Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch
The Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (, ), abbreviated BGB, is the civil code of Germany, codifying most generally-applicably private law. In development since 1881, it became effective on 1 January 1900, and was considered a massive and groundbreaking project. The BGB served as a template in several other civil law jurisdictions, including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Brazil, Greece, Estonia, Latvia and Ukraine. It also had a major influence on the 1907 Swiss Civil Code, the 1942 Italian Civil Code, the 1966 Portuguese Civil Code, and the 1992 reformed Dutch Civil Code. History German Empire The introduction in France of the Napoleonic code in 1804 created in Germany a similar desire to draft a civil code (despite the opposition of Friedrich Carl von Savigny’s Historical School of Law) which would systematize and unify the various heterogeneous laws that were in effect in the country. However, such an undertaking during the German Confederation would have been difficult because the appropriate legislative body did not exist. In 1871, most of the various German states were united into the German Empire. In the beginning, civil law legislative power was held by the individual states, not the Empire (Reich) that was composed of those states. An amendment to the constitution passed in 1873 (named Lex Miquel-Lasker in reference to the amendment's sponsors, representatives Johannes von Miquel and Eduard Lasker) transferred this legislative authority to the Reich. Various committees were then formed to draft a bill that was to become a civil law codification for the entire country, replacing the civil law systems of the states. A first draft code, in 1888, did not meet with favour. A second committee of 22 members, comprising not only jurists but also representatives of financial interests and of the various ideological currents of the time, compiled a second draft. After significant revisions, the BGB was passed by the Reichstag in 1896. It was put into effect on 1 January 1900, and has been the central codification of Germany's civil law ever since. Nazi Germany In Nazi Germany, there were plans to replace the BGB with a new codification that was planned to be entitled "Volksgesetzbuch" ("people's code"), which was meant to reflect Nazi ideology better than the BGB, but these plans did not become reality. However, some general principles of the BGB such as the doctrine of good faith (§ 242 BGB, Grundsatz von Treu und Glauben) were used to interpret the BGB in a Nazi-friendly way. Therefore, the political need to draft a completely new code to match the Nazis' expectations subsided, and instead the many flexible doctrines and principles of the BGB were re-interpreted to meet the (legal) spirit of that time. Especially through the good faith doctrine in § 242 BGB (see above) or the contra bonos mores doctrine in § 138 BGB (sittenwidriges Rechtsgeschäft), voiding transactions perceived as being contra bonos mores, i.e. against public policy or morals, the Nazis and their willing judges and lawyers were able to direct the law in a way to