Study On The Freedom Of The Medieval City Law In Germany

The medieval era has always been labelled as a "long night of barbaric darkness".Despite the lack of material life,cultural lag at the beginning of the middle ages,the emergence of cities and towns has completely changed the situation in Europe and Germany,who have no central power at that time,and it also brought Western Europe advanced and brilliant civilization.The topic of this paper is German city law and its freedom on the rule of law in terms of the influence to modern western society and legal concept.The complex historical background of Europe at the beginning of the middle ages and geographical position in European continent make contribution to the lower living conditions of the German society in comparison to other countries in western Europe,while the comprehensive development of the Western European economy,domestic power struggle between secular crown and papacy and the rise of the citizen literature led to the urbanization in Germany.At the same time the city law inherited a certain cultural connotation and innovated.City law which was applied to Western European cities with autonomy in the Middle Ages derived from charter,common practice and guild system with development of urban handicrafts and commercial trade activities.Moreover,medieval cities allied for commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and their market towns.Stronger the alliance was;the League would be more independent.For instance,Hanseatic League,who had their own legal system and furnished their own armies for mutual protection and aid,gained economic and political power with its business thus endowing city law the characteristics of modern international law during the heyday of urbanization.As a result of multi-aspect interests such as political and religious compromise,German city law is a product of emperors,lords and barons,as well as the Pope's power struggle.coordinating the conflict of imperial power and magisterium due to the Reformation and Revolution.It showed a strong sense of expression from the people's desire for freedom.This essay focuses on The Freedom of The Medieval City Law In Germany,although cannot be as detailed as monographs,it elaborates on the ideological basis of freedom and influence as much as possible.The paper introduces the European environment and condition in the Middle Ages,including the rise of the empire free city and urbanization in Germany.German city law with "freedom" at its core has basically taken shape by the main factors: economics,religion and politics.Freedom of the German city law in the Middle Ages portraits a significant role on the rule of law in modern western countries.