believed to find an author who was distinct from all known jurists. Anonymous works were attributed to this pseudo-author. In AD 426, Valentinian III finally recognised “Gaius” and “his” work. But Gaius never existed.

Keywords: C. Cassius Longinus, Gaius, Pseudepigrapha, Roman legal literature, tria nomina

Two Roman jurists, the pre-classicist Aulus Ofilius (D 1.2.2.44, Pomp. l.s. enchirid.) and the early clas-sicist Marcus Cocceius Nerva (D 1.2.2.48, Pomp. l.s. enchirid.), are referred to as Caesari familiarissimi in the introductory chapter on legal history by Sextus Pomponius (2nd century AD). The superlative used here prompts us to investigate how close Aulus Ofilius really was to Gaius Iulius Caesar and how this closeness might have manifested itself, especially as Ofilius is unlikely to have had a political career worth mentioning.

Keywords: Aulus Ofilius, digesta Caesaris, familiares Caesaris, biographies of Roman lawyers

This article examines how 17 Austrian lawyers portrayed themselves in collections of autobiographies edited by lawyer and historian Nikolaus Grass in the early 1950s. The lawyers included in these coll-ectionas are: Ludwig Adamovich sen., Robert Bartsch, Ernst Durig, Godehard Josef Ebers, Alexander Hold-Ferneck, Ferdinand Kadečka, Heinrich Klang, Paul Koschaker, Adolf Julius Merkl, Hans Planitz, Max Rintelen, Theodor Rittler, Hans Sperl, Artur Steinwenter, Alfred Verdross, Leopold Wenger, and Karl Wolff.

Keywords: Academia, Austrian lawyers, autobiographies

Margareta Haimberger, a trailblazing jurist in Austrian justice, led a remarkable life marked by nu-merous challenges in both her professional and personal spheres. Through her expertise, courage, tireless dedication, and determination, Haimberger achieved a groundbreaking career as a criminal judge and prosecutor despite the obstacles she faced. She became a pioneer for women in Austrian criminal justice, contributing significantly to increasing the visibility of women in a legal field that had long been reserved exclusively for men. This article traces Margareta Haimberger’s extraordinary professional and personal journey, highlighting her impact on gender equality in the judiciary.

Keywords: Austria, criminal justice, pioneering women, women in legal professions

This article offers insights into ongoing research and the author’s preliminary findings on the topic of the “Frau Professor” (The Professor’s Wife). The research examines the wives of Viennese legal scholars of the interwar period from a collective and individual biographical perspective. The article focuses primarily on the professors’ wives as a collective and examines marriage patterns in relation to the academic careers of the legal scholars. The age of the bridal couples at the time of marriage, and the question of the contemporary media presence of the wives of legal scholars, are also considered. This study is based on an analysis of various sources, with a particular focus on autobiographical texts, correspondence, and newspaper articles. The analysis explores the (social) role of professors’ wives, both as a collective entity and as individual actors. The author has primarily drawn upon archival sources from the Vienna University Archive and the Austrian State Archive, along with contemporary newspaper articles, for her research.

Keywords: faculty spouses, university, Viennese faculty of law and state, women in legal sciences

The author has compiled short biographies of the presidents of the Vienna Commercial Court from 1850 to 2015, then of the presidents of the Vienna Regional Court (including the Juvenile Court and the previous Vienna 'Landgericht') from 1850 to 1945 (both published in print), as well as of the presidents of the Vienna Higher Regional Court from 1850 to 2021 (in preparation for printing). Approximately 80 individuals were covered. The article discusses the source material and some of the research findings.

Keywords: Biographies, Source material, Vienna court presidents

Leopoldine Schmidt was the first female graduate of the Faculty of Law in Graz. She graduated on 14 July 1923. By chance, the author came across Leopoldine Schmidt’s personal file and, after researching other archives, was able to reconstruct her life almost completely. Born in the monarchy, Leopoldine Schmidt was one of the first women to study law and then entered the service of the state of Lower Austria. She retired with the title of a court counsellor „Hofrat” in 1963.

Keywords: civil service careers of women, first graduate, female students, legal studies