stablishment of the Empire, in 1871,
there was created a commission to which was assigned the task of
drawing up regulations for civil procedure and for criminal procedure,
and also a plan for the reorganization of the courts. Beginning with a
scheme of civil procedure, published in December, 1872, the commission
brought in an elaborate project upon each of the three subjects. The
code of civil procedure, by which many important reforms were
introduced in the interest of publicity and speed, was well received.
That relating to criminal procedure, proposing as it did to abolish
throughout the Empire trial by jury, was, however, vigorously opposed,
and the upshot was that all three reports were referred to a new
commission, by which the original projects relating to criminal
procedure and to the organization of the courts were completely
remodelled. In the end the revised projects were adopted. October 1,
1879, there went into effect a group of fundamental laws under which
the administration of justice throughout the Empire has been
controlled from that day to the present. The most important of these
was the Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz, or Law of Judicial Organization,
enacted January 27, 1877; the Civilprozessordnung, or Code of Civil
Procedure, of January 30, 1877; and the Strafprozessordnung, or Code of
Criminal Procedure, of February 1, 1877.

[Footnote 352: It was replaced by a new code May
10, 1897.]

It remained only to effect a codification of the civil law. A
committee constituted for the purpose completed its work in 1887, and
the draft submitted by it was placed for revision in the hands of a
new commission, by which it was reported in 1895. In an amended form
the Civil Code was approved by the Reichstag, August 18, 1896, and (p. 243)
it was put in operation January 1, 1900. Excluding matters pertaining
to land tenure (which are left to be regulated by the states), the
Code deals not only with all of the usual subjects of civil law but
also with subjects arising from the contact of private law and public
law.[353]

[Footnote 353: A convenient manual for English
readers is E. M. Borchard, Guide to the Law and
Legal Literature of Germany (Washington, 1912), the
first of a series of guides to European law in
preparation in the Library of Congress.]

*259. The Inferior Courts.*--By