An Image of a Public Officer, under Regulations of the Prussian Landrecht (1794) Cover Image

Obraz urzędnika w przepisach Landrechtu pruskiego z 1794 r.
An Image of a Public Officer, under Regulations of the Prussian Landrecht (1794)

Author(s): Zbigniew Naworski
Subject(s): History of Law, Criminal Law, Public Administration, Public Law, 18th Century
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Sklodowskiej
Keywords: Prussian Landrecht; public officer; servant of state; public officers law; public officers offences; Prussian state;

Summary/Abstract: The paper is devoted to the history of bureaucracy. It contains an analysis of the image of the Prussian public officers under regulations of the Prussian Landrecht, and it is divided into three parts. In the first one, the description of creating the Prussian bureaucracy by the kings, as well as, the process of formatting the image of an ideal public officer (as a servant of a state), were presented. The second part presents laws in the Hohenzollerns state, and the process of their unification, before the Prussian Landrecht was enacted. The third part shows regulations concerning the public officers, which were incorporated to the code. Especially, the exegesis of title X part II (entitled Von den Rechten und Pflichten der Diener des Staates), was presented. It contained, for the first time, the general legal provisions regulating a status of public officers, their rights and duties. This was a beginning of existence of the ‘public officers corps’ in the contemporary sense of this term, in the Prussian state. The second element of the code, which is presented in detail in the article, is chapter 8 of the title XX. It contained a very specific enumeration of the offences, which could be committed by every single public officer, as well as crimes connected with only some kinds of officers (for example, fiscal officers). The paper is closed with a few general remarks, as final conclusions.

  • Issue Year: 25/2016
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 709-731
  • Page Count: 23
  • Language: Polish