BackContentsNext

HINSCHIUS, (FRANZ CARL) PAUL: German canonist; b. at Berlin Dec. 25, 1835; d. there Dec. 13, 1898. He was educated at the universities of Berlin and Heidelberg (J.U.D., Berlin, 1855) and

then took up practical work as a lawyer's assistant, referendary, and assessor in his native city. In 1859 he established himself as privatrdocent for canon and civil law. In 186"1 he made a tour of Italy, Spain, France, England, Ireland, Scotland, Holland, and Belgium to collect material for a critical edition of the pseudo-Isidorian decretals, and in 1862 he visited Switzerland to collate the important Sangallensis manuscript of this work. In 1863 he was appointed extraordinary professor of canon, German, and civil law at the University of Halle, in 1865 in Berlin, in 1868 ordinary professor at Kiel, and in 1872 again at Berlin, where he lectured until the summer of 1898. He devoted himself zealously to the administrative affairs of the University of Berlin, and also took part in the practical activity of the Church as member of various synods, was member of the Reichstag for Flensburg-Apenrade 1872-78 and 1880-81, and member of the Prussian House of Lords for the University of Kiel 1871-72 and for the University of Berlin 1889 until his death. Under Falk he collaborated in the Prussian Kul tuSministxrium 1872-76 in drafting the laws relating to ecclesiastical affairs, the so-called May laws, and laws concerning the legal status of private persons.

The first achievement of Hinschius was the edition of the pseudo-Isidorian decretals (Leipsic, 1863), the first critical edition. The principal work of his life, however, was his Das Kirchenrecht der Katholiken and Protestanten in Deutschland (5 vols. and one part of vol. vi., Berlin, 1869-97). It remains a fragment; of the Roman Catholic canon law the first main part, Die Hierarehie und die Leitung der Kirche durch dieselbe, lacks two chapters of completion, while the- second main part (the rights and duties of church-members and ecclesiastical associations) and the system of Protestant canon law are lacking. The work is a scientific achievement of the first rank for the history of canon law and legal dogmatics, and will probably remain for generations the basis of Roman Catholic canon law. The work of Hinschius did not inaugurate a new period in the history of the science, but it brought a period to its culminating point. He was the first who, with the method of genuine historical criticism, depicted in a realistic and detailed manner the " process of amalgamation Of late Roman, Ger manic, and canonical views which is equally interesting for the history of law and for that of general culture." Other works of Hinschius are Die Stellung der deutschen StaaUregierungen gegenuber den Besehlussen des roadakanischen Konzila (Berlin, 1871); Die preussischen Kirchengeaetze d, Jahres 1878 (1873); Die Orden und Kongregationen der kd"ischen Kirche in Preussen (1874); Das preussi9che Gesetz über die Beurkundung des personenstandes und die Form der EhescNimsungen (1874); Das Reiehsgeeetz (1875, 3d ed., 1890); Die prettasischen Kirchengesetze der Jahre 1874 and 1875 (1875); Das preussische Kirchengesetz torn 14. Juli 1880 (1881); Staat and Kirche (Freiburg, 1883), which appeared in Marquardsen's Handbuch des bffentlichen Reckts der Gegenwart. All of these works reveal the author's view concerning the re-

292

lation of Church and State; viz., that the State should separate its affairs from the ecclesiastical sphere, but that it is called to regulate the mutual relations. He rejected the opposite system of the Roman Catholics for modern legislation. The Church does not stand outside of the State, but lives in the State as an institution of public law. But the State does not possess all privileges; it is under the ethical obligation to let the Church regulate its internal affairs independently and autonomically in so far as the state principle of the liberty of conscience and the recognition of other Churches and religious societies is not violated. If the law of the State collides with the statutes of the Church, the State is the final judge.

(E. Seckel.)

Bibliography: A detailed list of the works of Hinschiue is given in Hauck-Herzog, RE, viii . 90-92. A short autobiography is in J. F. Schulte, GewAirhte der Quelien and Littemtur des kanoniwhen Rechte, iii. 2, p. 240, Stuttgart, 1880. A biography is yet to be written.

BackContentsNext


CCEL home page
This document is from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library at
Calvin College. Last modified on 08/11/06. Contact the CCEL.
Calvin seal: My heart I offer you O Lord, promptly and sincerely